VB Blog

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 22, 2019

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.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 21, 2019

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 the affiliate scheme behind it. Today we publish both their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Domestic Kitten: an Iranian surveillance program

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 18, 2019

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 their presentation.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 18, 2019

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.

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VB2019 paper: DNS on fire

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 7, 2019

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.

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German Dridex spam campaign is unfashionably large

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 6, 2019

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.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 5, 2019

We publish a paper by researchers from ESTsecurity in South Korea, who describe a fuzzy hashing algorithm for clustering Android malware datasets.

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Emotet continues to bypass many email security products

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 4, 2019

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.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 1, 2019

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 presentation.

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Stalkerware poses particular challenges to anti-virus products

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 31, 2019

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.

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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/

DNS flaw exploitation danger growing

Slow patchers targeted by sophisticated attacks.
Slow patchers targeted by sophisticated attacks. The serious vulnerability in the implementation of DNS systems has been targeted by malicious attacks, as security watchers have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/08/dns-flaw-exploitation-danger-growing/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

Spammers turn to DoubleClick for open redirect

Loophole in Google's AdSense solved, but new flaw quickly uncovered.
Loophole in Google's AdSense solved, but new flaw quickly uncovered. The good name of web giant Google continues to be a popular source of legitimacy among spammers, despite their… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/spammers-turn-doubleclick-open-redirect/

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/

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