VB Blog

Paying a malware ransom is bad, but telling people never to do it is unhelpful advice

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 26, 2016

The current ransomware plague is one of the worst threats the Internet has seen and it is unlikely to go away any time soon. But telling people to never pay the ransom is unhelpful advice.

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VB2015 paper: VolatilityBot: Malicious Code Extraction Made by and for Security Researchers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 22, 2016

In his VB2015 paper, Martin Korman presented his 'VolatilyBot' tool, which extracts malicious code from packed binaries, leveraging the functionality of the Volatility Framework.

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VB2016 programme announced, registration opened

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 21, 2016

We have announced 37 papers (and four reserve papers) that will be presented at VB2016 in Denver, Colorado, USA in October. Registration for the conference has opened; make sure you register before 1 July to benefit from a 10% early bird discount.

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New tool helps ransomware victims indentify the malware family

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 15, 2016

The people behind the MalwareHunterTeam have released a tool that helps victims of ransomware identify which of more than 50 families has infected their system, something which could help them find a tool to decrypt their files.

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It's fine for vulnerabilities to have names — we just need not to take them too seriously

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 13, 2016

The PR campaign around the Badlock vulnerability backfired when it turned out that the vulnerability wasn't as serious as had been suggested. But naming vulnerabilities can actually be helpful and certainly shouldn't hurt.

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Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Apr 7, 2016

The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, recording the number of incidents of each virus reported to VB in the preceding month. In August 2000, Denis Zenkin, a self-confessed virus prevalence table junkie, shared his findings following a study of the virus prevalence tables over the preceding few years, allowing him to determine the top ten viruses of the period, the top viruses by type and the viruses of the year.

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Paper: All Your Meetings Are Belong to Us: Remote Code Execution in Apache OpenMeetings

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 30, 2016

Security researcher Andreas Lindh recently found a vulnerability in Apache OpenMeetings that could allow remote code execution on a vulnerable server. Andreas reported the vulnerability to the OpenMeetings developers and, once it had been patched, he wrote up the details.

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Throwback Thursday: 'In the Beginning was the Word...'

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Mar 24, 2016

Word and Excel’s internal file formats used to be something in which few were interested – until macro viruses came along and changed all that. In 1996, Andrew Krukov provided an overview of the new breed of viruses.

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VB2016 Call for Papers Deadline

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 18, 2016

You have until the early hours (GMT) of Monday 21 March to submit an abstract for VB2016! The VB2016 programme will be announced in the first week of April.

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How broken is SHA-1 really?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 15, 2016

SHA-1 collisions may be found in the next few months, but that doesn't mean that fake SHA-1-based certificates will be created in the near future. Nevertheless, it is time for everyone, and those working in security in particular, to move away from outdated hash functions.

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Chain letter email reaps addresses

Fake research a harvesting trick by spammers.
Fake research a harvesting trick by spammers. An email widely spammed out in recent days claiming to be part of a research project into email use is in fact a scam designed to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/chain-letter-email-reaps-addresses/

Spamhaus fined $11.7 million for blocking spam

US judgement meaningless, says UK anti-spam project.
US judgement meaningless, says UK anti-spam project. An Illinois court has passed a judgement demanding UK-based spam advisory organisation Spamhaus pay $11.7 million in damages to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spamhaus-fined-11-7-million-blocking-spam/

Vulnerability reported in IE

ActiveX flaw opens another hole in MS browser.
ActiveX flaw opens another hole in MS browser. Yet another bug has been found in Microsoft's browser Internet Explorer, only days after a previous problem was patched for the third… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/vulnerability-reported-ie/

Symantec hit by vulnerabilities

Two flaws in alert handling unveiled.
Two flaws in alert handling unveiled. Two separate vulnerabilites in the alert notification handling systems of Symantec products have been reported this week. Symantec Client… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/symantec-hit-vulnerabilities/

Sony DRM/AOL combo breaks computers

Anti-spyware tool attacks rootkit, kills CD drive.
Anti-spyware tool attacks rootkit, kills CD drive. An alert has been issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas, warning that an anti-spyware product from AOL has a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/sony-drm-aol-combo-breaks-computers/

