VB Blog

VB2016 Call for Papers - Frequently Asked Questions

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 11, 2016

Are you interested in submitting an abstract for VB2016? We've answered some frequently asked questions about the Call for Papers, which closes next week.

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Throwback Thursday: Hash Woes

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Mar 10, 2016

This Throwback Thursday we go back to 2004, when the entire crypto community was abuzz with the news that a group of Chinese researchers had demonstrated flaws in a whole set of hash functions - VB took a closer look to clarify the situation and draw lessons from the incident.

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VB2015 paper: Mobile Banking Fraud via SMS in North America: Who's Doing it and How

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 2, 2016

Though SMS may have been claimed dead many time, it is still very much alive, and quite popular among mobile phishers. At VB2015, Adaptive Mobile researcher Cathal Mc Daid presented a paper various mobile phishing campaigns targeting North American banks.

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Throwback Thursday: Viruses on the Internet

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 25, 2016

This Throwback Thursday VB heads back to 1996 when - long before the days of driveby downloads and exploit kits - VB published a report on the state of viruses on the Internet.

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RSA and BSides San Francisco

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 24, 2016

Next week, Virus Bulletin Editor Martijn Grooten will attend the RSA conference in San Francisco, where he will give a talk entitled "How Broken Is Our Crypto Really?" He will also speak at BSides San Francisco, where he will give a talk entitled "Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Those Who are Afraid of Mathematics".

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Virus Bulletin publishes first web filter test report

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 19, 2016

After a lot of preparation, Virus Bulletin is proud to have published the first "VBWeb" comparative web filter test report, in which products' ability to block web-based malware and drive-by downloads was tested. Fortinet's FortiGuard appliance was the first product to achieve a VBWeb certification.

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VB2015 paper: Will Android Trojans, Worms or Rootkits Survive in SEAndroid and Containerization?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 18, 2016

Sophos researchers Rowland Yu and William Lee look at whether recent security enhancements to Android, such as SEAndroid and containerization, will be enough to defeat future malware threats.

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First six VB2016 sponsors announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 17, 2016

Virus Bulletin is excited to announce the first six sponsors for VB2016, the 26th international Virus Bulletin conference, which will take place in Denver, Colorado, USA 5-7 October 2016.

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VB2015 paper: Sizing cybercrime: incidents and accidents, hints and allegations

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 11, 2016

Cybercrime is big. But how big is it really? In a paper presented at VB2015 and together with the presentation video published on our website today, ESET researcher Stephen Cobb looks at previous studies that attempt the size of cybercrime and asks why we need such data and what can be done better.

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Throwback Thursday: The Thin Blue Line

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 11, 2016

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1994 when UK Fraud Squad detectives started making inroads into the most puzzling 'Whodunnit' since the Great Train Robbery. Had an outbreak of computer crime swept Britain? No, it was all part of a police training program.

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Scammers take advantage of Epsilon data breach

Trojan hidden as security tool for affected customers.
Trojan hidden as security tool for affected customers. Scammers are currently taking advantage of the data breach that affected email security provider Epsilon recently, by… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/scammers-take-advantage-epsilon-data-breach/

Department of Justice shuts down Coreflood botnet

'Stop' command sent from replaced command and control servers.
'Stop' command sent from replaced command and control servers. Earlier this week the US Department of Justice (DoJ) obtained an unprecedented temporary restraining order (TRO) that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/department-justice-shuts-down-coreflood-botnet/

First AV-Test certifications of 2011 published

22 products scored on multiple scales in quarterly test report.
22 products scored on multiple scales in quarterly test report. Testing organization AV-Test has published its latest round of anti-malware certification tests, with 22 products… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/first-av-test-certifications-2011-published/

Adobe releases emergency update for Flash Player

Zero-day exploit actively being abused.
Zero-day exploit actively being abused.Adobe has announced it will release an update for its Flash Player on Friday 15 April, fixing a vulnerability that is currently being… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/adobe-releases-emergency-update-flash-player/

