VB Blog

VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: Malicious proxy auto-configs: an easy way to harvest banking credentials

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 30, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, Jaromír Horejší and Jan Širmer looked at Retefe, a trojan that has targeted banks in several European countries and used malicious proxy auto-config filesto redirect users' traffic to a server controlled by the attackers. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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WannaCry shows we need to understand why organizations don't patch

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 17, 2017

Perhaps the question we should be asking about WannaCry is not "why do so many organizations allow unpatched machines to exist on their networks?" but "why doesn't patching work reasonably well most of the time?"

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Modern security software is not necessarily powerless against threats like WannaCry

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 15, 2017

The WannaCry ransomware has affected many organisations around the world, making it probably the worst and most damaging of its kind. But modern security is not necessarily powerless against such threats.

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Throwback Thursday: CARO: A personal view

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 11, 2017

This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts. As a founding member of CARO, Fridrik Skulason was well placed, in August 1994, to shed some light on the organization, to explain in detail CARO's main activities and functions, as well as the reasons behind its strict membership regulations.

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VB2016 paper: Uncovering the secrets of malvertising

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 10, 2017

Malicious advertising, a.k.a. malvertising, has evolved tremendously over the past few years to take a central place in some of today’s largest web-based attacks. It is by far the tool of choice for attackers to reach the masses but also to target them with infinite precision and deliver such payloads as ransomware. Today, we publish a paper presented at VB2016 in Denver by Malwarebytes researchers Jérôme Segura and Chris Boyd, in which they look at the advertising ecosystem, how it is used, and at what techniques are being utilised to spread malware

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Throwback Thursday: Tools of the DDoS Trade

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 4, 2017

As DDoS attacks become costlier to fix and continue to increase in both number and diversity, we turn back the clock to 2000, when Aleksander Czarnowski took a look at the DDoS tools of the day.

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VB2016 paper: Building a local passiveDNS capability for malware incident response

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 4, 2017

At VB2016, Splunk researchers Kathy Wang and Steve Brant presented a Splunk app that can be used to locally collect passive DNS data. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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VB2016 video: Last-minute paper: A malicious OS X cocktail served from a tainted bottle

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2017

In a VB2016 last-minute presentation, ESET researchers Peter Kalnai and Martin Jirkal looked at the OS X malware threats KeRanger and Keydnap, that both spread through a compromised BitTorrent client. A recording of their presentation is now available to view on our YouTube channel.

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Consumer spyware: a serious threat with a different threat model

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 25, 2017

Consumer spyware is a growing issue and one that can have serious consequences: its use is increasingly common in domestic violence. But do our threat models consider the attacker with physical access to, and inside knowledge of the victim?

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VB2016 paper: Debugging and monitoring malware network activities with Haka

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 24, 2017

In their VB2016 paper, Stormshield researchers Benoît Ancel and Mehdi Talbi introduced Haka, an open-source language to monitor, debug and control malicious network traffic. Both their paper and the video recording of their presentation are now available to read/view on www.virusbulletin.com.

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Search blog

APWG and FTC combine to fight ID fraud

Agencies join forces to release safety guidance documents.
Agencies join forces to release safety guidance documents. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have pooled their resources and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/apwg-and-ftc-combine-fight-id-fraud/

Sender authentication checks on the rise

SPF records creep into top ten content triggers checked by ISPs.
SPF records creep into top ten content triggers checked by ISPs. A report by email marketing software provider Lyris has revealed that use of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF)… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/sender-authentication-checks-rise/

Unsafe computing in abundance

Reports and statistics on unsafe computing practices.
Reports and statistics on unsafe computing practices. Last month saw a flurry of reports and statistics on unsafe computing practices. To kick off, almost a quarter of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/unsafe-computing-abundance/

September

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/

September issue of VB published

The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The September 2007 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/september-issue-vb-published/

YouTube latest Storm hook

Fake video links aim to pull in yet more victims.
Fake video links aim to pull in yet more victims. The never-ending stream of 'Storm' attacks continued over the weekend with a new tactic - the latest spammed email campaign… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/youtube-latest-storm-hook/

