VB Blog

VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: Malicious proxy auto-configs: an easy way to harvest banking credentials

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 30, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, Jaromír Horejší and Jan Širmer looked at Retefe, a trojan that has targeted banks in several European countries and used malicious proxy auto-config filesto redirect users' traffic to a server controlled by the attackers. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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WannaCry shows we need to understand why organizations don't patch

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 17, 2017

Perhaps the question we should be asking about WannaCry is not "why do so many organizations allow unpatched machines to exist on their networks?" but "why doesn't patching work reasonably well most of the time?"

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Modern security software is not necessarily powerless against threats like WannaCry

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 15, 2017

The WannaCry ransomware has affected many organisations around the world, making it probably the worst and most damaging of its kind. But modern security is not necessarily powerless against such threats.

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Throwback Thursday: CARO: A personal view

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 11, 2017

This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts. As a founding member of CARO, Fridrik Skulason was well placed, in August 1994, to shed some light on the organization, to explain in detail CARO's main activities and functions, as well as the reasons behind its strict membership regulations.

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VB2016 paper: Uncovering the secrets of malvertising

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 10, 2017

Malicious advertising, a.k.a. malvertising, has evolved tremendously over the past few years to take a central place in some of today’s largest web-based attacks. It is by far the tool of choice for attackers to reach the masses but also to target them with infinite precision and deliver such payloads as ransomware. Today, we publish a paper presented at VB2016 in Denver by Malwarebytes researchers Jérôme Segura and Chris Boyd, in which they look at the advertising ecosystem, how it is used, and at what techniques are being utilised to spread malware

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Throwback Thursday: Tools of the DDoS Trade

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 4, 2017

As DDoS attacks become costlier to fix and continue to increase in both number and diversity, we turn back the clock to 2000, when Aleksander Czarnowski took a look at the DDoS tools of the day.

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VB2016 paper: Building a local passiveDNS capability for malware incident response

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 4, 2017

At VB2016, Splunk researchers Kathy Wang and Steve Brant presented a Splunk app that can be used to locally collect passive DNS data. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: A malicious OS X cocktail served from a tainted bottle

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, ESET researchers Peter Kalnai and Martin Jirkal looked at the OS X malware threats KeRanger and Keydnap, that both spread through a compromised BitTorrent client. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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Consumer spyware: a serious threat with a different threat model

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 25, 2017

Consumer spyware is a growing issue and one that can have serious consequences: its use is increasingly common in domestic violence. But do our threat models consider the attacker with physical access to, and inside knowledge of the victim?

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VB2016 paper: Debugging and monitoring malware network activities with Haka

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 24, 2017

In their VB2016 paper, Stormshield researchers Benoît Ancel and Mehdi Talbi introduced Haka, an open-source language to monitor, debug and control malicious network traffic. Both their paper and the video recording of their presentation are now available to read/view on www.virusbulletin.com.

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April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/04/

Microsoft Word for Mac exploit used in targeted attacks

Tibetan NGOs targeted.
Tibetan NGOs targeted. Researchers at Alienvault have discovered a targeted attack against Tibetan NGOs that uses a three-year-old vulnerability in Microsoft Office for Mac.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/03/microsoft-word-mac-exploit-used-targeted-attacks/

AV-Test issues latest results summary

Bi-monthly stats released for 31 consumer and business products.
Bi-monthly stats released for 31 consumer and business products. Independent testing body Av-Test.org has published its latest round of results, covering some 23 consumer products… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/03/av-test-issues-latest-results-summary/

Spam catch rates drop in latest VBSpam test

Catch rates significantly lower than in previous months.
Catch rates significantly lower than in previous months. In the latest VBSpam comparative test, 20 solutions achieved a VBSpam award, but the majority displayed significantly lower… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/03/spam-catch-rates-drop-latest-vbspam-test/

March issue of VB published

The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The March 2012 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/03/march-issue-vb-published/

March

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/03/

'Unsubscribe' URL in junk fax leads to malware

Trojan downloader behind .co.cc URL.
Trojan downloader behind .co.cc URL. Researchers at Vircom have discovered a junk fax with an 'unsubscribe' URL which contained a trojan downloader. Junk faxes (also known as 'fax… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/unsubscribe-url-junk-fax-leads-malware/

New Zeus/SpyEye botnet does away with command-and-control servers

Increasing use of UDP to avoid communication tracking.
Increasing use of UDP to avoid communication tracking. Researchers at Symantec have discovered a new parallel build of Zeus (also known as Zbot) and SpyEye that appears to be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/new-zeus-spyeye-botnet-does-away-command-and-control-servers/

200-fold increase in HTML-attachment spam

Cutwail botnet likely behind campaign that sends users to Phoenix exploit kit.
Cutwail botnet likely behind campaign that sends users to Phoenix exploit kit. Researchers at M86 have reported a significant increase in the amount of spam sent with malicious… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/200-fold-increase-html-attachment-spam/

'Hotmail and Gmail have best spam filter' says Cascade spam test

Comparative test did not take false positives into account.
Comparative test did not take false positives into account. Researchers from Cascade Insights performed a comparative spam filtering test on the three major webmail providers and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/hotmail-and-gmail-have-best-spam-filter-says-cascade-spam-test/

February

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/

February issue of VB published

The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The February 2012 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/february-issue-vb-published/

Hacktivists hijack DNS of popular websites

Security at registrars may be weak link.
Security at registrars may be weak link. A hacktivist group has managed to redirect the traffic of two popular websites by hijacking their DNS settings, researchers at Internet… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/hacktivists-hijack-dns-popular-websites/

New RFC describes best practices for running DNS-based lists

DNSBL users advised to avoid those lists that charge for delisting.
DNSBL users advised to avoid those lists that charge for delisting. A new RFC document has been published that describes the best operational practices for the use of DNS-based… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/new-rfc-describes-best-practices-running-dns-based-lists/

Vulnerability turns McAfee's anti-malware solution into open relay

Flaw allows for spam to be sent through customers' PCs.
Flaw allows for spam to be sent through customers' PCs. A vulnerability discovered in McAfee's SaaS for Total Protection, the company's hosted anti-malware solution, effectively… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/vulnerability-turns-mcafee-s-anti-malware-solution-open-relay/

AV-Test releases latest results

Business and consumer products achieve high pass rate.
Business and consumer products achieve high pass rate. Independent testing lab AV-Test.org has released its latest batch of test results, with 23 consumer products and eight… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/av-test-releases-latest-results/

Sykipot trojan used to target smart cards

Defence companies among small number of targets.
Defence companies among small number of targets. Researchers at Alienvault have discovered a version of the 'Sykipot' trojan that is being used to target organisations that make… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/sykipot-trojan-used-target-smart-cards/

Spammers link to site containing QR code

Curious users may scan URL and end up on pharma websites.
Curious users may scan URL and end up on pharma websites. Researchers at Websense have discovered spam containing links to a site containing a QR code in which the spam's target… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/spammers-link-site-containing-qr-code/

January issue of VB published

The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The January 2012 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/01/january-issue-vb-published/

2012

Latest news from the anti-virus industry provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
NewsDecember issue of VB published The December issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. 03 December 2012Virus Bulletin announces VBWeb tests for web… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/

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