VB Blog

48 hours after initial reports, many mysteries remain around the latest ransomware/wiper threat

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 29, 2017

Whether you call it Petya, NotPetya, Nyetya or Petna, there are still many mysteries surrounding the malware that has been causing havoc around the world.

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VB2017 Early Bird discount to expire this week

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2017

This week, the Early Bird discount for VB2017 comes to an end - so, for a 10% saving on the cost of full price registration, make sure you register now!

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VB2016 paper: Steam stealers: it's all fun and games until someone's account gets hijacked

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 23, 2017

Last year, Kaspersky Lab researcher Santiago Pontiroli and PwC's Bart Parys presented a VB2016 paper analysing the malicious threats faced by users of the Steam online gaming platform, and highlighting how organized criminals are making money with these profitable schemes. Today, we publish the paper.

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Research paper shows it may be possible to distinguish malware traffic using TLS

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 22, 2017

Researchers at Cisco have published a paper describing how it may be possible to use machine learning to distinguish malware command-and-control traffic using TLS from regular enterprise traffic, and to classify malware families based on their encrypted C&C traffic.

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Is CVE-2017-0199 the new CVE-2012-0158?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 20, 2017

After five years of exploitation in a wide variety of attacks, CVE-2012-0158 may have found a successor in CVE-2017-0199, which is taking the Office exploit scene by storm.

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Review: BSides London 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 19, 2017

Virus Bulletin was a proud sponsor of BSides London 2017 - Martijn Grooten reports on a great event.

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VB2017: one of the most international security conferences

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 15, 2017

It is well known that the problem of cybersecurity is a global one that affects users worldwide - but it's also one that has some unique local flavours. With speakers representing at least 24 countries, VB2017 is one of the most international security conferences on the circuit, allowing attendees to hear the viewpoints of experts from around the world. Register before 1 July and receive a 10% Early Bird discount.

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VB2016 paper: Diving into Pinkslipbot's latest campaign

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 12, 2017

Qakbot or Qbot, is a banking trojan that makes the news every once in a while and was the subject of a VB2016 paper by Intel Security researchers Sanchit Karve, Guilherme Venere and Mark Olea. In it, they provided a detailed analysis of the Pinkslipbot/Qakbot trojan and its then latest campaign. Their full paper is now available to download or read online.

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Book review: Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 2, 2017

VB Editor Martijn Grooten reviews Finn Brunton's book 'Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet'.

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Virus Bulletin to sponsor BSides London

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 1, 2017

Virus Bulletin is proud to be a Silver sponsor of BSides London next week; we look forward to the event and to meeting many security professionals.

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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/

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/

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/

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/

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