VB Blog

Paper: New Keylogger on the Block

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 5, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Sophos researcher Gabor Szappanos takes a look at the KeyBase keylogger, sold as a commercial product and popular among cybercriminals who use it in Office exploit kits.

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BSides Denver to take place the day after VB2016

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2016

VB2016, the 26th International Virus Bulletin conference, is an excellent reason to go to Denver, Colorado in the first week of October. But there is another reason to come to Denver: BSides Denver, which will take place the day after VB2016, on Saturday 8 October 2016.

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VB2015 paper: DDoS Trojan: A Malicious Concept that Conquered the ELF Format

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 13, 2016

In their VB2015 paper, Peter Kálnai and Jaromír Hořejší look at the current state of DDoS trojans forming covert botnets on unsuspecting systems. The paper provides a technical analysis of the most important malware families, focusing on infection methods, dynamic behaviour, C&C communication, obfuscation techniques, advanced methods of persistence and stealth, and elimination of rivals.

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Throwback Thursday: Hyppönen, that Data Fellow / Finnish Sprayer

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 2, 2016

This week, well known and universally respected industry guru Mikko Hyppönen celebrates his 25th anniversary of working at F-Secure (formerly known as Data Fellows). VB takes a look back in the archives at two articles published in 1994: an "insight" into the life and work of the then rising star of the anti-virus world, and a virus analysis penned by the man himself.

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VB2015 paper: Economic Sanctions on Malware

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 1, 2016

Financial pressure can be a proactive and potentially very effective tool in making our computer ecosystems safer. By cleverly employing various trust metrics and technologies such as digital signing, watermarking, and public-key infrastructure in strategically selected places, we can encourage good behaviours and punish bad ones. In his VB2015 paper, Igor Muttik analyses and gives examples of technologies (certificates, credentials, etc.) to de-incentivize bad behaviours in several ecosystems (Windows, Android, iOS).

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Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 26, 2016

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.

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Throwback Thursday: One_Half: The Lieutenant Commander?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 26, 2016

In October 1994, a new multi-partite virus appeared, using some of the techniques developed by the Dark Avenger in Commander_Bomber. As if this were not enough, the One_Half virus could also encrypt vital parts of the fixed disk. Eugene Kaspersky provided a detailed analysis.

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Advertisements on Blogspot sites lead to support scam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2016

Support scam pop-ups presented through malicious advertisements show that, next to vulnerable end points, gullible users remain an easy source of money for online criminals.

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To make Tor work better on the web, we need to be honest about it

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 6, 2016

Many websites put barriers in front of visitors who use the Tor network. If we want to make the web more accessible through Tor, we need to be honest about why this is done, rather than cry wolf about a dislike for privacy, Martijn Grooten says.

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Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

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August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/08/

McAfee buys data loss firm Reconnex

$46 million acquisition announced as strong profit report released.
$46 million acquisition announced as strong profit report released.McAfee has announced its official agreement to purchase privately owned data loss prevention firm Reconnex, in a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/08/mcafee-buys-data-loss-firm-reconnex/

Sophos makes move to buy Utimaco

€217 million bid launched for encryption specialist.
€217 million bid launched for encryption specialist. Security light-heavyweight Sophos has issued official notice of its intention to buy German encryption firm Utimaco, in a share… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/sophos-makes-move-buy-utimaco/

Patch Tuesday sees serious DNS flaws fixed

Nothing marked critical, but some very important patches issued.
Nothing marked critical, but some very important patches issued.Microsoft's latest 'Patch Tuesday' round of security updates for once contains no bulletins marked as 'critical',… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/patch-tuesday-sees-serious-dns-flaws-fixed/

Storm mails bring spoof World War 3 news

US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage.
US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage. The Storm botnet has been spamming in force again in the past week, with its expected run targeting 4th of July celebrations in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/storm-mails-bring-spoof-world-war-3-news/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/

July issue of VB published

The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The July 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/july-issue-vb-published/

