VB Blog

Paper: New Keylogger on the Block

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 5, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Sophos researcher Gabor Szappanos takes a look at the KeyBase keylogger, sold as a commercial product and popular among cybercriminals who use it in Office exploit kits.

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BSides Denver to take place the day after VB2016

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2016

VB2016, the 26th International Virus Bulletin conference, is an excellent reason to go to Denver, Colorado in the first week of October. But there is another reason to come to Denver: BSides Denver, which will take place the day after VB2016, on Saturday 8 October 2016.

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VB2015 paper: DDoS Trojan: A Malicious Concept that Conquered the ELF Format

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 13, 2016

In their VB2015 paper, Peter Kálnai and Jaromír Hořejší look at the current state of DDoS trojans forming covert botnets on unsuspecting systems. The paper provides a technical analysis of the most important malware families, focusing on infection methods, dynamic behaviour, C&C communication, obfuscation techniques, advanced methods of persistence and stealth, and elimination of rivals.

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Throwback Thursday: Hyppönen, that Data Fellow / Finnish Sprayer

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 2, 2016

This week, well known and universally respected industry guru Mikko Hyppönen celebrates his 25th anniversary of working at F-Secure (formerly known as Data Fellows). VB takes a look back in the archives at two articles published in 1994: an "insight" into the life and work of the then rising star of the anti-virus world, and a virus analysis penned by the man himself.

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VB2015 paper: Economic Sanctions on Malware

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 1, 2016

Financial pressure can be a proactive and potentially very effective tool in making our computer ecosystems safer. By cleverly employing various trust metrics and technologies such as digital signing, watermarking, and public-key infrastructure in strategically selected places, we can encourage good behaviours and punish bad ones. In his VB2015 paper, Igor Muttik analyses and gives examples of technologies (certificates, credentials, etc.) to de-incentivize bad behaviours in several ecosystems (Windows, Android, iOS).

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Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 26, 2016

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.

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Throwback Thursday: One_Half: The Lieutenant Commander?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 26, 2016

In October 1994, a new multi-partite virus appeared, using some of the techniques developed by the Dark Avenger in Commander_Bomber. As if this were not enough, the One_Half virus could also encrypt vital parts of the fixed disk. Eugene Kaspersky provided a detailed analysis.

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Advertisements on Blogspot sites lead to support scam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2016

Support scam pop-ups presented through malicious advertisements show that, next to vulnerable end points, gullible users remain an easy source of money for online criminals.

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To make Tor work better on the web, we need to be honest about it

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 6, 2016

Many websites put barriers in front of visitors who use the Tor network. If we want to make the web more accessible through Tor, we need to be honest about why this is done, rather than cry wolf about a dislike for privacy, Martijn Grooten says.

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Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

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VB2014 paper: Duping the machine - malware strategies, post sandbox detection

James Wyke looks at malware that takes extra steps to frustrate researchers.
James Wyke looks at malware that takes extra steps to frustrate researchers.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing VB2014 conference… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-duping-machine-malware-strategies-post-sandbox-detection/

Microsoft no longer publishes advance notifications for its Patch Tuesdays

Company unhappy with Google going full disclosure on privilege escalation vulnerability.
Company unhappy with Google going full disclosure on privilege escalation vulnerability. Tomorrow is the second Tuesday of the month and, as most people reading this blog will… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/microsoft-no-longer-publishes-advance-notifications-its-patch-tuesdays/

VB2014 Paper: Attack surface analysis of Tizen devices

Irfan Asrar looks at the security of the operating system used in many IoT devices.
Irfan Asrar looks at the security of the operating system used in many IoT devices.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing VB2014… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-attack-surface-analysis-tizen-devices/

VB2014 paper: Unveiling the kernel: rootkit discovery using selective automated kernel memory differencing

Ahmed Zaki and Benjamin Humphrey describe a system they built for the automated detection of rootkit behaviour.
Ahmed Zaki and Benjamin Humphrey describe a system they built for the automated detection of rootkit behaviour.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/paper-unveiling-kernel-rootkit-discovery-using-selective-automated-kernel-memory-differencing/

