VB Blog

Throwback Thursday: The Politics of Anti-Virus

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Nov 10, 2016

President-elect of the United States Donald Trump made a number of promises about cybersecurity during his electoral campaign. What comes of those pledges remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: there will be a team of hard-working, dedicated individuals working behind the scenes to protect the computer systems of Federal government agencies, as there have been for years. Back in 1999, VB published a report describing a day in the life of the Affiliated Computer Services Government Solutions Group (ACS GSG) - the group responsible for providing full service computer support to US Federal government agencies across the United States.

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VB2016 paper: The TAO of Automated Iframe Injectors - Building Drive-by Platforms For Fun

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 18, 2016

We publish Aditya K. Sood's VB2016 paper on the use of iframe injectors by cybercriminals to deliver drive-by downloads.

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“Cybersecurity is, at its core, a people problem,” says VB2016 keynote speaker

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 26, 2016

An interview with VB2016’s keynote speaker Christine Whalley - Director, Governance and IT Risk Management at Pfizer

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Throwback Thursday: Following the Breadcrumbs

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Sep 22, 2016

In 1999, Christine Orshesky described how one large organization decided to find out how and where the viruses within it were being obtained so it could do more to protect its networks.

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VB2016 preview: Cryptography mistakes in malware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 15, 2016

At VB2016, two talks will discuss mistakes made by malware authors in cryptographic implementations. Ben Herzog and Yaniv Balmas will present a paper in which they look at a number of these mistakes, while Malwarebytes researcher hasherezade will present a last-minute paper on making use of some of these mistakes to crack ransomware.

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GPS technology is more at risk from cyber attack than ever before, security expert demonstrates at VB2016

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 14, 2016

Next month at VB2016, HPE Security's Oleg Petrovsky will speak about attacks on GPS. We conducted a short interview with Oleg and asked him about GPS, about the conference, and about his ultimate dinner party.

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BSides Denver: Join and Support the Security Community

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2016

If you are coming to VB2016 in Denver, why not spend an extra day in the Mile-High City and join the free BSides Denver conference, which takes place on Saturday?

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VB2016 'Last-Minute' Papers Announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2016

We are excited to announce the addition of the "last-minute" papers to the VB2016 programme: nine presentations covering hot research topics, from OS X attacks to exotic APTs, breaking ransomware and the current state of BGP.

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VB2016 preview: Debugging and Monitoring Malware Network Activities with Haka

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 12, 2016

In a VB2016 paper, Stormshield researchers Benoit Ancel and Mehdi Talbi will present a paper on Haka, a tool that can be used to monitor and debug malware's network communications.

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Paper: Behavioural Detection and Prevention of Malware on OS X

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 12, 2016

In a new paper published through Virus Bulletin, Vincent Van Mieghem presents a novel method for detecting malware on Mac OS X, based on the system calls used by malicious software.

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Search blog

Users of online banking 'should have adequate protection'

New UK banking code says customers who keep their PCs secure will not be responsible for losses due to online theft.
New UK banking code says customers who keep their PCs secure will not be responsible for losses due to online theft. A new banking code launched earlier this week by the British'… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/users-online-banking-should-have-adequate-protection/

Less than 30 per cent of smartphone users have AV installed

Experts disagree on the need for specialist mobile AV protection.
Experts disagree on the need for specialist mobile AV protection. In a poll only 19% of visitors to the VB website said they had anti-malware protection on their mobile phone.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/less-30-cent-smartphone-users-have-av-installed/

Average spam message size at record low

No decrease of bandwidth usage as number of spam messages keeps increasing.
No decrease of bandwidth usage as number of spam messages keeps increasing. The average size of spam messages has decreased to a record low of just over 2KB, security company… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/average-spam-message-size-record-low/

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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/april-issue-vb-published/

April

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/

Almost 90% of Americans feel safe online

Users' confidence does not match up with percentage of properly protected users.
Users' confidence does not match up with percentage of properly protected users. Research by StopBadware.org shows that 88% of Americans say they feel safe online, despite the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/almost-90-americans-feel-safe-online/