ISP wins $11 million from spammers

Judgement in EarthLink lawsuit grants heavy payout.
Judgement in EarthLink lawsuit grants heavy payout. US ISP giant EarthLink, a regular champion of the CAN-SPAM Act, has won yet another case against a spammer. The judgement passed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/isp-wins-11-million-spammers/

Star sites host most malware

Celebrities bigger lure than sex, says McAfee.
Celebrities bigger lure than sex, says McAfee. A report on adware and spyware from McAfee has stated that celebrity sites, rather than those pushing pornography or other widely… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/star-sites-host-most-malware/

Zotob authors jailed

One year, two years for worm writing duo.
One year, two years for worm writing duo. Courts in Morocco have convicted two men accused of having a hand in the creation and distribution of the 'Zotob' worm, which struck… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/zotob-authors-jailed/

Patch Tuesday light on patches

MS patches previous patches, but not Word exploit.
MS patches previous patches, but not Word exploit.Microsoft's monthly 'Patch Tuesday' release of security fixes has been relatively quiet, with only three new bugs repaired, in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/patch-tuesday-light-patches/

Barclays phish spammed widely

64% of recent phishes targeting global brand.
64% of recent phishes targeting global brand. Reports from Panda Software warn of a major phishing campaign targeting users of Barclays online banking, causing a 30% rise in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/barclays-phish-spammed-widely/

Fake news site carries trojan

Conspiracy warning spam points to exploit web page.
Conspiracy warning spam points to exploit web page. A spam campaign is directing Australian readers to a faked news site designed to drop a trojan. The initial mails carry a stark… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/fake-news-site-carries-trojan/

Phishing records broken in July

Highest ever numbers of phishing sites and brands, reports APWG.
Highest ever numbers of phishing sites and brands, reports APWG. 154 brands were recorded as targets for phishing attempts in July, according to the Anti Phishing Working Group… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/phishing-records-broken-july/

Spearphishers track eBay trades

Auction losers tempted by second-chance phishes.
Auction losers tempted by second-chance phishes. As part of the general trend of more focused phishing, users of online auction house eBay are reporting phishes directly targeting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spearphishers-track-ebay-trades/

More AV products suffer flaws

Vulnerabilities found in AntiVir and avast!.
Vulnerabilities found in AntiVir and avast!. Security defects in two anti-virus products have been reported by security watch company Secunia in the last week. While the AntiVir… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/more-av-products-suffer-flaws/

Botnet keepers rake in adware cash

Zombie herder makes $430 per day from single piece of adware.
Zombie herder makes $430 per day from single piece of adware. According to research by the German Honeynet Project, a botnet controller who installed adware including DollarRevenue… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/botnet-keepers-rake-adware-cash/

Zango not guilty on spyware charges

Spyware bad, adware OK, says court.
Spyware bad, adware OK, says court. Adware-supported 'online media company' Zango has had accusations of using spyware dashed by a Chicago, Illinois court. The class action case,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/zango-not-guilty-spyware-charges/

Phishers cast nets less wide

More scams hitting fewer targets, says report.
More scams hitting fewer targets, says report. According to RSA Security's August report on online fraud, the number of brands attacked by phishing scams fell by 20% last month,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/phishers-cast-nets-less-wide/

Samsung site hosting malware

Websense reports trojans found on electronics giant's servers.
Websense reports trojans found on electronics giant's servers. A US-hosted website belonging to Samsung Telecommunications America, a subsidiary of South Korean electronics giant… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/samsung-site-hosting-malware/

MS sues UK spammer

Civil action avoids spam law technicalities.
Civil action avoids spam law technicalities.Microsoft has sued and reached an out-of-court settlement with UK spammer Paul Fox, after apparently despairing of finding any success… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/ms-sues-uk-spammer/

Spyware firms charged $2 million

FTC takes cash, bans from future naughtiness.
FTC takes cash, bans from future naughtiness.Enternet Media and ConSpy & Co., the companies behind products including Miracle Search and EliteBar, have been forced to pay out over… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spyware-firms-charged-2-million/

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