VB Blog

Subtle change could see a reduction in installation of malicious Chrome extensions

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 13, 2018

Google has made a subtle change to its Chrome browser, banning the inline installation of new extensions, thus making it harder for malware authors to trick users into unwittingly installing malicious extensions.

Read more  

Paper: EternalBlue: a prominent threat actor of 2017–2018

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 11, 2018

We publish a paper by researchers from Quick Heal Security Labs in India, who study the EternalBlue and DoublePulsar exploits in full detail.

Read more  

'North Korea' a hot subject among VB2018 talks

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 1, 2018

Several VB2018 papers deal explicitly or implicitly with threats that have been attributed to North Korean actors.

Read more  

Expired domain led to SpamCannibal's blacklist eating the whole world

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 31, 2018

The domain of the little-used SpamCannibal DNS blacklist had expired, resulting in it effectively listing every single IP address.

Read more  

MnuBot banking trojan communicates via SQL server

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 30, 2018

Researchers at IBM X-Force have discovered MnuBot, a banking trojan targeting users in Brazil, which is noteworthy for using SQL Server for command and control communication.

Read more  

Throwback Thursday: Giving the EICAR test file some teeth

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 24, 2018

The 68-byte EICAR test file plays as important a role today as it did 19 years ago. In this week's Throwback Thursday we look back at a VB99 conference paper in which Randy Abrams described how this 'miracle tool' worked and how it could be used.

Read more  

XMRig used in new macOS cryptominer

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 23, 2018

A new piece of cryptocurrency-mining malware on macOS has been found to use the popular XMRig miner.

Read more  

Tendency for DDoS attacks to become less volumetric fits in a wider trend

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 22, 2018

CDN provider Cloudflare reports an increase in DDoS attacks targeting layer 7 and focusing on exhausting server resources rather than sending large volumes of data. This fits in a wider trend.

Read more  

Turkish Twitter users targeted with mobile FinFisher spyware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 15, 2018

Through fake social media accounts, users were tricked into installing an Android application that was actually a mobile version of the FinFisher spyware.

Read more  

Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet adds persistence

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2018

The Hide'n'Seek IoT botnet has received an update to make its infection persist on infected devices beyond a restart.

Read more  

Search blog

UK watchdog body backs phishing victims

Consumer group Which? urges banks to protect customers scammed online.
Consumer group Which? urges banks to protect customers scammed online. Major UK consumer protection organisation Which? has issued a call for a change to rules regarding… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/03/uk-watchdog-body-backs-phishing-victims/

News round-up

February's goings on in the anti-malware industry.
February's goings on in the anti-malware industry. Mobile security was something of a key theme last month, with a rash of new products released alongside updates to those… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/03/news-round/

Phishing techniques

Sorin Mustaca documents common and emerging phishing techniques.
Sorin Mustaca documents common and emerging phishing techniques. Despite the fact that phishing is receiving increasing amounts of media coverage, and people are more aware than… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/03/phishing-techniques/

March

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/03/

Cartoon trojan threatens P2P users

Illegal Japanese file-sharers warned off by anime character malware.
Illegal Japanese file-sharers warned off by anime character malware. A series of trojans have been spotted targeting users of popular Japanese file-sharing system Winny. The… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/cartoon-trojan-threatens-p2p-users/

Trend troubled by further flaw

Second vulnerability unveiled this month only affects server products.
Second vulnerability unveiled this month only affects server products. Less than two weeks after details of a UPX vulnerability affecting many of Trend Micro's products were… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/trend-troubled-further-flaw/

FTC criticised for low adware fine

Latest DirectRevenue case nets mere $1.5 million penalty.
Latest DirectRevenue case nets mere $1.5 million penalty. Serial adware user DirectRevenue, along with several advertising clients, has agreed to settle a case brought by the US… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/ftc-criticised-low-adware-fine/

Fujacks writers arrested in first for China

Eight seized for writing and selling cuddly panda malware.
Eight seized for writing and selling cuddly panda malware. Eight men have been arrested in the central Chinese province of Hubei, on suspicion of involvement in the creation and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/fujacks-writers-arrested-first-china/

Trend hit by UPX vulnerability

Compression handling issue affects swathe of products.
Compression handling issue affects swathe of products. A wide range of Trend Micro security products are affected by a flaw in the handling of files compressed with UPX, which… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/trend-hit-upx-vulnerability/

Massive attack on web root servers

Large-scale DDoS barrage hits top-level DNS machines.
Large-scale DDoS barrage hits top-level DNS machines. An exceptionally large Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack took place yesterday, targeting the root DNS servers at the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/massive-attack-web-root-servers/

Popular sites carrying Javascript attacks

Superbowl stadium among many hosting malware attack.
Superbowl stadium among many hosting malware attack. Malicious Javascript has been planted on numerous legitimate websites over the weekend, attempting to take advantage of known… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/popular-sites-carrying-javascript-attacks/

February

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/

Vista security concerns

'Dramatically more secure'... or not?
'Dramatically more secure'... or not? January saw the full commercial release of Microsoft's latest operating system: the long-awaited Vista. Since its release arguments have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/vista-security-concerns/

Major brands hit with adware fines

Landmark case blames advertisers for malware tactics.
Landmark case blames advertisers for malware tactics. Three major brands, Priceline, Travelocity and Cingular Wireless, have settled a New York lawsuit charging them with using… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/major-brands-hit-adware-fines/

VB100 news

This month: new platform, new logo.
This month: new platform, new logo. With the overall conclusion that the release of Vista will make little difference to the overall malware landscape, VB chose this month to put… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/news/

Upcoming events

Round up of this year's must-attend spam events.
Round up of this year's must-attend spam events. The 2007 Spam Conference will take place on 30 March 2007 at MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. The title for this year's conference is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/upcoming-events/

Microsoft steals market share

Symantec and McAfee see drops in market share.
Symantec and McAfee see drops in market share. A report by analyst firm NPD Group has revealed that anti-malware heavyweights Symantec and McAfee both lost market share following… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/02/microsoft-steals-market-share/

UK police 'can no longer cope' with e-crime

Report demands more resources and national IT squad.
Report demands more resources and national IT squad. A report issued by the Metropolitan Police has admitted that, despite serious under-reporting of computer-related crime… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/01/uk-police-can-no-longer-cope-e-crime/

MySpace sues Spam King

Serial spammer faces more fines for abusing social system.
Serial spammer faces more fines for abusing social system. Regular spammer and lawsuit loser Scott Richter, last seen being sued by Infinite Monkeys, faces more legal and financial… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/01/myspace-sues-spam-king/

Fujacks hype incenses analysts

Chinese reports of 'major threat' thought unlikely.
Chinese reports of 'major threat' thought unlikely. Reports in the Chinese Shanghai Daily of a 'five-star cyber worm' which could be 'one of the most devastating cyber worms ever… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/01/fujacks-hype-incenses-analysts/

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.