April Storm

April Fools' Day emails contain new variant of infamous worm.
April Fools' Day emails contain new variant of infamous worm. Security researchers report a new wave of spam emails being sent out. The emails, which use subject lines such as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/april-storm/

From Simple Mail to Hypertext

HTTP and FTP take over from SMTP as common malware spreading methods.
HTTP and FTP take over from SMTP as common malware spreading methods.A report from F-Secure has highlighted the recent shift in malware spreading methods from email to web-based… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/simple-mail-hypertext/

Access flaw exploited via Word

Microsoft's employees hunting vulnerabilities instead of Easter eggs.
Microsoft's employees hunting vulnerabilities instead of Easter eggs. A buffer overrun vulnerability in Microsoft's Jet Database Engine, the underlying database behind Microsoft… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/access-flaw-exploited-word/

Microsoft acquires Komoku

Anti-rootkit software to become part of Forefront and OneCare.
Anti-rootkit software to become part of Forefront and OneCare. Just before Easter, Microsoft announced it had acquired Komoku, a Maryland-based company that builds anti-rootkit… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/microsoft-acquires-komoku/

Legitimate program becomes trojan downloader

Website of FlashGet attacked; malicious 'update' automatically downloaded.
Website of FlashGet attacked; malicious 'update' automatically downloaded. By hacking into the website of popular Windows download manager FlashGet, cybercriminals have managed to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/legitimate-program-becomes-trojan-downloader/

Hoax email warns about 'nasty virus'

Phony advice causes removal of site from search engines.
Phony advice causes removal of site from search engines. Over the last few days an email, written in German, has been seen circulating warning users about a 'nasty virus' that is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/hoax-email-warns-about-nasty-virus/

More 'trusted sites' carrying iframe danger

Big wave of website infections could affect tens of thousands of sites, Trend Micro latest victim.
Big wave of website infections could affect tens of thousands of sites, Trend Micro latest victim. Earlier this week McAfee reported a major outbreak of website infections, with as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/more-trusted-sites-carrying-iframe-danger/

EU agency research advises sweeping security improvements

ISPs and developers should be held to account, says report.
ISPs and developers should be held to account, says report. A research paper commissioned by the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has called for major… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/eu-agency-research-advises-sweeping-security-improvements/

AV-test.org issues latest figures

In-depth testing covers multiple factors.
In-depth testing covers multiple factors. Independent testing body AV-Test.org has released its latest set of results, with a large group of products tested against a number of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/av-test-org-issues-latest-figures/

Latest Patch Tuesday release

March's Patch Tuesday sees four 'critical' updates.
March's Patch Tuesday sees four 'critical' updates.Microsoft has released its monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security bulletin. This month the bulletin features four 'critical' updates,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/latest-patch-tuesday-release/

Latest AV-Comparatives results released

Detection test shows most products improving.
Detection test shows most products improving. Testers at AV-Comparatives have released their latest set of results, with 16 products pitted against a massive set of over 1.6… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/latest-av-comparatives-results-released/

Cisco announces 'Patch Wednesdays'

Cisco set to embark on regular release cycle.
Cisco set to embark on regular release cycle. Following a trend set by Microsoft's monthly 'Patch Tuesdays' and Oracle's quarterly security updates, networking giant Cisco has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/cisco-announces-patch-wednesdays/

'Olympic' emails contain malicious XLS attachments

Malware writers sprint to use vulnerabilities before next Patch Tuesday.
Malware writers sprint to use vulnerabilities before next Patch Tuesday. Security researchers have reported seeing emails containing XLS attachments designed to exploit a yet… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/olympic-emails-contain-malicious-xls-attachments/

Spammer's free speech defence fails

Appeal against conviction turned down.
Appeal against conviction turned down. US spammer Jeremy Jaynes, the first spammer convicted in a felony case, has had his last appeal against the conviction, brought on freedom of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/spammer-s-free-speech-defence-fails/

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