AV-Comparatives unveils latest on-demand results

20 products rated in large-scale detection tests.
20 products rated in large-scale detection tests. Testing organization AV-Comparatives has revealed the results of its latest on-demand test. Top-rated products include Trustport,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/av-comparatives-unveils-latest-demand-results/

Ransom trojan demands Windows re-activation

Criminals make money through calls to supposedly free phone number.
Criminals make money through calls to supposedly free phone number. A new piece of ransomware has been discovered that shows the PC user a blue screen and asks them to re-activate… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/ransom-trojan-demands-windows-re-activation/

Major email service provider suffers data breach

Financial institutions among affected customers.
Financial institutions among affected customers. Email service provider Epsilon, which carries out email marketing for many major companies, has admitted it has fallen victim to a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/major-email-service-provider-suffers-data-breach/

RSA gives insight into anatomy of attack on its systems

Publicly available information used to spear phish employees.
Publicly available information used to spear phish employees. Security company RSA has released some information about how hackers gained access to its systems, giving a good… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/rsa-gives-insight-anatomy-attack-its-systems/

April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/

April issue of VB published

The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The April 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/april-issue-vb-published/

Keylogger on Samsung laptops proves to be false alarm

AV product wrongly flags malware based on existence of directory.
AV product wrongly flags malware based on existence of directory. A number of security bloggers raised concern yesterday about the apparent presence of a keylogger on Samsung… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/keylogger-samsung-laptops-proves-be-false-alarm/

South Korea proposes to make security software mandatory

Law enables government to search PCs of those who do not comply.
Law enables government to search PCs of those who do not comply. A bill, proposed by a number of South Korean MPs, would make the use of security software mandatory for computer… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/south-korea-proposes-make-security-software-mandatory/

Rogue SSL certificates issued for popular websites

Certificates revoked, but browsers still need to be updated.
Certificates revoked, but browsers still need to be updated.Comodo, a major vendor of SSL certificates, has admitted to one of its affiliates' servers being hacked, leading to nine… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/rogue-ssl-certificates-issued-popular-websites/

Cutwail botnet sent 1.7 trillion spam messages

Operators made several million through botnet.
Operators made several million through botnet. Researchers from The Last Line of Defense and universities in Bochum and Santa Barbara have shared some insight into the workings of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/cutwail-botnet-sent-1-7-trillion-spam-messages/

Spam levels take a nose dive as Rustock apparently taken down - update

Eerie silence from Rustock botnet. Microsoft reported to have co-ordinated take down.
Eerie silence from Rustock botnet. Microsoft reported to have co-ordinated take down. Spam levels have taken a nose dive over the last 24 hours - apparently as a result of a take… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/spam-levels-take-nose-dive-rustock-apparently-taken-down-update/

Increase in use of mobile anti-malware protection

Poll shows smartphone users more likely to use anti-malware protection on their phones than three years ago.
Poll shows smartphone users more likely to use anti-malware protection on their phones than three years ago. In a poll of visitors to the VB website, 57% of smartphone users said… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/increase-use-mobile-anti-malware-protection/

Taking Brain home

Short film features Mikko Hyppönen returning first PC virus to its birthplace.
Short film features Mikko Hyppönen returning first PC virus to its birthplace. Anti-malware vendor F-Secure released a short documentary film this week to mark the 25th anniversary… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/taking-brain-home/

Tsunami response quick among cybercriminals

Miscreants releasing scams, phishing, scareware... within a matter of hours.
Miscreants releasing scams, phishing, scareware... within a matter of hours. As most of the world reels in shock at the devastation caused by this morning's massive earthquake in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/tsunami-response-quick-among-cybercriminals/

Cybercriminals frustrated with botnet trackers

Drastic measures discussed by users of online forum.
Drastic measures discussed by users of online forum. Russian cybercriminals are willing to go to great lengths to frustrate services that hinder botnets created with the ZeuS and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/cybercriminals-frustrated-botnet-trackers/

ENISA calls for revised botnet measurements

EU agency says current measures of botnet threat are misleading.
EU agency says current measures of botnet threat are misleading. European cyber security agency, ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) has called for a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/enisa-calls-revised-botnet-measurements/

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