New VB100 and VBSpam test results published

See which anti-malware and anti-spam solutions achieved certification.
See which anti-malware and anti-spam solutions achieved certification. Shortly before the Christmas holidays, we published a new VB100 anti-malware test report as well as a new… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/new-and-vbspam-test-results-published/

Virus Bulletin wishes you a great 2015

See you in Prague - and on the Internet!
See you in Prague - and on the Internet! 2014 was an exciting year for Virus Bulletin: we made all of our content free, ran a successful and well-attended conference in Seattle,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/wishes-you-great-2015/

January

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/

2015

Latest news from the anti-virus industry provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
NewsCall for Papers: VB2016 DenverVB seeks submissions for the 26th Virus Bulletin Conference. 22 December 2015VB2015 video: Making a dent in Russian mobile banking… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/

Conference review: Botconf 2014

Second edition of 'botnet fighting conference' another great success.
Second edition of 'botnet fighting conference' another great success. I had been looking forward to the second edition of the Botconf conference ever since I came back from the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/conference-review-botconf-2014/

Call for Papers: VB2015 Prague

VB seeks submissions for the 25th Virus Bulletin Conference.
VB seeks submissions for the 25th Virus Bulletin Conference.Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present papers at VB2015, which will take place 30 September… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/call-papers-prague/

Book review: Countdown to Zero Day

Kim Zetter's book on Stuxnet is a must-read for anyone interested in malware - or in 21st century geopolitics.
Kim Zetter's book on Stuxnet is a must-read for anyone interested in malware - or in 21st century geopolitics. There is a tendency among the media to call every hack 'advanced', to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/book-review-countdown-zero-day/

Virus Bulletin announces platinum sponsors for VB2015

More sponsorship opportunities available.
More sponsorship opportunities available. While the opening of VB2015 in Prague is still more than nine months away, we have already started with the preparations for what will be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/announces-platinum-sponsors/

VB2014 paper: Smart home appliance security and malware

Jeongwook Oh demonstrates how to hack a Samsung smart TV.
Jeongwook Oh demonstrates how to hack a Samsung smart TV.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the presentations.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/paper-smart-home-appliance-security-and-malware/

Virus Bulletin is hiring

VB seeks a Perl Developer / Security Engineer.
VB seeks a Perl Developer / Security Engineer. 2014 has been an exciting year for Virus Bulletin: we went through some personnel changes, made all of our content freely available,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/hiring/

December

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/12/

Conference report: VB2014

The biggest and broadest ranging Virus Bulletin conference ever was a great success.
The biggest and broadest ranging Virus Bulletin conference ever was a great success. There is a Dutch expression that says that you shouldn't trust a butcher who judges his own… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/conference-report/

VB2014 paper: Labelling spam through the analysis of protocol patterns

What do your IP packet sizes say about whether you're a spammer?
What do your IP packet sizes say about whether you're a spammer?Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video recordings of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-labelling-spam-through-analysis-protocol-patterns/

Detekt tool searches PCs for traces of surveillance spyware

Second opinion essential in circumstances under which likely victims operate.
Second opinion essential in circumstances under which likely victims operate. Last week, the release of the free 'Detekt' tool was announced. Developed by Claudio Guarnieri and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/detekt-tool-searches-pcs-traces-surveillance-spyware/

Multi-staged, modular Regin tool enables stealthy surveillance

Nation state likely behind campaign that goes back many years.
Nation state likely behind campaign that goes back many years. Few terms are misused in a security context as often as the term 'advanced', perhaps in part because the industry… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/multi-staged-modular-regin-tool-enables-stealthy-surveillance/

VB2014 paper: Sweeping the IP space: the hunt for evil on the Internet

Dhia Mahjoub explains how the topology of the AS graph can be used to uncover hotspots of maliciousness.
Dhia Mahjoub explains how the topology of the AS graph can be used to uncover hotspots of maliciousness.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/paper-sweeping-ip-space-hunt-evil-internet/

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