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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Spammer's appeal rejected

Weaselboy conviction upheld.
Weaselboy conviction upheld. The man who is the UK's biggest - and possibly nastiest - spammer has failed in his appeal to overturn two of his convictions. Back in November 2005 a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spammer-s-appeal-rejected/

AOL phishers indicted

Team of six face jail in Connecticut.
Team of six face jail in Connecticut. A group of six men have been charged with phishing by a grand jury in Connecticut. The men allegedly harvested email addresses and spammed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/aol-phishers-indicted/

Volvo syndrome for Mac users

Relative safety may lead to unsafe practices.
Relative safety may lead to unsafe practices.Symantec has issued a warning to Apple Macintosh users that they are still at risk from online threats, despite the relative scarcity… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/volvo-syndrome-mac-users/

McAfee tops for client security

Analyst firm rates industry heavyweights.
Analyst firm rates industry heavyweights. Analyst firm Forrester has released a report on 'Client Security Suites', naming McAfee as the leading brand in the field. Symantec and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/mcafee-tops-client-security/

More Microsoft vulnerability woes

PowerPoint problem tops off busy month for MS.
PowerPoint problem tops off busy month for MS. Yet another vulnerability has been revealed in a Microsoft product, this time in the PowerPoint slideshow software. The problem is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/more-microsoft-vulnerability-woes/

Microsoft patches IE hole

VML fix released only a week after flaw exploited.
VML fix released only a week after flaw exploited.Microsoft has released a patch for the widely publicised and much exploited security hole in its Internet Explorer browser, a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/microsoft-patches-ie-hole/

Web trust symbol can't be trusted

Certificates sign of danger, says researcher.
Certificates sign of danger, says researcher. Website certification system Truste has been hit by a report claiming that sites bearing its certificates are more than twice as… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/web-trust-symbol-can-t-be-trusted/

Symantec, Kaspersky issue threat reports

Trojans, vulnerabilities, spam and crime loom large.
Trojans, vulnerabilities, spam and crime loom large.Symantec and Kaspersky have both released overviews of security dangers faced in the first half of 2006 this week, and both… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/symantec-kaspersky-issue-threat-reports/

Trend launches bot blocking service

Botnet-spotting system watches for bad DNS behaviour.
Botnet-spotting system watches for bad DNS behaviour.Trend Micro has launched a new service, entitled InterCloud Security Service (ICSS), to look out for bot infestations within… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/trend-launches-bot-blocking-service/

Canadians row with Sony over DRM

Rootkit battles still going.
Rootkit battles still going. Canadian public interest body CIPPIC (The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, also known as Clinique d'intérêt public et de politique… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/canadians-row-sony-over-drm/

Vista issues worry vendors

Security firms complain about monopoly tactics.
Security firms complain about monopoly tactics. New security features to be included in the next version of Microsoft Windows continue to present difficulties for AV and other… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/vista-issues-worry-vendors/

More than 90% of email is spam

Spamhaus founder estimates spam levels significantly higher than other industry monitors.
Spamhaus founder estimates spam levels significantly higher than other industry monitors.Spamhaus founder Steve Linford estimates that spam accounts for more than 90% of all email… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/more-90-email-spam/

Unofficial VML patch released

Security task force issues stop-gap fix for IE hole.
Security task force issues stop-gap fix for IE hole. A team of security experts and reverse engineers have created a patch for the latest zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/unofficial-vml-patch-released/

AV guru Jimmy Kuo heads to Microsoft

Industry veteran joins others from McAfee.
Industry veteran joins others from McAfee. Jimmy Kuo, the widely respected virus expert and popular speaker, has left McAfee after over ten years working in their AVERT labs, to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/av-guru-jimmy-kuo-heads-microsoft/

Zero-day exploit targeting IE flaw

'Extremely critical' buffer overflow used to drop spyware.
'Extremely critical' buffer overflow used to drop spyware. Researchers at anti-spyware firm Sunbelt Software have reported an new attack actively exploiting another unpatched… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/zero-day-exploit-targeting-ie-flaw/

AIM worm warning

AOL IM users at risk from botnet-building attack.
AOL IM users at risk from botnet-building attack. Instant messaging security firm FaceTime Communications has issued an alert on a highly sophisticated blended attack targeting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/aim-worm-warning/

Spam King sued again

Serial spammer charged with more spamming.
Serial spammer charged with more spamming. Software and security firm Infinite Monkeys & Company has announced that a lawsuit has been filed against 'Spam King' Scott Richter, head… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/spam-king-sued-again/

Several backdoors in PDF revealed

Researcher lists security issues with document format.
Researcher lists security issues with document format. A researcher analysing the possibility of exploiting vulnerabilities in the Adobe PDF file format has released a lengthy list… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/several-backdoors-pdf-revealed/

Google embarrassed by phishing demo

Fake Gmail site served by Google itself.
Fake Gmail site served by Google itself. Web search and service behemoth Google has had its security credibility hit this weekend, after a site was set up on its servers spoofing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/google-embarrassed-phishing-demo/

FTC shuts down spammers

Four spam companies hit by CAN-SPAM rulings.
Four spam companies hit by CAN-SPAM rulings. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stepped its anti-spam operations up a gear last week, shutting down four separate organisations… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2006/09/ftc-shuts-down-spammers/

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