China hosting over half of malicious sites

StopBadware.org report highlights Chinese dominance in web malware.
StopBadware.org report highlights Chinese dominance in web malware. A report from StopBadware.org released last week found that 52% of malicious websites were hosted in China, with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/china-hosting-over-half-malicious-sites/

MAAWG unveils spam and botnet battling policies

Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines.
Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines. Global collaboration body the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has ratified a set of guidelines… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/maawg-unveils-spam-and-botnet-battling-policies/

Macs under attack from trojan double whammy

Two new threats in a week spark worries of approaching Mac malware era.
Two new threats in a week spark worries of approaching Mac malware era. Users of Apple Mac systems, who have so far only suffered from minimal attention from malware creators, may… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/macs-under-attack-trojan-double-whammy/

LinkScanner could be behind surge in web traffic

Traffic analysts worry as AVG implements web scanning technology.
Traffic analysts worry as AVG implements web scanning technology.AVG's LinkScanner technology, added to its portfolio after the acquisition of Exploit Prevention Labs last… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/linkscanner-could-be-behind-surge-web-traffic/

Yet more data leaks in UK public services

Confidential health service info exposed after theft.
Confidential health service info exposed after theft. Despite a wealth of recent incidents of data loss from various areas of the UK's public services, including data sent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/yet-more-data-leaks-uk-public-services/

Trojan-to-worm automation tool spotted

GUI gizmo adds extra spreading menace to any malware.
GUI gizmo adds extra spreading menace to any malware. Researchers at Panda have discovered a simple and colourful graphical application designed to add basic worm techniques to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/trojan-worm-automation-tool-spotted/

Spyware gang sneaks millions from SA government

32 arrested but South Africa theft scam thought to be ongoing.
32 arrested but South Africa theft scam thought to be ongoing. An orchestrated series of spyware infiltrations has netted scammers over £12.8 million ($24.7 million) from the South… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/spyware-gang-sneaks-millions-sa-government/

41 months plus hefty fine for botherder

Cross-border operation brings adware crook to book.
Cross-border operation brings adware crook to book. A Florida man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and fined $65,000 (approx. £32,000) after implanting bot software on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/41-months-plus-hefty-fine-botherder/

Microsoft releases latest Patch Tuesday fixes

7 vulnerabilities, 3 critical, addressed in June security update.
7 vulnerabilities, 3 critical, addressed in June security update.Microsoft has issued its monthly 'Patch Tuesday' set of security fixes, with seven separate areas covered of which… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/microsoft-releases-latest-patch-tuesday-fixes/

File encryption blackmail scam returns

Kaspersky warns of new and nasty data-ransom trojan.
Kaspersky warns of new and nasty data-ransom trojan. Malware analysts at Kaspersky Lab have warned of the return of the 'Gpcoder' trojan, a nasty piece of 'ransomware' which… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/file-encryption-blackmail-scam-returns/

Sourcefire turns down $186 million takeover bid

Unsolicited offer from Barracuda Networks rejected.
Unsolicited offer from Barracuda Networks rejected.Sourcefire, the open source specialists behind the popular Snort intrusion prevention system and backer of the ClamAV open-source… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/sourcefire-turns-down-186-million-takeover-bid/

Microsoft increases pressure on Apple to fix Safari blended threat

'Carpet bombing' vulnerability more serious than Apple claims, MS warns.
'Carpet bombing' vulnerability more serious than Apple claims, MS warns.Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer has come under frequent criticism for security vulnerabilities, has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/microsoft-increases-pressure-apple-fix-safari-blended-threat/

Spam and ID theft attacked from all sides

EU body issues warning, ICANN, Japan and Yahoo! take on spammers and phishers.
EU body issues warning, ICANN, Japan and Yahoo! take on spammers and phishers. Last week a series of major institutions took action highlighting the threat of spam and phishing,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/spam-and-id-theft-attacked-all-sides/

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