VB Blog

Paying a malware ransom is bad, but telling people never to do it is unhelpful advice

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 26, 2016

The current ransomware plague is one of the worst threats the Internet has seen and it is unlikely to go away any time soon. But telling people to never pay the ransom is unhelpful advice.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 22, 2016

In his VB2015 paper, Martin Korman presented his 'VolatilyBot' tool, which extracts malicious code from packed binaries, leveraging the functionality of the Volatility Framework.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 21, 2016

We have announced 37 papers (and four reserve papers) that will be presented at VB2016 in Denver, Colorado, USA in October. Registration for the conference has opened; make sure you register before 1 July to benefit from a 10% early bird discount.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 15, 2016

The people behind the MalwareHunterTeam have released a tool that helps victims of ransomware identify which of more than 50 families has infected their system, something which could help them find a tool to decrypt their files.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 13, 2016

The PR campaign around the Badlock vulnerability backfired when it turned out that the vulnerability wasn't as serious as had been suggested. But naming vulnerabilities can actually be helpful and certainly shouldn't hurt.

Posted by Helen Martin on Apr 7, 2016

The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, recording the number of incidents of each virus reported to VB in the preceding month. In August 2000, Denis Zenkin, a self-confessed virus prevalence table junkie, shared his findings following a study of the virus prevalence tables over the preceding few years, allowing him to determine the top ten viruses of the period, the top viruses by type and the viruses of the year.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 30, 2016

Security researcher Andreas Lindh recently found a vulnerability in Apache OpenMeetings that could allow remote code execution on a vulnerable server. Andreas reported the vulnerability to the OpenMeetings developers and, once it had been patched, he wrote up the details.

Posted by Helen Martin on Mar 24, 2016

Word and Excel’s internal file formats used to be something in which few were interested – until macro viruses came along and changed all that. In 1996, Andrew Krukov provided an overview of the new breed of viruses.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 18, 2016

You have until the early hours (GMT) of Monday 21 March to submit an abstract for VB2016! The VB2016 programme will be announced in the first week of April.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 15, 2016

SHA-1 collisions may be found in the next few months, but that doesn't mean that fake SHA-1-based certificates will be created in the near future. Nevertheless, it is time for everyone, and those working in security in particular, to move away from outdated hash functions.

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VB2019 paper: A study of Machete cyber espionage operations in Latin America

At VB2019 in London a group of researchers from the Stratosphere Lab at the Czech Technical University in Prague presented a paper in which they analysed and dissected the cyber espionage activities of an APT group in Latin America through the analysis of…
A study of Machete cyber espionage operations in Latin America Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) Latin America has long been a hotbed for… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/vb2019-paper-study-machete-cyber-espionage-operations-latin-america/

VB2019 paper: The push from fiction for increased surveillance, and its impact on privacy

In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, researchers Miriam Cihodariu (Heimdal Security) and Andrei Bogdan Brad (Code4Romania) looked at how surveillance is represented in fiction and how these representations are shaping people's attitudes to surveillan…
Levels of anxiety over technology and interconnectedness are growing. People are becoming increasingly concerned about privacy, and wary that every gadget or app… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/vb2019-paper-push-fiction-increased-surveillance-and-its-impact-privacy/

December

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/

VB2019 paper: Oops! It happened again!

At VB2019 in London industry veterans Righard Zwienenberg and Eddy Willems took a detailed look at the relationship between past and current cyber threats. Today, we publish both their paper and the recording of their presentation.
Oops! It happened again! Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) Different forms of malware and cyber threats are constantly making the news headlines,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/vb2019-paper-oops-it-happened-again/

Job vacancy at VB: Security Evangelist

Virus Bulletin is recruiting for a person to be the public face of the company
Virus Bulletin is a small company with a largely remote team based all over Europe that is placed at the heart of the IT security industry. Through its product testing, annual… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/job-vacancy-vb-security-evangelist/

VB2019 video: Thwarting Emotet email conversation thread hijacking with clustering

At VB2019 in London, ZEROSPAM researchers Pierre-Luc Vaudry and Olivier Coutu discussed how email clustering could be used to detect malicious Emotet emails that hijacked existing email threads. Today we publish the recording of their presentation.
Having returned from its summer break, Emotet is once again being used as the first stage of many often prominent and costly malware infections. A detailed analysis of the malware… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-video-thwarting-emotet-email-conversation-thread-hijacking-clustering/

VB2019 paper: A vine climbing over the Great Firewall: a long-term attack against China

Today we publish a VB2019 paper from Lion Gu and Bowen Pan from the Qi An Xin Threat Intelligence Center in China in which they analysed an APT group dubbed 'Poison Vine', which targeted various government, military and research institutes in China.
A vine climbing over the Great Firewall: a long-term attack against China Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) The global nature of both the Virus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-vine-climbing-over-great-firewall-long-term-attack-against-china/

VB2019 paper: Fantastic Information and Where to Find it: A guidebook to open-source OT reconnaissance

