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

Ransomware returns

Trojan hides personal data, demands money with menaces.
Trojan hides personal data, demands money with menaces. A new version of a ransomware trojan has been sighted, recalling the warnings of two years ago when similar items first… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/ransomware-returns/

Study promotes challenge-response for anti-spam

Interactive system rated best blocker in questioned survey.
Interactive system rated best blocker in questioned survey. A study of anti-spam systems, using a bespoke scale to rate protection offered, has found the challenge-response method… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/study-promotes-challenge-response-anti-spam/

Microsoft files adware system patent

Ads could be targeted at users based on local system data.
Ads could be targeted at users based on local system data.Microsoft has filed a patent application for a new method of targeting advertising, using information on the contents of a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/microsoft-files-adware-system-patent/

MessageLabs may be next takeover target

Managed services provider thought ripe for acquisition.
Managed services provider thought ripe for acquisition. Managed security specialist MessageLabs has been labelled a likely candidate for takeover by one of the industry giants, in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/messagelabs-may-be-next-takeover-target/

26 phishing arrests in Italy

Police swoop on Poste Italiane spam scam gangs.
Police swoop on Poste Italiane spam scam gangs. In a first for Italy, the Guardia Di Finanza has made 26 arrests from two separate groups of phishing fraudsters, in the culmination… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/26-phishing-arrests-italy/

Security industry future looks solid, say analysts

Reports predict revenues will continue rising.
Reports predict revenues will continue rising. Analyst firm Global Industry Analysts (GIA) has released its latest report on the future of the IT security market, predicting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/security-industry-future-looks-solid-say-analysts/

Sony sues maker of MediaMax DRM system

CD protection developer accused of damaging Sony name.
CD protection developer accused of damaging Sony name.Sony BMG, the division of the Sony group embroiled in a long-running scandal after releasing a number of CDs using suspect… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/sony-sues-maker-mediamax-drm-system/

Japan to tighten spam laws

Proposals to further restrict email and phone spamming.
Proposals to further restrict email and phone spamming. The Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry is planning a series of improvements to current anti-spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/japan-tighten-spam-laws/

Symantec, AVG suffer problems

Vulnerabilities and false positives strike major products.
Vulnerabilities and false positives strike major products.Symantec users have been warned of some serious issues with archive handling, across a wide range of software produced by… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/symantec-avg-suffer-problems/

Microsoft opens security 'portal'

New site carries prevalence data, updates and malware resources.
New site carries prevalence data, updates and malware resources. Security teams at Microsoft have been busy this week, with the full unveiling of the Microsoft Malware Protection… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/microsoft-opens-security-portal/

Controversy over IE-to-Firefox exploit

MS and Mozilla in row over blame for cross-browser attack.
MS and Mozilla in row over blame for cross-browser attack. An exploit which involves browsing to a malicious website using Internet Explorer, but then launches an attack via a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/controversy-over-ie-firefox-exploit/

7 flaws fixed in July Patch Tuesday release

Critical patches issued for Excel, Active Directory and .NET.
Critical patches issued for Excel, Active Directory and .NET.Microsoft has released a total of seven patches in its monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security update, with three of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/7-flaws-fixed-july-patch-tuesday-release/

SEC brings case against pump-and-dump spammers

Scam spotted after spammed mail sent to SEC lawyer.
Scam spotted after spammed mail sent to SEC lawyer. Two men from Texas have been charged with a range of spam and fraud offences after a 20-month campaign using botnets to spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/sec-brings-case-against-pump-and-dump-spammers/

Spoof Spamhaus ads spammed out

Mail campaign claims to promote spam fighters.
Mail campaign claims to promote spam fighters. Spam-fighting organisation Spamhaus has been subjected to an attack on its reputation this week, with a sizeable campaign of spams… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/spoof-spamhaus-ads-spammed-out/

Trojan using webmail to send spam

Captcha systems possibly cracked to automate account creation.
Captcha systems possibly cracked to automate account creation.BitDefender has reported a new trojan attempting to bypass security measures on leading webmail systems Hotmail and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/trojan-using-webmail-send-spam/

Kaspersky sues Rising

Feuding AV firms to fight it out in court.
Feuding AV firms to fight it out in court.Kaspersky's Chinese subsidiary has brought a court case against local rival Rising, after an escalating war of words between the two… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/kaspersky-sues-rising/

Fake malware infection alerts spammed out

Latest spam run masquerades as malware warning and fix.
Latest spam run masquerades as malware warning and fix. The group behind last week's Fourth of July spams are thought to be behind another campaign this week, with messages… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/fake-malware-infection-alerts-spammed-out/

Google buys Postini

Managed security service snapped up by giant.
Managed security service snapped up by giant. Ever-expanding web giant Google has continued its growth into both security and software-as-service spheres with the $625 million… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/google-buys-postini/

Battle over Blackberry spyware threat

Spy tool for popular device claims to be legitimate.
Spy tool for popular device claims to be legitimate. The expansion of the FlexiSpy mobile device snooping software, originally available only for the Symbian platform but with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/battle-over-blackberry-spyware-threat/

Fourth of July targeted by trojan spam

Celebration card emails carry links to malware.
Celebration card emails carry links to malware. A further wave of greetings-card spam has been widely seeded, in the wake of considerable Storm Worm activity in the last week, with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/fourth-july-targeted-trojan-spam/

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