VB Blog

Alleged author of creepy FruitFly macOS malware arrested

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 11, 2018

A 28-year old man from Ohio has been arrested on suspicion of having created the mysterious FruitFly malware that targeted macOS and used it to spy on its victims.

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The threat and security product landscape in 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 10, 2018

At the start of the new year, Virus Bulletin looks back at the threats seen in the 2017 and at the security products that are available to help mitigate them.

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Spamhaus report shows many botnet controllers look a lot like legitimate servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 9, 2018

Spamhaus's annual report on botnet activity shows that botherders tend to use popular, legitimate hosting providers, domain registrars and top-level domains when setting up command-and-control servers.

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Tips on researching tech support scams

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 5, 2018

As tech support scammers continue to target the computer illiterate through cold calling, VB's Martijn Grooten uses his own experience to share some advice on how to investigate such scams.

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Meltdown and Spectre attacks mitigated by operating system updates

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 4, 2018

Just four days into the new year, two serious attacks in modern processors, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, have been discovered. The attacks can be mitigated by patches to the operating system, but anti-virus software vendors need to make sure their products are compatible with the patches.

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Conference review: AVAR 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 22, 2017

Martijn Grooten reports on the 20th AVAR conference, which took place earlier in December in Beijing, China.

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Conference review: Botconf 2017

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Dec 22, 2017

Virus Bulletin researchers report back from a very interesting fifth edition of Botconf, the botnet fighting conference.

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VB2017 videos on attacks against Ukraine

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

(In)security is a global issue that affects countries around the world, but in recent years none has been so badly hit as Ukraine. Today, we publish the videos of two VB2017 talks about attacks that hit Ukraine particularly badly: a talk by Alexander Adamov (NioGuard) on (Not)Petya and related attacks, and another by Robert Lipovsky and Anton Cherepanov (ESET) on Industroyer.

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Facebook helps you determine whether emails really came from its servers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 21, 2017

On its website, Facebook now shows which emails it has sent you recently, thus helping you to determine which emails are real, and which should be discarded as phishing.

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Vulnerability disclosure and botnet takedown not to be hindered by Wassenaar Arrangement

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 19, 2017

Clarification in the language of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, means those involved in vulnerability disclosure or botnet takedown won't have to worry about acquiring an export licence.

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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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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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