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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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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

Spam hits record levels in October

Image-based pump-and-dumps add to inbox bloat.
Image-based pump-and-dumps add to inbox bloat. Spam levels have continued to rise, defying general trends that would suggest a decreasing post-summer ratio, as more people at work… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spam-hits-record-levels-october/

November issue of VB published

The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The November 2006 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/november-issue-vb-published/

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