VB Blog

VB2018 presentation: Levelling up: why sharing threat intelligence makes you more competitive

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Mar 1, 2019

In a presentation at VB2018, Michael Daniel, President and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, outlined exactly how threat sharing strengthens a company's competitive advantage. Today we release the recording of his presentation.

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The malspam security products miss: Emotet, Ursnif, and a spammer's blunder

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 25, 2019

The set-up of the VBSpam test lab gives us a unique insight into the kinds of emails that are more likely to bypass email filters. This week we look at the malspam that was missed: a very international email with a link serving Emotet, an Italian Ursnif campaign with a password-protected ZIP and an email to which a clumsy spammer had attached a list of email addresses rather than a payload.

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VB2018 paper: The modality of mortality in domain names

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 22, 2019

Domains play a crucial role in most cyber attacks, from the very advanced to the very mundane. Today, we publish a VB2018 paper by Paul Vixie (Farsight Security) who undertook the first systematic study into the lifetimes of newly registered domains.

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VB2018 paper: Analysing compiled binaries using logic

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 20, 2019

Constraint programming is a lesser-known technique that is becoming increasingly popular among malware analysts. In a paper presented at VB2018 Thaís Moreira Hamasaki presented an overview of the technique and explained how it can be applied to the analysis of (potentially) malicious binaries. Today, we publish both Thaís' paper and the video of her presentation.

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Virus Bulletin encourages experienced speakers and newcomers alike to submit proposals for VB2019

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 19, 2019

With a little less than a month before the deadline of the call for papers for VB2019, Virus Bulletin encourages submissions from experienced speakers and newcomers alike.

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VB2018 paper: Internet balkanization: why are we raising borders online?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 13, 2019

At VB2018 in Montreal, Ixia researcher Stefan Tanase presented a thought-provoking paper on the current state of the Internet and the worrying tendency towards raising borders and restricting the flow of information. Today we publish both his paper and the recording of his presentation.

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The malspam security products miss: banking and email phishing, Emotet and Bushaloader

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 11, 2019

The set-up of the VBSpam test lab gives us a unique insight into the kinds of emails that are more likely to bypass email filters. This week we look at the malspam that was missed: banking and email phishing, Emotet and Bushaloader.

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VB2018 paper: Where have all the good hires gone?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 8, 2019

The cybersecurity skills gap has been described as one of the biggest challenges facing IT leaders today. At VB2018 in Montreal, ESET's Lysa Myers outlined some of the things the industry can do to help address the problem. Today we publish Lysa's paper and the recording of her presentation.

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Preview: Nullcon 2019

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 5, 2019

We look forward the Nullcon 2019 conference in Goa, India, at which VB Editor Martijn Grooten will give a talk on the state of malware.

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From Amazon to Emotet: a look at those phishing and malware emails that bypassed email security products

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 3, 2019

We see a lot of spam in the VBSpam test lab, and we also see how well such emails are being blocked by email security products. Recently some of the emails that bypassed security products included a broken Amazon phishing campaign, a large fake UPS campaign and malicious emails carrying Emotet and Lokibot.

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OneCare labels Gmail a virus

Rival webmail system flagged infected by Microsoft AV.
Rival webmail system flagged infected by Microsoft AV. A number of users of Microsoft's anti-virus product Windows Live OneCare have reported being warned of a virus infection when… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/onecare-labels-gmail-virus/

Vista safe without AV, says Allchin

Microsoft chief confident in new security measures.
Microsoft chief confident in new security measures. During a telephone press conference, Microsoft Platform Products and Services Co-president Jim Allchin revealed that he lets his… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/vista-safe-without-av-says-allchin/

More US political spam

Voter persuasion campaign late and sloppy, says Panda
Voter persuasion campaign late and sloppy, says Panda Spam watchers at PandaLabs have spotted a campaign hoping to trick recipients into visiting a page attacking the state of US… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/more-us-political-spam/

MS releases new Sysinternals utility

Process Monitor combines filemon, regmon into unified analysis tool.
Process Monitor combines filemon, regmon into unified analysis tool.Sysinternals, now 'a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation', has released a new system analysis tool… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/ms-releases-new-sysinternals-utility/

