VB Blog

VB2019 paper: Fantastic Information and Where to Find it: A guidebook to open-source OT reconnaissance

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 22, 2019

A VB2019 paper by FireEye researcher Daniel Kapellmann Zafra explained how open source intelligence (OSINT) can be used to learn crucial details of the inner workings of many a system. Today we publish Daniel's paper and the recording of his presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) analysed in depth

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 21, 2019

Though active for not much longer than a year, GandCrab had been one of the most successful ransomware operations. In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, McAfee researchers John Fokker and Alexandre Mundo looked at the malware code, its evolution and the affiliate scheme behind it. Today we publish both their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2019 paper: Domestic Kitten: an Iranian surveillance program

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 18, 2019

At VB2019 in London, Check Point researchers Aseel Kayal and Lotem Finkelstein presented a paper detailing an Iranian operation they named 'Domestic Kitten' that used Android apps for targeted surveillance. Today we publish their paper and the video of their presentation.

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VB2019 video: Discretion in APT: recent APT attack on crypto exchange employees

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 18, 2019

At VB2019 in London, LINE's HeungSoo Kang explained how cryptocurrency exchanges had been attacked using Firefox zero-days. Today, we publish the video of his presentation.

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VB2019 paper: DNS on fire

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 7, 2019

In a paper presented at VB2019, Cisco Talos researchers Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres looked at two recent attacks against DNS infrastructure: DNSpionage and Sea Turtle. Today we publish their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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German Dridex spam campaign is unfashionably large

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 6, 2019

VB has analysed a malicious spam campaign targeting German-speaking users with obfuscated Excel malware that would likely download Dridex but that mostly stood out through its size.

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Paper: Dexofuzzy: Android malware similarity clustering method using opcode sequence

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 5, 2019

We publish a paper by researchers from ESTsecurity in South Korea, who describe a fuzzy hashing algorithm for clustering Android malware datasets.

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Emotet continues to bypass many email security products

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 4, 2019

Having returned from a summer hiatus, Emotet is back targeting inboxes and, as seen in the VBSpam test lab, doing a better job than most other malicious campaigns at bypassing email security products.

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VB2019 paper: We need to talk - opening a discussion about ethics in infosec

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 1, 2019

Those working in the field of infosec are often faced with ethical dilemmas that are impossible to avoid. Today, we publish a VB2019 paper by Kaspersky researcher Ivan Kwiatkowski looking at ethics in infosec as well as the recording of Ivan's presentation.

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Stalkerware poses particular challenges to anti-virus products

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 31, 2019

Malware used in domestic abuse situations is a growing threat, and the standard way for anti-virus products to handle such malware may not be good enough. But that doesn't mean there isn't an important role for anti-virus to play.

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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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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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