Sony in more rootkit rows

Accusations of sneakiness and unsafe practices hit media giants again.
Accusations of sneakiness and unsafe practices hit media giants again.Sony has been tangled up in two separate rootkit scares in the past few days, with a brief outcry over hidden… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/sony-more-rootkit-rows/

FBI-led panel to provide insight into international fight against cybercrime

International law enforcement agencies set to join forces at VB2007 in Vienna.
International law enforcement agencies set to join forces at VB2007 in Vienna. International law enforcement agencies are set to join forces at the VB2007 anti-malware conference… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/fbi-led-panel-provide-insight-international-fight-against-cybercrime/

String of vulnerabilities found in ServerProtect

Several minor holes patched in Trend Micro corporate product.
Several minor holes patched in Trend Micro corporate product. A series of security issues have been reported in Trend Micro's ServerProtect server-level product, which could allow… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/string-vulnerabilities-found-serverprotect/

Four charged with writing Fujacks

Malware authors and sellers appear in Chinese court.
Malware authors and sellers appear in Chinese court. Four men have appeared in a public court in Hubei Province, China, charged with writing, selling and spreading the W32/Fujacks… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/four-charged-writing-fujacks/

Latest VB100 announced

Novell NetWare server products to be tested.
Novell NetWare server products to be tested. VB has issued a call for submissions for the latest VB100 comparative review, which will measure the performance of products for the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/latest-announced/

AVK tops latest AV-Test charts

Top four beat 99% in large collection scan.
Top four beat 99% in large collection scan. Testers at AV-Test.org have run 29 products over a massive collection of malware samples, with detection rates measured against 874,822… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/avk-tops-latest-av-test-charts/

Latest Storm barrage offers site memberships

New tactic provides logins to special-interest sites.
New tactic provides logins to special-interest sites. The 'Storm' attack has changed tactic yet again, with the latest set of spams providing login details to a wide selection of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/latest-storm-barrage-offers-site-memberships/

Monster haul of data reaped from job site

Trojan gathers 1.6 million sets of jobseeker records.
Trojan gathers 1.6 million sets of jobseeker records. Researchers at Symantec have reported discovering a server carrying 1.6 million entries from the popular jobseeking website… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/monster-haul-data-reaped-job-site/

Phish poses as Sophos malware alert

Fake security alarm lures users to spoofed site.
Fake security alarm lures users to spoofed site. A phishing email recently spammed out uses the name of security firm Sophos to lend credence to a fake malware alert, designed to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/phish-poses-sophos-malware-alert/

ClamAV taken over by Sourcefire

Snort maker buys into open-source AV.
Snort maker buys into open-source AV. Open-source anti-virus product ClamAV has been acquired by Sourcefire, the US-based company behind leading open-source intrusion detection… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/clamav-taken-over-sourcefire/

14 flaws fixed in bumper Patch Tuesday

Critical remote execution and hijack holes closed.
Critical remote execution and hijack holes closed.Microsoft's monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security bulletin includes nine separate bulletins this month, covering a total of 14… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/14-flaws-fixed-bumper-patch-tuesday/

Storm e-card malware keeps on coming

No end to flood of fake friendly greetings.
No end to flood of fake friendly greetings. A further wave of e-cards carrying links to 'Storm' malware (various labelled Nuwar, Peacomm, Dorf, Zhelatin) has been hitting inboxes… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/storm-e-card-malware-keeps-coming/

Webcam zero-day in Yahoo! Messenger

Video chat invites pose vulnerability danger.
Video chat invites pose vulnerability danger. A zero-day vulnerability has been reported in the webcam module of Yahoo! Messenger, allowing attackers remote access to systems open… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/webcam-zero-day-yahoo-messenger/

AV testing practices questioned

Professional and amateur tests criticised.
Professional and amateur tests criticised. Last week, IT industry commentator and renowned anti-anti-virus writer Robin Bloor released a typically inflammatory article implying… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/av-testing-practices-questioned/

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