A VB2019 paper by FireEye researcher Daniel Kapellmann Zafra explained how open source intelligence (OSINT) can be used to learn crucial details of the inner workings of many a system. Today we publish Daniel's paper and the recording of his presentation.
Fantastic information and where to find it: a guidebook to open-source OT reconnaissance Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) Ever since Stuxnet was… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-fantastic-information-and-where-find-it-guidebook-open-source-ot-reconnaissance/

VB2019 paper: Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) analysed in depth

Though active for not much longer than a year, GandCrab had been one of the most successful ransomware operations. In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, McAfee researchers John Fokker and Alexandre Mundo looked at the malware code, its evolution and t…
Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) analysed in depth Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) Though active for not… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-different-ways-cook-crab-gandcrab-ransomware-service-raas-analysed-depth/

VB2019 paper: Domestic Kitten: an Iranian surveillance program

At VB2019 in London, Check Point researchers Aseel Kayal and Lotem Finkelstein presented a paper detailing an Iranian operation they named 'Domestic Kitten' that used Android apps for targeted surveillance. Today we publish their paper and the video of th…
Domestic Kitten: an Iranian surveillance program Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) In September last year, researchers at Check Point uncovered… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-d/

VB2019 video: Discretion in APT: recent APT attack on crypto exchange employees

At VB2019 in London, LINE's HeungSoo Kang explained how cryptocurrency exchanges had been attacked using Firefox zero-days. Today, we publish the video of his presentation.
In June, employees at cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase were targeted by emails linking to a website that used two zero-day vulnerabilities in the Firefox browser to deliver macOS… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-video-discretion-apt-recent-apt-attack-crypto-exchange-employees/

VB2019 paper: DNS on fire

In a paper presented at VB2019, Cisco Talos researchers Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres looked at two recent attacks against DNS infrastructure: DNSpionage and Sea Turtle. Today we publish their paper and the recording of their presentation.
DNS on fire Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) The "phonebook of the Internet" has well outlived physical phonebooks, but that doesn't mean DNS is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-dns-fire/

German Dridex spam campaign is unfashionably large

VB has analysed a malicious spam campaign targeting German-speaking users with obfuscated Excel malware that would likely download Dridex but that mostly stood out through its size.
This research was performed by Martijn Grooten, Peter Karsai and Ionuț Răileanu. On this blog we have regularly reported on the tendency among malicious spam campaigns to be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/german-malspam-campaign-unfashionably-large/

Paper: Dexofuzzy: Android malware similarity clustering method using opcode sequence

We publish a paper by researchers from ESTsecurity in South Korea, who describe a fuzzy hashing algorithm for clustering Android malware datasets.
The sharp rise in Android malware in recent years has led security researchers to look for efficient ways to cluster related samples, especially since the tools used for Windows… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/paper-dexofuzzy-android-malware-similarity-clustering-method-using-opcode-sequence/

Emotet continues to bypass many email security products

Having returned from a summer hiatus, Emotet is back targeting inboxes and, as seen in the VBSpam test lab, doing a better job than most other malicious campaigns at bypassing email security products.
Emails with a malicious link or attachment form only a small minority of the spam that is sent every day. If it appears that such emails are more common than that, it is not just… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/emotet-continues-bypass-many-email-security-products/

November

https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/

VB2019 paper: We need to talk - opening a discussion about ethics in infosec

Those working in the field of infosec are often faced with ethical dilemmas that are impossible to avoid. Today, we publish a VB2019 paper by Kaspersky researcher Ivan Kwiatkowski looking at ethics in infosec as well as the recording of Ivan's presentatio…
We need to talk – opening a discussion about ethics in infosec Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) If infosec was ever a subject with little… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-we-need-talk-opening-discussion-about-ethics-infosec/

Stalkerware poses particular challenges to anti-virus products

Malware used in domestic abuse situations is a growing threat, and the standard way for anti-virus products to handle such malware may not be good enough. But that doesn't mean there isn't an important role for anti-virus to play.
Did you know that October has been Cyber Security Awareness Month? Of course you did ─ it has been pretty hard to avoid it. But did you know that it has also, at least in the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/stalkerware-poses-particular-challenges-anti-virus-products/

VB2019 videos: partner presentations

Today, we publish the videos of the VB2019 partner presentations by Michael Maltsev (Reason Cybersecurity) on webcam interception and protection, and by Jean-Ian Boutin and Anton Cherepanov (ESET) on the Buhtrap group.
With the final day of VB2019 three weeks behind us, we want to thank once again the 21 partners and sponsors of the conference for their support. In supporting the conference, the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb2019-videos-partner-presentations/

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

Today we publish the VB2019 paper by RiskIQ researcher Yonathan Klijnsma, who looked at the Magecart web-skimming attacks.
Magecart is an umbrella-term for various groups that engage in placing JavaScript code on e-commerce sites to steal credit card info. Magecart attacks go back almost… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb2019-paper-inside-magecart-history-behind-covert-card-skimming-assault-e-commerce-industry/

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