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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VB tests the web security products that play an important role in fending off web-based threats

The web continues to be a major infection vector for malware and credential-stealing threats. In the VBWeb tests, we measure products' ability to block such threats and certify products that perform a good job at doing so.
The web continues to be a major infection vector for individuals and organisations alike. Though the number of drive-by download attacks (often through exploit kits) is down from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb-tests-web-security-products-play-important-role-fending-web-based-threats/

VB2019 papers: Emotet and Ryuk

Today we publish VB2019 papers by Luca Nagy (Sophos) on Emotet and Gabriela Nicolao and Luciano Martins (Deloitte) on Ryuk, as well as the corresponding videos of their presentations.
Shinigami’s revenge: the long tail of the Ryuk malware Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF)   Exploring Emotet, an elaborate everyday enigma Read the paper… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb2019-papers-emotet-and-ryuk/

Responsible madness?

The debate on responsible disclosure is about as old as IT security itself. In a guest post for Virus Bulletin Robert Neumann suggests we need to reconsider a one-size-fits-all solution and instead look for a well-respected independent organization to han…
The debate on responsible disclosure is about as old as IT security itself. In a guest post for Virus Bulletin Robert Neumann suggests we need to reconsider a one-size-fits-all… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/responsible-madness/

VB2019 paper: Geost botnet. The story of the discovery of a new Android banking trojan from an OpSec error

OpSec mistakes are what lead to many malware discoveries, and in the case of the Geost Android botnet the mistake was a really interesting one. Today we publish the VB2019 paper by Sebastian García, Maria Jose Erquiaga and Anna Shirokova on the Geost botn…
Geost botnet. The story of the discovery of a new Android banking trojan from an OpSec error Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF)       OpSec mistakes… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb2019-paper-geost-botnet-story-discovery-new-android-banking-trojan-opsec-error/

Analysis of malware responsible for sextortion spam that mines for Monero on the side

VB2019 Platinum partner Reason Cybersecurity presents a threat analysis report on the Save Yourself malware.
Reason Cybersecurity was one of the Platinum partners of VB2019. After a guest blog post published earlier this month, their researchers have written an analysis of malware they… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/analysis-malware-responsible-sextortion-spam-mines-monero-side/

Guest blog: Threat intelligence – a unifying force of the future

In a guest blog post VB2019 Platinum partner Reason Cybersecurity looks to the future of threat intelligence.
In a guest blog post VB2019 Platinum partner Reason Cybersecurity looks to the future of threat intelligence.   The advent of the Internet and Internet-enabled technologies… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/guest-blog-threat-intelligence-unifying-force-future/

Guest blog: Why we should be paying more attention to Linux threats

In a guest blog post VB2019 Silver partner Intezer outlines the importance of paying attention to Linux threats.
In a guest blog post VB2019 Silver partner Intezer outlines the importance of paying more attention to Linux threats.   In a previous blog post written for the Retail and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/guest-blog-why-we-should-be-paying-more-attention-linux-threats/

New Emotet spam campaign continues to bypass email security products

On Monday, the infamous Emotet malware resumed its spam campaign to spread the latest version of the malware. As before, the malware successfully bypasses many email security products.
Following the resumption of activity by Emotet's C&C servers in August, it was only a matter of time before the botnet started sending out spam again. This did indeed happen on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/new-emotet-spam-campaign-continues-bypass-email-security-products/

Book review: Cyberdanger: Understanding and Guarding Against Cybercrime

Security researcher Paul Baccas reviews Eddy Willems' book 'Cyberdanger'.
 Security researcher Paul Baccas reviews 'Cyberdanger: Understanding and Guarding Against Cybercrime' by Eddy Willems   Title: Cyberdanger: Understanding and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/book-review-cyberdanger-understanding-and-guarding-against-cybercrime/

Programme for VB2019 Threat Intelligence Practitioners' Summit announced

In the mini-summit, which forms part of VB2019 (the 29th Virus Bulletin International Conference), eight sessions will focus on all aspects of threat intelligence collecting, using and sharing.
In its almost 30-year history, the Virus Bulletin Conference has evolved to become perhaps the most international threat intelligence event of the year. This is yet again… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/programme-vb2019-threat-intelligence-practitioners-summit-announced/

Guest blog: TotalAV uncovers the world’s first ransomware

In a guest blog post by VB2019 Silver partner TotalAV, Matthew Curd, the software’s Technical Expert, considers the changes in the cybersecurity landscape.
In a guest blog post by VB2019 Silver partner TotalAV, Matthew Curd, the software’s Technical Expert, considers the changes in the cybersecurity landscape. Rediscovered in an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/guest-blog-totalav-uncovers-worlds-first-ransomware/

VB2019 preview: Small Talks

We preview the five Small Talks on the VB2019 programme in which important topics are discussed in a less formal atmosphere.
Those who attend security conferences know the importance of 'hallcon': the conversations that take place in the corridors in between sessions or sometimes between people who have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/vb2019-preview-small-talks/

Guest blog: Targeted attacks with public tools

Over the last few years SE Labs has tested more than 50 different security products against over 5,000 targeted attacks. In this guest blog post Stefan Dumitrascu, Chief Technical Officer at SE Labs, looks at the different attack tools available, how effe…
Over the last few years, SE Labs has tested more than 50 different security products against over 5,000 targeted attacks. In this guest blog post Stefan Dumitrascu, Chief… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/guest-blog-targeted-attacks-public-tools/

VB2019 preview: Problem child: common patterns in malicious parent-child relationships

We preview the VB2019 paper by Endgame researcher Bobby Filar, who created a graph-based framework designed to detect malicious use of legitimate binaries through parent-child relationships.
Living-off-the-land binaries, often referred to as LOLbins, are legitimate (Windows) binaries used for malicious purposes. Their use has increased in malware campaigns in recent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/vb2019-preview-problem-child-common-patterns-malicious-parent-child-relationships/

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

We preview the VB2019 paper by RiskIQ researcher Yonathan Klijnsma on the Magecart web skimming attacks.
Half a decade ago, breaches of point-of-sale (POS) systems were a real plague, especially in North America, with the 2013 Target breach perhaps the best known example. Though… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/vb2019-preview-inside-magecart-history-behind-covert-card-skimming-assault-e-commerce-industry/

VB2019 call for last-minute papers closes on Sunday (1 Sept)

Your last chance to get a speaking slot on the VB2019 programme with a talk on hot research!
The majority of the VB2019 programme was announced in April, and though we like to see VB as a conference that looks beyond the hype, we are more than a little proud that several… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/vb2019-call-last-minute-papers-closes-sunday-1st-sept/

21 organisations partner with VB2019

Record number of partner organisations for the Virus Bulletin Conference reflects very broad and international event.
Three months after we announced the first 14 partners and supporting organisations for VB2019, the 29th Virus Bulletin Conference, seven more organisations have signed up to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/21-organisations-partner-vb2019/

VB2019 preview: Exploring Emotet, an elaborate everyday enigma

We preview the VB2019 paper by Sophos researcher Luca Nagy, who dives deeply into the notorious Emotet malware.
Active since 2014, initially as a banking trojan, Emotet has been a plague on the Internet in recent years. Emotet's core strength is its ability to download other malware, thus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/vb2019-preview-exploring-emotet-elaborate-everyday-enigma/

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