VB Blog

Book review: Cyberdanger: Understanding and Guarding Against Cybercrime

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 16, 2019

Security researcher Paul Baccas reviews Eddy Willems' book 'Cyberdanger'.

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Programme for VB2019 Threat Intelligence Practitioners' Summit announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2019

In the mini-summit, which forms part of VB2019 (the 29th Virus Bulletin International Conference), eight sessions will focus on all aspects of threat intelligence collecting, using and sharing.

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Guest blog: TotalAV uncovers the world’s first ransomware

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 12, 2019

In a guest blog post by VB2019 Silver partner TotalAV, Matthew Curd, the software’s Technical Expert, considers the changes in the cybersecurity landscape.

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Guest blog: Targeted attacks with public tools

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 4, 2019

Over the last few years SE Labs has tested more than 50 different security products against over 5,000 targeted attacks. In this guest blog post Stefan Dumitrascu, Chief Technical Officer at SE Labs, looks at the different attack tools available, how effective they are at helping attackers bypass anti-malware products, and how security vendors have been handling this type of threat for over a year.

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VB2019 preview: Small Talks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 3, 2019

We preview the five Small Talks on the VB2019 programme in which important topics are discussed in a less formal atmosphere.

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VB2019 preview: Problem child: common patterns in malicious parent-child relationships

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 2, 2019

We preview the VB2019 paper by Endgame researcher Bobby Filar, who created a graph-based framework designed to detect malicious use of legitimate binaries through parent-child relationships.

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VB2019 preview: Inside Magecart: the history behind the covert card-skimming assault on the e-commerce industry

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 30, 2019

We preview the VB2019 paper by RiskIQ researcher Yonathan Klijnsma on the Magecart web skimming attacks.

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VB2019 call for last-minute papers closes on Sunday (1 Sept)

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 29, 2019

Your last chance to get a speaking slot on the VB2019 programme with a talk on hot research!

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21 organisations partner with VB2019

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 29, 2019

Record number of partner organisations for the Virus Bulletin Conference reflects very broad and international event.

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VB2019 preview: Exploring Emotet, an elaborate everyday enigma

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 26, 2019

We preview the VB2019 paper by Sophos researcher Luca Nagy, who dives deeply into the notorious Emotet malware.

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Search blog

Dutch ISP sues Spamhaus for 'extortion'

Blacklist entries 'unfair and illegal'.
Blacklist entries 'unfair and illegal'. Dutch ISP A2B Internet has sued The Spamhaus Project, claiming the project unfairly blacklisted its IP range. A2B provides the upstream… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/dutch-isp-sues-spamhaus-extortion/

Google AdWords phishing campaign spreads

Users urged to login because of 'issues'.
Users urged to login because of 'issues'. A new phishing campaign that targets users of Google AdWords looks worryingly real, GFI reports. The phish begins with an email claiming… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/google-adwords-phishing-campaign-spreads/

Mac trojan is VMware-aware

Malicious execution stopped when virtual environment is detected.
Malicious execution stopped when virtual environment is detected. Researchers at F-Secure have found a variant of the 'Flashback' trojan for Mac (a fake Adobe Flash Player update)… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/mac-trojan-vmware-aware/

VB conference hashtag used to spread malware

Tweet promising conference news links to trojan.
Tweet promising conference news links to trojan. A tweet using the #vb2011 hashtag, which was used in numerous tweets referring to last week's VB2011 conference, contained a link… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/vb-conference-hashtag-used-spread-malware/

Government trojan found on German computers

Four states admit the use of spyware.
Four states admit the use of spyware. Controversy has arisen in Germany, after the well-known CCC hacker group reported that it had found a trojan that was used to spy on behalf of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/government-trojan-found-german-computers/

October

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/

October issue of VB published

The October issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The October issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The October 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/october-issue-vb-published/

Mysql.com hacked, serving malware

Root access to site offered on black market.
Root access to site offered on black market. Yesterday, mysql.com, the official website of the popular database management system MySQL, was hacked and visitors to the website were… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/mysql-com-hacked-serving-malware/

E-marketing companies compromised to send spam

Fake order confirmations contain malicious links.
Fake order confirmations contain malicious links. Spammers have gained access to the accounts of email service providers (ESPs) and used them to send out fake order confirmation… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/e-marketing-companies-compromised-send-spam/

Alureon trojan uses steganography to receive commands

Messages hidden inside images create extra layer of redundancy.
Messages hidden inside images create extra layer of redundancy. Researchers at Microsoft have discovered a new variant of the 'Alureon' trojan that uses steganography to make… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/alureon-trojan-uses-steganography-receive-commands/

Attack targets government agencies in CIS countries

Trojans used to steal specific files.
Trojans used to steal specific files. Researchers at Trend Micro have discovered an ongoing targeted attack against, among others, government agencies and diplomatic missions in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/attack-targets-government-agencies-cis-countries/

New RFC grants DKIM improved status

Email signing method now 'Draft Standard'.
Email signing method now 'Draft Standard'. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has published a new RFC describing the DKIM protocol which sees its status advance from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/new-rfc-grants-dkim-improved-status/

Malicious spam campaigns leave experts puzzled

Increase in malware in spam has not led to increase in malicious activity.
Increase in malware in spam has not led to increase in malicious activity. Security researchers have noticed a significant increase in the quantity of spam sent with malicious… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/malicious-spam-campaigns-leave-experts-puzzled/

Trojan steals money from bank accounts via 'training session'

Social engineering circumvents banking security
Social engineering circumvents banking security In a new method of stealing money from customer accounts, a variant of the SpyEye trojan invites the user to make a supposedly… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/trojan-steals-money-bank-accounts-training-session/

Diginotar declared bankrupt

Browsers and operating systems had already revoked trust in Dutch CA.
Browsers and operating systems had already revoked trust in Dutch CA. Dutch certificate authority Diginotar was declared bankrupt by a Dutch court this morning. Diginotar made the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/diginotar-declared-bankrupt/

Bank's Twitter account hacked to send phishing messages

Important lessons for companies engaging in social media.
Important lessons for companies engaging in social media. Last week, the Twitter account of the Bank of Melbourne was hacked and used to send direct messages containing phishing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/bank-s-twitter-account-hacked-send-phishing-messages/

Confirmed newsletter subscriptions half as likely to be blocked

Good practice means good performance.
Good practice means good performance. Newsletters that do not confirm their subscriptions are twice as likely to be blocked by spam filters as those that do, Virus Bulletin has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/confirmed-newsletter-subscriptions-half-likely-be-blocked/

Windows Help Files used in targeted attacks

Files with code-executing properties attached to emails.
Files with code-executing properties attached to emails. Researchers at Symantec have discovered Windows Help Files being used in targeted attacks. Such help files, which use the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/windows-help-files-used-targeted-attacks/

Latest VBSpam certification results published

Latest VBSpam results published - full report now also available.
Latest VBSpam results published - full report now also available. The results of the September VBSpam comparative review have been announced. This month's VBSpam test sees 23… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/latest-vbspam-certification-results-published/

Iranians spied on using rogue DigiNotar certificates

Fake certificates signed for CIA, Mossad, Google, Facebook.
Fake certificates signed for CIA, Mossad, Google, Facebook. It is likely that Iranian Internet users have been spied on following a hack discovered at Dutch certificate authority… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/09/iranians-spied-using-rogue-diginotar-certificates/

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