VB Blog

First sponsors of VB2017 announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 6, 2017

We are excited to announce the first five sponsors of VB2017, companies based in Europe, Asia and North America.

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Security products and HTTPS: let's do it better

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 27, 2017

A recent paper showed that many HTTPS-intercepting security solutions have implemented TLS rather poorly. Does that mean we should avoid such solutions altogether?

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The SHA-1 hashing algorithm has been 'shattered'

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 23, 2017

Researchers from Google and CWI Amsterdam have created the first known collision of the SHA-1 hashing algorithm, making a very strong case to ditch it.

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Throwback Thursday: Once a researcher...

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 23, 2017

VB was saddened to learn this week of the passing of one of the pioneers of the AV industry, Ross Greenberg. This Throwback Thursday we look back at an interview with Ross in November 1995.

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VB2017: What is happening in the threat landscape and what are we doing against it? Submit a proposal in the VB2017 CFP!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 20, 2017

Have you analysed a new online threat? Do you know a new way to defend against such threats? Then submit an abstract in the CFP for VB2017!

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VB2016 paper: APT reports and OPSEC evolution, or: these are not the APT reports you are looking for

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 17, 2017

APT reports are great for gaining an understanding of how advanced attack groups operate - however, they can also provide free QA for the threat actors. Today, we publish a VB2016 paper by Gadi Evron (Cymmetria) and Inbar Raz (Perimeter X), who discuss what they think is wrong with many APT reports and what can be done to improve them.

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Security for your ears: recommended infosec podcasts

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 14, 2017

Industry veteran Mikko Hyppönen recently urged would-be security researchers to ditch their favourite pop music and listen to security podcasts on their commute to work instead. Virus Bulletin Editor Martijn Grooten shares his favourite security podcasts.

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VB2016 video: Getting duped: piggybacking on webcam streams for surreptitious recordings

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 10, 2017

In a presentation at VB2016, Patrick Wardle, Director of Research at Synack, discussed the possibilities of Mac malware recording the user via the webcam. Today, we publish the video of Patrick's presentation.

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We shouldn't forget those most vulnerable in our digital world

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 9, 2017

Virus Bulletin Editor Martijn Grooten calls for the security community not to forget those most vulnerable in the digital world, including political activists living under oppressive regimes, and victims of abuse.

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Throwback Thursday: A troubled world

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 9, 2017

In early 1991, the world was a troubled place and conflict and violence were being reported globally on a daily basis. With this as a backdrop, the world of "indiscriminate" computer viruses which "victimise in a random and unpredictable manner" seemed relatively trivial to then Editor of VB, Edward Wilding.

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Search blog

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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