VB Blog

DMARC: an imperfect solution that can make a big difference

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 24, 2017

US Senator Ron Wyden has asked the Department of Homeland Security to implement DMARC. Martijn Grooten looks at what difference this could make for phishing attacks impersonating the US federal governent.

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Advanced and inept persistent threats to be discussed at VB2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 20, 2017

Unsurprisingly given today's threat landscape, the VB2017 programme contains several talks on various advanced persistent threats - but also a talk on what may be the polar opposite of such threats: an inept persistent threat.

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Password security is 1% choosing a half-decent password, 99% not using it anywhere else

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 18, 2017

Password security advice focuses too much on password strength and too little on avoiding password reuse, Martijn Grooten argues.

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Save the dates: VB2018 to take place 3-5 October 2018

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 17, 2017

Though the location will remain a secret for a few more months, we are pleased to announce the dates for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference.

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Review: BSides Athens 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 10, 2017

The second edition of BSides Athens saw a great and varied programme presented in the Greek capital. VB's Martijn Grooten was pleased to attend.

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Let's not help attackers by spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 7, 2017

Spreading 'FUD' in the wake of cyber-attacks is never a good idea. But it's even worse when this might be one of the attackers' implicit goals.

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Calling next-gen security researchers: student discount for VB2017 announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 7, 2017

For the third year in a row, we have set aside a limited number of student tickets for the Virus Bulletin conference, to allow 'next-generation' security researchers to experience one of the most important gatherings of security researchers around the world.

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Nominations opened for fourth Péter Szőr Award

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 4, 2017

Virus Bulletin has opened nominations for the fourth annual Péter Szőr Award, for the best piece of technical security research published between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2017.

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VB2016 paper: BlackEnergy – what we really know about the notorious cyber attacks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 3, 2017

According to some researchers, there is some evidence linking the recent (Not)Petya attacks with the BlackEnergy group - which became infamous for its targeted attacks against the Ukraine. At VB2016, ESET researchers Anton Cherepanov and Robert Lipovsky spoke about BlackEnergy, providing an overview of the group's attacks. Today, we publish their paper.

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Security advice in the wake of WannaCry and Not(Petya)

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 30, 2017

As WannaCry and (Not)Petya have shown, malware attacks can do a lot of damage. So is staying safe just a case of following good security advice?

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Spammer's appeal rejected

Weaselboy conviction upheld.
Weaselboy conviction upheld. The man who is the UK's biggest - and possibly nastiest - spammer has failed in his appeal to overturn two of his convictions. Back in November 2005 a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spammer-s-appeal-rejected/

McAfee tops for client security

Analyst firm rates industry heavyweights.
Analyst firm rates industry heavyweights. Analyst firm Forrester has released a report on 'Client Security Suites', naming McAfee as the leading brand in the field. Symantec and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/mcafee-tops-client-security/

More Microsoft vulnerability woes

PowerPoint problem tops off busy month for MS.
PowerPoint problem tops off busy month for MS. Yet another vulnerability has been revealed in a Microsoft product, this time in the PowerPoint slideshow software. The problem is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/more-microsoft-vulnerability-woes/

AOL phishers indicted

Team of six face jail in Connecticut.
Team of six face jail in Connecticut. A group of six men have been charged with phishing by a grand jury in Connecticut. The men allegedly harvested email addresses and spammed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/aol-phishers-indicted/

Volvo syndrome for Mac users

Relative safety may lead to unsafe practices.
Relative safety may lead to unsafe practices.Symantec has issued a warning to Apple Macintosh users that they are still at risk from online threats, despite the relative scarcity… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/volvo-syndrome-mac-users/

Microsoft patches IE hole

VML fix released only a week after flaw exploited.
VML fix released only a week after flaw exploited.Microsoft has released a patch for the widely publicised and much exploited security hole in its Internet Explorer browser, a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/microsoft-patches-ie-hole/

Web trust symbol can't be trusted

Certificates sign of danger, says researcher.
Certificates sign of danger, says researcher. Website certification system Truste has been hit by a report claiming that sites bearing its certificates are more than twice as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/web-trust-symbol-can-t-be-trusted/

Symantec, Kaspersky issue threat reports

Trojans, vulnerabilities, spam and crime loom large.
Trojans, vulnerabilities, spam and crime loom large.Symantec and Kaspersky have both released overviews of security dangers faced in the first half of 2006 this week, and both… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/symantec-kaspersky-issue-threat-reports/

Trend launches bot blocking service

Botnet-spotting system watches for bad DNS behaviour.
Botnet-spotting system watches for bad DNS behaviour.Trend Micro has launched a new service, entitled InterCloud Security Service (ICSS), to look out for bot infestations within… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/trend-launches-bot-blocking-service/

Vista issues worry vendors

Security firms complain about monopoly tactics.
Security firms complain about monopoly tactics. New security features to be included in the next version of Microsoft Windows continue to present difficulties for AV and other… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/vista-issues-worry-vendors/

More than 90% of email is spam

Spamhaus founder estimates spam levels significantly higher than other industry monitors.
Spamhaus founder estimates spam levels significantly higher than other industry monitors.Spamhaus founder Steve Linford estimates that spam accounts for more than 90% of all email… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/more-90-email-spam/

Unofficial VML patch released

Security task force issues stop-gap fix for IE hole.
Security task force issues stop-gap fix for IE hole. A team of security experts and reverse engineers have created a patch for the latest zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/unofficial-vml-patch-released/

Canadians row with Sony over DRM

Rootkit battles still going.
Rootkit battles still going. Canadian public interest body CIPPIC (The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, also known as Clinique d'intérêt public et de politique… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/canadians-row-sony-over-drm/

AV guru Jimmy Kuo heads to Microsoft

Industry veteran joins others from McAfee.
Industry veteran joins others from McAfee. Jimmy Kuo, the widely respected virus expert and popular speaker, has left McAfee after over ten years working in their AVERT labs, to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/av-guru-jimmy-kuo-heads-microsoft/

Zero-day exploit targeting IE flaw

'Extremely critical' buffer overflow used to drop spyware.
'Extremely critical' buffer overflow used to drop spyware. Researchers at anti-spyware firm Sunbelt Software have reported an new attack actively exploiting another unpatched… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/zero-day-exploit-targeting-ie-flaw/

AIM worm warning

AOL IM users at risk from botnet-building attack.
AOL IM users at risk from botnet-building attack. Instant messaging security firm FaceTime Communications has issued an alert on a highly sophisticated blended attack targeting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/aim-worm-warning/

Spam King sued again

Serial spammer charged with more spamming.
Serial spammer charged with more spamming. Software and security firm Infinite Monkeys & Company has announced that a lawsuit has been filed against 'Spam King' Scott Richter, head… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spam-king-sued-again/

Google embarrassed by phishing demo

Fake Gmail site served by Google itself.
Fake Gmail site served by Google itself. Web search and service behemoth Google has had its security credibility hit this weekend, after a site was set up on its servers spoofing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/google-embarrassed-phishing-demo/

FTC shuts down spammers

Four spam companies hit by CAN-SPAM rulings.
Four spam companies hit by CAN-SPAM rulings. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stepped its anti-spam operations up a gear last week, shutting down four separate organisations… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/ftc-shuts-down-spammers/

Several backdoors in PDF revealed

Researcher lists security issues with document format.
Researcher lists security issues with document format. A researcher analysing the possibility of exploiting vulnerabilities in the Adobe PDF file format has released a lengthy list… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/several-backdoors-pdf-revealed/

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