VB Blog

VB2017 video: Turning Trickbot: decoding an encrypted command-and-control channel

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 3, 2017

Trickbot, a banking trojan which appeared this year, seems to be a new, more modular, and more extensible malware descendant of the notorious Dyre botnet trojan. At VB2017, Symantec researcher Andrew Brandt presented a walkthrough of a typical Trickbot infection process, and its aftermath, as seen through the lens of a tool used to perform man-in-the-middle decryption. Today, we publish both Andrew's slides and the recording of his presentation.

Read more  

Paper: FAME - Friendly Malware Analysis Framework

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 2, 2017

Today, we publish a short paper in which CERT Société Générale presents FAME, its open source malware analysis framework.

Read more  

Ebury and Mayhem server malware families still active

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 31, 2017

Ebury and Mayhem, two families of Linux server malware, about which VB published papers back in 2014, are still active and have received recent updates.

Read more  

VB2017 paper: Crypton - exposing malware's deepest secrets

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 27, 2017

Crypton, a tool developed by F5 Networks researchers Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman, aims to speed up the reverse engineering process by decrypting encrypted content found in a (malicious) binary. The researchers described the tool in a paper which they presented at VB2017 in Madrid. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of their presentation.

Read more  

VB2017 paper: The sprawling market of consumer spyware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 25, 2017

For many people, the threat of an abusive partner or ex-partner is very real - and the market for consumer spyware worryingly large. Today, we publish the recording of a presentation on the subject of consumer spyware given at VB2017 by The Daily Beast reporter Joseph Cox.

Read more  

Gábor Szappanos wins fourth Péter Szőr Award

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 23, 2017

At the VB2017 gala dinner, the fourth Péter Szőr Award was presented to Sophos researcher Gábor Szappanos for his paper "AKBuilder – the crowdsourced exploit kit".

Read more  

VB2017 paper: Walking in your enemy's shadow: when fourth-party collection becomes attribution hell

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 20, 2017

We publish the VB2017 paper and video by Kaspersky Lab researchers Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Costin Raiu, in which they look at fourth-party collection (spies spying on other spies' campaigns) and its implications for attribution.

Read more  

Didn't come to VB2017? Tell us why!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 11, 2017

Virus Bulletin is a company - and a conference - with a mission: to further the research in and facilitate the fight against digital threats. To help us in this mission, we want to hear from those who didn't come to Madrid. What is your impression of the VB Conference? What did you think of this year's programme? And why couldn't you come to Madrid?

Read more  

Montreal will host VB2018

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 10, 2017

Last week, we announced the full details of VB2018, which will take place 3-5 October 2018 at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Read more  

VB2017 preview: Beyond lexical and PDNS (guest blog)

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Oct 5, 2017

In a special guest blog post, VB2017 Silver sponsor Cisco Umbrella writes about a paper that researchers Dhia Mahjoub and David Rodriguez will present at the conference this Friday.

Read more  

Search blog

VB100 for Windows Server 2008 results published

Latest VB100 results published - full report now also available.
Latest VB100 results published - full report now also available. The results of the VB100 comparative review on Windows Server 2008 R2 have been announced. This month's test… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/windows-server-2008-results-published/

Outlook spam phishes for SMTP credentials

Login details would give spammers access to legitimate mail servers.
Login details would give spammers access to legitimate mail servers. A phishing scam has been identified that targets users of Microsoft Outlook and tries to obtain SMTP login… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/outlook-spam-phishes-smtp-credentials/

DroidKungFu command and control server may be mobile device

Android trojan makes use of root exploit.
Android trojan makes use of root exploit. Researchers at Fortinet have discovered a command and control server for the 'DroidKungFu' Android trojan that appears to be a mobile… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/droidkungfu-command-and-control-server-may-be-mobile-device/

Exploit kit targets customers of air travel websites

SpyEye configuration intercepts personal data submitted to legitimate websites.
SpyEye configuration intercepts personal data submitted to legitimate websites. Security researchers have uncovered a version of the 'SpyEye' trojan that steals credit card and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/exploit-kit-targets-customers-air-travel-websites/

Botnet rented for online extortion

Man who threatened World Cup bookmakers with DDoS attack convicted.
Man who threatened World Cup bookmakers with DDoS attack convicted. A German man who hired a botnet and used it to threaten bookmakers with DDoS attacks during the 2010 FIFA World… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/botnet-rented-online-extortion/

Sophos red flags Google Analytics

Popular analytics tool mistakenly flagged as 'high risk'.
Popular analytics tool mistakenly flagged as 'high risk'. Security firm Sophos had an embarrassing moment this morning when its scanner flagged Google Analytics as malicious.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/sophos-red-flags-google-analytics/

US court: passwords reasonable security for online banking

Security question considered second authentication factor.
Security question considered second authentication factor. A US court has declared that a combination of passwords and 'security questions' is an ample way for banks to protect… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/us-court-passwords-reasonable-security-online-banking/

Malicious PHP script hides bad stuff inside 'white-space'

Spaces and tabs used to encode into binary.
Spaces and tabs used to encode into binary. Researchers at Kaspersky have discovered a malicious PHP script that uses an inventive way to obfuscate its malicious behaviour. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/malicious-php-script-hides-bad-stuff-inside-white-space/

Banking malware hosted on Amazon's cloud servers

Trojan targets mostly Brazilian banks.
Trojan targets mostly Brazilian banks. Researchers have discovered malware hosted on Amazon Web Services that steals victims' bank account data. Acting as a rootkit, the malware… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/banking-malware-hosted-amazon-s-cloud-servers/

Facebook scam serving malware

Attack targeting Windows and Mac users in US and UK.
Attack targeting Windows and Mac users in US and UK. A Facebook scam that is doing the rounds at the moment - claiming to contain a 'freaky video' related to the ongoing case… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/facebook-scam-serving-malware/

June issue of VB published

The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The June 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/june-issue-vb-published/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/

95% of spam monetized through three banks

Financial infrastructure possible bottleneck for spammers.
Financial infrastructure possible bottleneck for spammers. In a recently published paper, researchers from the University of California found that 95 per cent of spamvertised… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/95-spam-monetized-through-three-banks/

Spammers use unicode trick to manipulate file names

Windows executable appears to be Word document.
Windows executable appears to be Word document. An unicode trick that reverses the order of some characters has been used by spammers to disguise malicious attachments as harmless… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/spammers-use-unicode-trick-manipulate-file-names/

Zeus source code leaked

Banking trojan among the most advanced of its kind.
Banking trojan among the most advanced of its kind. Researchers at Danish security firm CSIS have discovered that the full source code of the Zeus crime kit has been leaked to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/zeus-source-code-leaked/

Canada new hotbed for cybercriminal activity

Country's IP addresses less likely to be scrutinized.
Country's IP addresses less likely to be scrutinized. Security firm Websense has reported a significant increase in cybercrime originating in Canada. Hitherto, Canada and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/canada-new-hotbed-cybercriminal-activity/

Smile, you're on a botnet!

Multi-platform Java botnet allows for remote control of webcam and microphone.
Multi-platform Java botnet allows for remote control of webcam and microphone. Researchers have discovered a multi-platform botnet running on the Java Runtime Environment (JRE)… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/smile-you-re-botnet/

May issue of VB published

The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The May 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/may-issue-vb-published/

May

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/

VB announces Virus Bulletin for Kindle

VB joins the e-book generation.
VB joins the e-book generation. With millions of people now using e-book readers as a convenient way to read while on the go - or simply to cut down on bookshelf space - VB is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/vb-announces-kindle/

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.