VB Blog

VB2019 paper: Defeating APT10 compiler-level obfuscations

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 13, 2020

At VB2019 in London, Carbon Black researcher Takahiro Haruyama presented a paper on defeating compiler-level obfuscations used by the APT10 group. Today we publish both Takahiro's paper and the recording of his presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Attribution is in the object: using RTF object dimensions to track APT phishing weaponizers

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 12, 2020

At VB2019 in London Michael Raggi (Proofpoint) and Ghareeb Saad (Anomali) presented a paper on the 'Royal Road' exploit builder (or weaponizer) and how the properties of RTF files can be used to track weaponizers and their users. Today we publish both their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2019 presentation: Nexus between OT and IT threat intelligence

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 11, 2020

Operational technology, the mission critical IT in ICS, shares many similarities with traditional IT systems, but also some crucial differences. During the Threat Intelligence Practitioners’ Summit at VB2019, Dragos cyber threat intelligence analyst Selena Larson gave a keynote on these similarities and differences. Today we release the recording of her presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Kimsuky group: tracking the king of the spear-phishing

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 10, 2020

In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, researchers fron the Financial Security Institute detailed the tools and activities used by the APT group 'Kimsuky', some of which they were able to analyse through OpSec failures by the group. Today, we publish their paper.

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VB2019 paper: Play fuzzing machine - hunting iOS and macOS kernel vulnerabilities automatically and smartly

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 9, 2020

In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, Trend Micro researchers Lilang Wu and Moony Li explained how the hunt for vulnerabilities in MacOS and iOS operating systems can be made both smarter and more automatic. Today we publish both their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Finding drive-by rookies using an automated active observation platform

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Mar 6, 2020

In a last-minute paper presented at VB2019 in London, Rintaro Koike (NTT Security) and Yosuke Chubachi (Active Defense Institute, Ltd) discussed the platform they have built to automatically detect and analyse exploit kits. Today we publish the recording of their presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Pulling the PKPLUG: the adversary playbook for the long-standing espionage activity of a Chinese nation state adversary

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Feb 28, 2020

The activities of China-based threat actor PKPLUG were detailed in a VB2019 paper by Palo Alto Networks researcher Alex Hinchliffe, who described the playbook of this long-standing adversary. Today we publish both Alex's paper and the recording of his presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Static analysis methods for detection of Microsoft Office exploits

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Feb 25, 2020

Today we publish the VB2019 paper and presentation by McAfee researcher Chintan Shah in which he described static analysis methods for the detection of Microsoft Office exploits.

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New paper: LokiBot: dissecting the C&C panel deployments

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 17, 2020

First advertised as an information stealer and keylogger when it appeared in underground forums in 2015, LokiBot has added various capabilities over the years and has affected many users worldwide. In a new paper researcher Aditya Sood analyses the URL structure of the LokiBot C&C panels and how they have evolved over time.

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VB2019 presentation: Building secure sharing systems that treat humans as features not bugs

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 14, 2020

In a presentation at VB2019 in London, Virtru's Andrea Limbago described how, by exploring data sharing challenges through a socio-technical lens, it is possible to make significant gains toward the secure sharing systems and processes that are vital for innovation and collaboration. Today we release the recording of her presentation.

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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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