Email worm spams global war news

Bush and Putin still alive, no nuclear war ahead.
Bush and Putin still alive, no nuclear war ahead. An email worm is posing as news of global warfare and the death of major world leaders in an attempt to persuade recipients to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/email-worm-spams-global-war-news/

Google blog spreads Kama Sutra worm

MyWife variant mailed to 50,000 video blog watchers.
MyWife variant mailed to 50,000 video blog watchers.Google has apologised to users of its Google Video Blog, some 50,000 of whom were exposed to an email worm after three postings… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/google-blog-spreads-kama-sutra-worm/

US politicians slated for spam tactics

Report criticises leaders for election-pushing mass mail campaigns.
Report criticises leaders for election-pushing mass mail campaigns. A report from Sophos has criticised the behaviour of both major US political parties, after numerous emails… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/us-politicians-slated-spam-tactics/

AOL ICQ vulnerability revealed

Chat program remote execution flaw patched.
Chat program remote execution flaw patched. Details of a vulnerability found in AOL's ICQ instant messaging software have been released by TippingPoint. The ActiveX flaw could… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/aol-icq-vulnerability-revealed/

XMLHTTP zero-day exploit

ActiveX vulnerability in use by attackers.
ActiveX vulnerability in use by attackers. A new flaw in Microsoft's XML Core Services 4.0 is in active use by malicious websites, with attackers using the vulnerability to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/xmlhttp-zero-day-exploit/

US way ahead in phishing and spam

PhishTank, Sophos stats put US at top of lists.
PhishTank, Sophos stats put US at top of lists. Statistics released by anti-phishing community project PhishTank, launched early last month, have put the US far ahead of the field… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/us-way-ahead-phishing-and-spam/

Adware costs Zango $3 million

Cash and promises settle deceptive practices case.
Cash and promises settle deceptive practices case. Adware giant Zango, formerly known as 180Solutions, has settled a case brought by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for $3… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/adware-costs-zango-3-million/

FBI busts phishing gang

Arrests made in Poland and US, more expected.
Arrests made in Poland and US, more expected. A large operation carried out by the FBI against a phishing operation has resulted in a string of arrests. Four people are being held… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/fbi-busts-phishing-gang/

Spam worse than postal junk mail

Survey finds emails more irritating than unwanted paper.
Survey finds emails more irritating than unwanted paper. A study carried out by researchers from the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spam-worse-postal-junk-mail/

Wikipedia spam points to malware

Emails used archive function to lend authenticity.
Emails used archive function to lend authenticity. Popular online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has been used as a vector for malware, with a spam campaign using the site's reputation… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/wikipedia-spam-points-malware/

IE7 causing McAfee update problems

New browser version blocking install and updates.
New browser version blocking install and updates. Security settings in the new version of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer 7, are causing problems for users of McAfee… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/ie7-causing-mcafee-update-problems/

New OSX parasitic virus found

Symantec report proof-of-concept file infector for Mac.
Symantec report proof-of-concept file infector for Mac. Analysts at Symantec have received samples of a proof-of-concept file infector for the Apple Mac OSX platform. The virus,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/new-osx-parasitic-virus-found/

Spammed trojans posing as McAfee report

Campaign uses security news to bypass security.
Campaign uses security news to bypass security. A spam campaign has been spotted, with the emails claiming to come from security giant McAfee and to contain a report on recent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/spammed-trojans-posing-mcafee-report/

Academics create mobile malware

California University publishes Symbian proof of concept.
California University publishes Symbian proof of concept. A group of researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara, (UCSB) have released details and source code for a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/academics-create-mobile-malware/

New anti-spam group formed

StopSpamAlliance unites international bodies.
StopSpamAlliance unites international bodies. A group of international agencies and organisations have teamed up to launch StopSpamAlliance.org, designed to be a centralised base… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/new-anti-spam-group-formed/

Phish check interface

Developer interface for checking phishy URLs.
Developer interface for checking phishy URLs. The people behind PhishTank, a collaborative clearing house for data and information about phishing, have revealed a simplified… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/11/phish-check-interface/

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