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.

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VB2015 paper: VolatilityBot: Malicious Code Extraction Made by and for Security Researchers

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.

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VB2016 programme announced, registration opened

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.

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New tool helps ransomware victims indentify the malware family

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.

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It's fine for vulnerabilities to have names — we just need not to take them too seriously

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.

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Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

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.

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Paper: All Your Meetings Are Belong to Us: Remote Code Execution in Apache OpenMeetings

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.

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Throwback Thursday: 'In the Beginning was the Word...'

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.

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VB2016 Call for Papers Deadline

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.

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How broken is SHA-1 really?

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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Record breaking 60 anti-malware products undergo VB100 testing on Windows XP

One third fail to gain certification.
One third fail to gain certification. Virus Bulletin has completed its largest ever test of anti-malware products, with a phenomenal 60 products being tested on Windows XP. 40 of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/04/record-breaking-60-anti-malware-products-undergo-testing-windows-xp/

April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/04/

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 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/04/april-issue-vb-published/

VB2010 conference programme announced

Schedule for Vancouver security conference announced after bumper crop of submissions.
Schedule for Vancouver security conference announced after bumper crop of submissions. Following a bumper crop of submissions, the VB2010 conference committee is pleased to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/conference-programme-announced/

Estonian virus writer sent to jail

Author of Allapple virus sentenced.
Author of Allapple virus sentenced. An Estonian man has been found guilty of creating and distributing the Allapple virus, and sentenced to a little over two and a half years in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/estonian-virus-writer-sent-jail/

Morphing PDFs in new SEO poisoning trick

Harmless documents replaced by web pages containing malicious code.
Harmless documents replaced by web pages containing malicious code. Researchers at F-Secure have discovered a new SEO poisoning trick in which attackers put harmless PDFs on a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/morphing-pdfs-new-seo-poisoning-trick/

Botnet taken down as ringleaders are arrested

'Mariposa' included almost 13 million zombies.
'Mariposa' included almost 13 million zombies. Spanish authorities have managed to take down the Mariposa botnet - one of the largest of its kind which is believed to have infected… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/botnet-taken-down-ringleaders-are-arrested/

March issue of VB published

The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The March 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/march-issue-vb-published/

March

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/

Spammers move from China to Russia

Stricter rules on registering .cn domains leads to increase in malicious .ru domains.
Stricter rules on registering .cn domains leads to increase in malicious .ru domains. A change in the rules of the organization responsible for registering .cn domains has resulted… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/spammers-move-china-russia/

Nearly 20% still running IE 6

VB poll finds users still running outdated browser despite campaigns to boycott it.
VB poll finds users still running outdated browser despite campaigns to boycott it. Despite widespread calls to boycott IE 6 and Microsoft's plans to retire support for the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/nearly-20-still-running-ie-6/

Out-of-band patch release from Adobe

Unscheduled update released by Adobe.
Unscheduled update released by Adobe.Adobe has released an unscheduled patch for its Reader and Acrobat programs to address some critical flaws. The software company's fixes… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/out-band-patch-release-adobe/

Warrant issued for arrest of cyclist turned hacker

Cyclist accused of planting trojan at dope testing lab.
Cyclist accused of planting trojan at dope testing lab. A French judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of US cyclist Floyd Landis in connection with a computer hacking case.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/warrant-issued-arrest-cyclist-turned-hacker/

Patch Tuesday release includes 13 bulletins

26 vulnerabilities featured in sizeable update set.
26 vulnerabilities featured in sizeable update set. After a relatively quiet January, administrators are faced with a hefty workload this week as Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/patch-tuesday-release-includes-13-bulletins/

February

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/

February issue of VB published

The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The February 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/february-issue-vb-published/

EU report suggests 95% of email is spam

Less than five per cent of all SMTP connections result in an email being delivered into a user's inbox.
Less than five per cent of all SMTP connections result in an email being delivered into a user's inbox. A survey carried out by the European Network and Information Security Agency… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/01/eu-report-suggests-95-email-spam/

January

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/01/

January issue of VB published

The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The January 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/01/january-issue-vb-published/

2010

Latest news from the anti-virus industry provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
NewsHefty Patch Tuesday bulletin rounds off bumper yearNo sign of an end to vulnerability glut. 15 December 2010Chinese whispers of malware writing and bribery in the industryAs… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/

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