VB Blog

Throwback Thursday: The Politics of Anti-Virus

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Nov 10, 2016

President-elect of the United States Donald Trump made a number of promises about cybersecurity during his electoral campaign. What comes of those pledges remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: there will be a team of hard-working, dedicated individuals working behind the scenes to protect the computer systems of Federal government agencies, as there have been for years. Back in 1999, VB published a report describing a day in the life of the Affiliated Computer Services Government Solutions Group (ACS GSG) - the group responsible for providing full service computer support to US Federal government agencies across the United States.

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VB2016 paper: The TAO of Automated Iframe Injectors - Building Drive-by Platforms For Fun

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 18, 2016

We publish Aditya K. Sood's VB2016 paper on the use of iframe injectors by cybercriminals to deliver drive-by downloads.

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“Cybersecurity is, at its core, a people problem,” says VB2016 keynote speaker

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 26, 2016

An interview with VB2016’s keynote speaker Christine Whalley - Director, Governance and IT Risk Management at Pfizer

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Throwback Thursday: Following the Breadcrumbs

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Sep 22, 2016

In 1999, Christine Orshesky described how one large organization decided to find out how and where the viruses within it were being obtained so it could do more to protect its networks.

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VB2016 preview: Cryptography mistakes in malware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 15, 2016

At VB2016, two talks will discuss mistakes made by malware authors in cryptographic implementations. Ben Herzog and Yaniv Balmas will present a paper in which they look at a number of these mistakes, while Malwarebytes researcher hasherezade will present a last-minute paper on making use of some of these mistakes to crack ransomware.

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GPS technology is more at risk from cyber attack than ever before, security expert demonstrates at VB2016

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Sep 14, 2016

Next month at VB2016, HPE Security's Oleg Petrovsky will speak about attacks on GPS. We conducted a short interview with Oleg and asked him about GPS, about the conference, and about his ultimate dinner party.

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BSides Denver: Join and Support the Security Community

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2016

If you are coming to VB2016 in Denver, why not spend an extra day in the Mile-High City and join the free BSides Denver conference, which takes place on Saturday?

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VB2016 'Last-Minute' Papers Announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 13, 2016

We are excited to announce the addition of the "last-minute" papers to the VB2016 programme: nine presentations covering hot research topics, from OS X attacks to exotic APTs, breaking ransomware and the current state of BGP.

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VB2016 preview: Debugging and Monitoring Malware Network Activities with Haka

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 12, 2016

In a VB2016 paper, Stormshield researchers Benoit Ancel and Mehdi Talbi will present a paper on Haka, a tool that can be used to monitor and debug malware's network communications.

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Paper: Behavioural Detection and Prevention of Malware on OS X

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Sep 12, 2016

In a new paper published through Virus Bulletin, Vincent Van Mieghem presents a novel method for detecting malware on Mac OS X, based on the system calls used by malicious software.

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New OpenOffice proof-of-concept widely noted

Odd payload, not spreading danger, brings attention to cross-platform worm.
Odd payload, not spreading danger, brings attention to cross-platform worm. A new proof-of-concept malware exploiting the OpenOffice document format has made headlines across the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/new-openoffice-proof-concept-widely-noted/

Norton FP trashes Chinese systems

Vital DLLs flagged as malware disable Windows XP across China.
Vital DLLs flagged as malware disable Windows XP across China. A serious false positive, caused by an erroneous update to Symantec's Norton Anti-virus product range issued late… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/norton-fp-trashes-chinese-systems/

Zango sues PC Tools for $35 million

'Reformed' adware shippers upset by detection and removal.
'Reformed' adware shippers upset by detection and removal. Adware and sometime spyware maker Zango has brought a suit against anti-spyware firm PC Tools complaining that the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/zango-sues-pc-tools-35-million/

New spam-fighting system for France

Junk mail blacklisting project goes live.
Junk mail blacklisting project goes live. A group of public bodies and private companies have joined forces to implement a new system allowing French email users to report spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/new-spam-fighting-system-france/

Estonian websites suffer wave of DoS attacks

Baltic republic accuses Russia of cyber-warfare.
Baltic republic accuses Russia of cyber-warfare. A wave of denial of service (DoS) attacks on Estonian websites has prompted the Estonian government to accuse its neighbour of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/estonian-websites-suffer-wave-dos-attacks/

