VB Blog

Registration for VB2018 now open!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 8, 2018

Registration for VB2018, the 28th International Virus Bulletin conference, is now open, with an early bird rate available until 1 July.

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RSA 2018: the good, the bad, the ugly, the great and the fantastic

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 1, 2018

In April, VB's Martijn Grooten attended the RSA Expo in San Francisco. He shares his views on the expo and the industry.

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Standalone product test: Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 30, 2018

There are a number of security solutions on the market that are designed to increase the default protection provided by Office 365. One such product is the newly launched Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365. Virus Bulletin was commissioned to measure the effectiveness of the Kaspersky product compared to the Office 365 baseline protection.

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GravityRAT malware takes your system's temperature

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 27, 2018

The GravityRAT malware, discovered by Cisco Talos researchers, gives some interesting insight into modern malware development.

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$150k in cryptocurrency stolen through combined BGP-DNS hijack

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 25, 2018

A BGP hijack was used to take over some of Amazon's DNS infrastructure, which was then used to serve a phishing site to users of the MyEtherWallet service.

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Security-focused routers may help to mitigate IoT threats

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 24, 2018

Various security companies are offering security-focused routers. This is a good trend and may help mitigate a lot of the issues that come with the IoT.

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The road to IPv6 is generally smooth but contains a few potholes

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Apr 23, 2018

Most of the switch from IPv4 to IPv6 will happen seamlessly. But we cannot assume it won't introduce new security issues.

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New paper: Powering the distribution of Tesla stealer with PowerShell and VBA macros

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 19, 2018

Since their return four years ago, Office macros have been one of the most common ways to spread malware. Today, we publish a research paper which looks in detail at a campaign in which VBA macros are used to execute PowerShell code, which in turn downloads the Tesla information-stealing trojan.

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VB2017 paper: Android reverse engineering tools: not the usual suspects

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 18, 2018

Within a few years, Android malware has grown from a relatively small threat to a huge problem involving more than three million new malware samples a year. Axelle Apvrille, one of the world's leading Android malware researchers, will deliver a workshop on Android reverse engineering at VB2018 in Montreal this October. Last year, Axelle presented a paper at VB2017 on some of the less common tools that can be used to reverse engineer Android malware. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Axelle's presentation.

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Patch early, patch often, but don't blindly trust every 'patch'

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 16, 2018

Compromised websites are being used to serve fake Flash Player uploads that come with a malicious payload.

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OneCare labels Gmail a virus

Rival webmail system flagged infected by Microsoft AV.
Rival webmail system flagged infected by Microsoft AV. A number of users of Microsoft's anti-virus product Windows Live OneCare have reported being warned of a virus infection when… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/onecare-labels-gmail-virus/

MS releases new Sysinternals utility

Process Monitor combines filemon, regmon into unified analysis tool.
Process Monitor combines filemon, regmon into unified analysis tool.Sysinternals, now 'a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation', has released a new system analysis tool… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/ms-releases-new-sysinternals-utility/

Vista safe without AV, says Allchin

Microsoft chief confident in new security measures.
Microsoft chief confident in new security measures. During a telephone press conference, Microsoft Platform Products and Services Co-president Jim Allchin revealed that he lets his… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/vista-safe-without-av-says-allchin/

More US political spam

Voter persuasion campaign late and sloppy, says Panda
Voter persuasion campaign late and sloppy, says Panda Spam watchers at PandaLabs have spotted a campaign hoping to trick recipients into visiting a page attacking the state of US… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/more-us-political-spam/

AOL ICQ vulnerability revealed

Chat program remote execution flaw patched.
Chat program remote execution flaw patched. Details of a vulnerability found in AOL's ICQ instant messaging software have been released by TippingPoint. The ActiveX flaw could… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/aol-icq-vulnerability-revealed/

Email worm spams global war news

Bush and Putin still alive, no nuclear war ahead.
Bush and Putin still alive, no nuclear war ahead. An email worm is posing as news of global warfare and the death of major world leaders in an attempt to persuade recipients to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/email-worm-spams-global-war-news/

Google blog spreads Kama Sutra worm

MyWife variant mailed to 50,000 video blog watchers.
MyWife variant mailed to 50,000 video blog watchers.Google has apologised to users of its Google Video Blog, some 50,000 of whom were exposed to an email worm after three postings… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/google-blog-spreads-kama-sutra-worm/

US politicians slated for spam tactics

Report criticises leaders for election-pushing mass mail campaigns.
Report criticises leaders for election-pushing mass mail campaigns. A report from Sophos has criticised the behaviour of both major US political parties, after numerous emails… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/us-politicians-slated-spam-tactics/

XMLHTTP zero-day exploit

ActiveX vulnerability in use by attackers.
ActiveX vulnerability in use by attackers. A new flaw in Microsoft's XML Core Services 4.0 is in active use by malicious websites, with attackers using the vulnerability to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/xmlhttp-zero-day-exploit/

US way ahead in phishing and spam

PhishTank, Sophos stats put US at top of lists.
PhishTank, Sophos stats put US at top of lists. Statistics released by anti-phishing community project PhishTank, launched early last month, have put the US far ahead of the field… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/us-way-ahead-phishing-and-spam/

FBI busts phishing gang

Arrests made in Poland and US, more expected.
Arrests made in Poland and US, more expected. A large operation carried out by the FBI against a phishing operation has resulted in a string of arrests. Four people are being held… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/fbi-busts-phishing-gang/

Adware costs Zango $3 million

Cash and promises settle deceptive practices case.
Cash and promises settle deceptive practices case. Adware giant Zango, formerly known as 180Solutions, has settled a case brought by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for $3… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/adware-costs-zango-3-million/

Spam worse than postal junk mail

Survey finds emails more irritating than unwanted paper.
Survey finds emails more irritating than unwanted paper. A study carried out by researchers from the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spam-worse-postal-junk-mail/

Wikipedia spam points to malware

Emails used archive function to lend authenticity.
Emails used archive function to lend authenticity. Popular online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has been used as a vector for malware, with a spam campaign using the site's reputation… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/wikipedia-spam-points-malware/

IE7 causing McAfee update problems

New browser version blocking install and updates.
New browser version blocking install and updates. Security settings in the new version of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer 7, are causing problems for users of McAfee… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/ie7-causing-mcafee-update-problems/

New OSX parasitic virus found

Symantec report proof-of-concept file infector for Mac.
Symantec report proof-of-concept file infector for Mac. Analysts at Symantec have received samples of a proof-of-concept file infector for the Apple Mac OSX platform. The virus,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/new-osx-parasitic-virus-found/

Spammed trojans posing as McAfee report

Campaign uses security news to bypass security.
Campaign uses security news to bypass security. A spam campaign has been spotted, with the emails claiming to come from security giant McAfee and to contain a report on recent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spammed-trojans-posing-mcafee-report/

Academics create mobile malware

California University publishes Symbian proof of concept.
California University publishes Symbian proof of concept. A group of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, (UCSB) have released details and source code for a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/academics-create-mobile-malware/

Spamhaus rests easy

US judge rules against suspending Spamhaus domain.
US judge rules against suspending Spamhaus domain. At the end of a month-long court battle, a US judge has ruled that UK anti-spam advisory organization Spamhaus will not have its… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spamhaus-rests-easy/

Sender ID specification released

Microsoft reveals all as part of its Open Specification Promise.
Microsoft reveals all as part of its Open Specification Promise.Microsoft has made its Sender ID Framework specification available as part of its recent Open Specification Promise,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/sender-id-specification-released/

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