VB Blog

Registration for VB2018 now open!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 8, 2018

Registration for VB2018, the 28th International Virus Bulletin conference, is now open, with an early bird rate available until 1 July.

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RSA 2018: the good, the bad, the ugly, the great and the fantastic

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 1, 2018

In April, VB's Martijn Grooten attended the RSA Expo in San Francisco. He shares his views on the expo and the industry.

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Standalone product test: Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 30, 2018

There are a number of security solutions on the market that are designed to increase the default protection provided by Office 365. One such product is the newly launched Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365. Virus Bulletin was commissioned to measure the effectiveness of the Kaspersky product compared to the Office 365 baseline protection.

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GravityRAT malware takes your system's temperature

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 27, 2018

The GravityRAT malware, discovered by Cisco Talos researchers, gives some interesting insight into modern malware development.

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$150k in cryptocurrency stolen through combined BGP-DNS hijack

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 25, 2018

A BGP hijack was used to take over some of Amazon's DNS infrastructure, which was then used to serve a phishing site to users of the MyEtherWallet service.

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Security-focused routers may help to mitigate IoT threats

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 24, 2018

Various security companies are offering security-focused routers. This is a good trend and may help mitigate a lot of the issues that come with the IoT.

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The road to IPv6 is generally smooth but contains a few potholes

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Apr 23, 2018

Most of the switch from IPv4 to IPv6 will happen seamlessly. But we cannot assume it won't introduce new security issues.

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New paper: Powering the distribution of Tesla stealer with PowerShell and VBA macros

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 19, 2018

Since their return four years ago, Office macros have been one of the most common ways to spread malware. Today, we publish a research paper which looks in detail at a campaign in which VBA macros are used to execute PowerShell code, which in turn downloads the Tesla information-stealing trojan.

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VB2017 paper: Android reverse engineering tools: not the usual suspects

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 18, 2018

Within a few years, Android malware has grown from a relatively small threat to a huge problem involving more than three million new malware samples a year. Axelle Apvrille, one of the world's leading Android malware researchers, will deliver a workshop on Android reverse engineering at VB2018 in Montreal this October. Last year, Axelle presented a paper at VB2017 on some of the less common tools that can be used to reverse engineer Android malware. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Axelle's presentation.

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Patch early, patch often, but don't blindly trust every 'patch'

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 16, 2018

Compromised websites are being used to serve fake Flash Player uploads that come with a malicious payload.

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Search blog

Facebook users warned of phishing dangers

41% happy to hand out personal data to strangers.
41% happy to hand out personal data to strangers. Research carried out by Sophos has found that 41% of users of hugely popular social networking site Facebook risk revealing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/facebook-users-warned-phishing-dangers/

House of Lords warns of e-crime fears

Report recommends harder, smarter fight against online dangers.
Report recommends harder, smarter fight against online dangers. A major report by the Science and Technology Committee of the UK's House of Lords has found the internet to be rife… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/house-lords-warns-e-crime-fears/

Serious flaws patched in Norton 2006 products

Symantec users warned of vulnerabilities.
Symantec users warned of vulnerabilities. Users of Symantec's popular Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security products are being urged to ensure they are running the latest… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/serious-flaws-patched-norton-2006-products/

Kaspersky shuffles structure ready for IPO

Corporate reshaping prepares company for floatation.
Corporate reshaping prepares company for floatation. Russian security experts Kaspersky Lab have announced the setting up of a board of directors to run the company, as a step… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/kaspersky-shuffles-structure-ready-ipo/

Worries of Storm forming massive botnet

DDoS danger looms as infection levels boom.
DDoS danger looms as infection levels boom. Repeated waves of the 'Storm' trojan attacks continue to be spammed out, with the latest using more eCards to hook in still more… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/worries-storm-forming-massive-botnet/

Pharmacy spammer gets 30 years

'Rizler' convicted on drugs, conspiracy and money laundering charges.
'Rizler' convicted on drugs, conspiracy and money laundering charges. Notorious pharmaceuticals spammer Christopher 'Rizler' Smith was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment last week,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/pharmacy-spammer-gets-30-years/

57% of spam scam sites hosted in US

Study investigates sites and servers linked to from spam.
Study investigates sites and servers linked to from spam. A detailed investigation into the distribution and usage of webservers to host the various 'scams' pushed by spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/57-spam-scam-sites-hosted-us/

Major pump-and-dump campaign floods inboxes

Heavy stock scam barrage ups spam levels 30%.
Heavy stock scam barrage ups spam levels 30%. A major PDF pump-and-dump campaign has been reported, with massive numbers of mails spammed out. According to spam watchers at Sophos,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/major-pump-and-dump-campaign-floods-inboxes/

AOL drops Kaspersky for McAfee

Web giant changes provider of free security software for members.
Web giant changes provider of free security software for members. Giant ISP and web services provider AOL is offering a free, special edition version of McAfee security software to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/aol-drops-kaspersky-mcafee/

Malware and phishing cost US users $7 billion in two years

Survey finds 1 in 4 risk of being hit by viruses, spyware and scams.
Survey finds 1 in 4 risk of being hit by viruses, spyware and scams. US consumer watchdog Consumer Reports has unveiled its annual 'State of the Net' study, showing serious numbers… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/malware-and-phishing-cost-us-users-7-billion-two-years/

Security for critical infrastructures

DHS details security requirements for automated control systems.
DHS details security requirements for automated control systems. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has laid out a set of security requirements for automated control… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/security-critical-infrastructures/

August issue of VB published

The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The August 2007 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/august-issue-vb-published/

Spammers sentenced

Sentences for first US spammer to be convicted under CAN-SPAM and Australian mobile phone marketers.
Sentences for first US spammer to be convicted under CAN-SPAM and Australian mobile phone marketers. The first US spammer to be convicted under the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act was… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/spammers-sentenced/

Worm trashes music files

MP3s targeted for destruction.
MP3s targeted for destruction. A new worm has been spotted attempting to delete .mp3 music files from infected systems and attached devices. Once a machine is compromised, the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/worm-trashes-music-files/

Trojans and worms hiding behind games

Mario latest lure to hook victims on malware.
Mario latest lure to hook victims on malware. Social engineering techniques used to trick computer users into running malicious code on their systems concentrate around simple… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/trojans-and-worms-hiding-behind-games/

AV market growth and predictions

Analysts report on industry growth and predict future growth.
Analysts report on industry growth and predict future growth. According to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, the worldwide market for anti-virus solutions reached US$4.68 billion in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/av-market-growth-and-predictions/

August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/

Spreadsheets latest spam message carriers

XLS files follow PDFs as junk email ad vector.
XLS files follow PDFs as junk email ad vector. After the image spam deluge and the recent wave of spams carrying their messages in PDF files, the latest trend seems to be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/spreadsheets-latest-spam-message-carriers/

Series of products hit by vulnerabilities

Researcher finds flaws in ESET, Panda and Norman AV software.
Researcher finds flaws in ESET, Panda and Norman AV software. Researcher Sergio Alvarez has reported on vulnerabilities found in a string of anti-virus products this week, with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/series-products-hit-vulnerabilities/

VB2007 - call for last-minute presentations

Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present last-minute technical papers at VB2007 in Vienna.
Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present last-minute technical papers at VB2007 in Vienna. Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/call-last-minute-presentations/

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