Symantec files 8 piracy suits

Symantec pursues distributors of counterfeit software.
Symantec pursues distributors of counterfeit software.Symantec has revealed that it has filed civil lawsuits against eight US and Canadian companies accused of selling counterfeit… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/symantec-files-8-piracy-suits/

Verizon acquires Cybertrust

ICSA Labs parent company subsumed.
ICSA Labs parent company subsumed.Verizon Business, a division of Verizon Communications has announced that it is set to acquire managed security services supplier Cybertrust. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/verizon-acquires-cybertrust/

Latest flaws affect AV giants

Symantec, McAfee and CA all patch vulnerabilities.
Symantec, McAfee and CA all patch vulnerabilities. Three of the biggest names in the security sector, McAfee, Symantec and CA, have all revealed details of flaws in their software… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/latest-flaws-affect-av-giants/

Phishing techniques and technology revealed

Serious software used to analyse phished data, and a phisher talks.
Serious software used to analyse phished data, and a phisher talks. Some insights into the workings of phishing scams were revealed this week, as a sophisticated tool designed to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/phishing-techniques-and-technology-revealed/

1.4 million Chinese infected over holiday week

May vacations bring trojan avalanche for gamers and filesharers.
May vacations bring trojan avalanche for gamers and filesharers. Chinese computers, in heavy use with many people off work for the Labour Day holiday week, have suffered a major… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/1-4-million-chinese-infected-over-holiday-week/

Five ISPs hosting a third of malware, says study

StopBadware survey finds small group of ISPs most to blame.
StopBadware survey finds small group of ISPs most to blame. In a recent study of almost 50,000 sites known to be hosting malware, five ISPs have been identified as repeat… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/five-isps-hosting-third-malware-says-study/

ZOO archive issues hit security vendors

Errors handling rare format patched by four AV and anti-spam products.
Errors handling rare format patched by four AV and anti-spam products. A researcher has revealed details of flawed implementation of a somewhat archaic archive format, .zoo, which… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/zoo-archive-issues-hit-security-vendors/

Phishing moves into more new areas

Surveys, phone lines, USB sticks and call girls the latest tactics for spammers and phishers.
Surveys, phone lines, USB sticks and call girls the latest tactics for spammers and phishers. The latest social-engineering methods being put to use by phishers show no let up in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/phishing-moves-more-new-areas/

7 critical flaws patched on Patch Tuesday

May Security Bulletin covers wide range of vulnerabilities.
May Security Bulletin covers wide range of vulnerabilities.Microsoft's latest 'Patch Tuesday' security bulletin included fixes for seven vulnerabilities, all rated 'Critical' and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/7-critical-flaws-patched-patch-tuesday/

I-SPY chases SPY-ACT through approval process

Second piece of US anti-spyware legislation given go-ahead.
Second piece of US anti-spyware legislation given go-ahead. With the 'Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act' (aka SPY-ACT act) approved by a House of Representatives… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/i-spy-chases-spy-act-through-approval-process/

Questionable false positive file removed

Amendment to VB's April Linux comparative review.
Amendment to VB's April Linux comparative review. In Virus Bulletin's April 2007 Linux comparative review (see VB, April 2007, p.11), VB reported that ESET's product NOD32 had… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/questionable-false-positive-file-removed/

Microsoft to beat Symantec to corporate release punch

With Forefront due out soon, Symantec's latest release suffers further delay.
With Forefront due out soon, Symantec's latest release suffers further delay.Microsoft has announced the release to manufacture of Forefront Client, the corporate implementation of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/microsoft-beat-symantec-corporate-release-punch/

Law to stop spam reaching kids dubbed a failure

Utah registry to protect children's email leaks cash and addresses.
Utah registry to protect children's email leaks cash and addresses. A law enacted in the state of Utah, as well as some other states, with the aim of preventing spammers from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/law-stop-spam-reaching-kids-dubbed-failure/

Botnet DoS no longer profitable

Extortion attacks fall as herders find easier money elsewhere.
Extortion attacks fall as herders find easier money elsewhere. The use of armies of botnets to carry out denial-of-service attacks on lucrative websites, as a method of extorting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/botnet-dos-no-longer-profitable/

Touchy mail blocker upsets Gay

Content filter berates woman for using own name in mails.
Content filter berates woman for using own name in mails. A woman has complained to the New Zealand ISP Telecom after an email she sent them was bounced back to her, with a message… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/touchy-mail-blocker-upsets-gay/

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