VB Blog

VB2018 paper: Little Brother is watching – we know all your secrets!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 1, 2019

At VB2018 in Montreal, researchers from Fraunhofer SIT looked at privacy vulnerabilities in legitimate Android family-tracking apps that leaked location data. Today, we publish both their paper and the video of their presentation.

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Threat intelligence teams should consider recruiting journalists

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 29, 2019

Threat intelligence teams would do well to recruit journalists, whose experience is crucial in today's threat landscape.

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From HSBC to product descriptions: the malicious emails bypassing your filters

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 28, 2019

Using data from our VBSpam lab, we looked at the malicious emails that have been missed recently by a large number of email security products.

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VB2018 paper: Inside Formbook infostealer

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 25, 2019

The Formbook information-stealing trojan may not be APT-grade malware, but its continuing spread means it can still be effective. At VB2018 in Montreal, Gabriela Nicolao, a researcher from Deloitte in Argentina, presented a short paper in which she looked at Formbook's background and history and analysed a sample of the malware. Today, we publish Gabriela's paper.

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The VB2019 CFP - how the selection procedure works

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 24, 2019

With the VB2019 Call for Papers having opened last week, we explain how the selection procedure works, which may help you during your abstract submission.

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VB2018 paper: From Hacking Team to hacked team to…?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 18, 2019

Today we publish the VB2018 paper and video by ESET researcher Filip Kafka, who looked at the new malware by Hacking Team, after the company had recovered from the 2015 breach.

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The spam that is hardest to block is often the most damaging

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 17, 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. Worryingly, it is often the emails with a malicious attachment or a phishing link that are most likely to be missed.

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Throwback Thursday: We're all doomed

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jan 17, 2019

Mydoom turns 15 this month, and is still being seen in email attachments. This Throwback Thursday we look back to March 2004, when Gabor Szappanos tracked the rise of W32/Mydoom.

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VB2019 call for papers - now open!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 15, 2019

Have you analysed a new online threat? Do you know a new way to defend against such threats? Are you tasked with securing systems and fending off attacks? The call for papers for VB2019 is now open and we want to hear from you!

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VB2018 paper: Unpacking the packed unpacker: reversing an Android anti-analysis library

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 14, 2019

Today, we publish a VB2018 paper by Google researcher Maddie Stone in which she looks at one of the most interesting anti-analysis native libraries in the Android ecosystem. We also release the recording of Maddie's presentation.

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VB2014 preview: two papers on Linux server malware

Researchers from ESET, Yandex and Symantec look at emerging malware trend.
Researchers from ESET, Yandex and Symantec look at emerging malware trend.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we are looking at… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-two-papers-linux-server-malware/

VB2014 preview: keynote and closing panel

Vulnerability disclosure one of the hottest issues in security.
Vulnerability disclosure one of the hottest issues in security. In the proceedings of the 24th Virus Bulletin conference, the words 'vulnerabilty' and 'vulnerabilities' occur more… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-keynote-and-closing-panel/

Report: VB100 comparative review on Windows Server 2012

23 out of 29 tested products earn VB100 award.
23 out of 29 tested products earn VB100 award.Windows Server 2012 is the server version of Windows 8, the most recent version of Microsoft's operating system. Though supposedly… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/report-comparative-review-windows-server-2012/

DNS cache poisoning used to steal emails

Call to use end-to-end encryption and to deploy DNSSEC.
Call to use end-to-end encryption and to deploy DNSSEC.DNS is sometimes called 'the phone book of the Internet'. If true, then it is a phone book that makes it relatively easy to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/dns-cache-poisoning-used-steal-emails/

VB2014 preview: Apple without a shell - iOS under targeted attack

FireEye researchers show a large attack vector for Apple's mobile operating system.
FireEye researchers show a large attack vector for Apple's mobile operating system.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we are… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-apple-without-shell-ios-under-targeted-attack/

Left-to-right override makes a return in spam

Trick shows that spammers still try to beat content-based filters.
Trick shows that spammers still try to beat content-based filters. A decade ago, when spam had become a serious issue, most spam filters tried to block the unwanted emails based on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/left-right-override-makes-return-spam/

Paper: Prosecting the Citadel botnet - revealing the dominance of the Zeus descendent: part two

Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal study the malware's behaviour when ran on a physical machine.
Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal study the malware's behaviour when ran on a physical machine. Last week, we published the first part of the paper 'Prosecting the Citadel botnet -… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/paper-prosecting-citadel-botnet-revealing-dominance-zeus-descendent-part-two/

Crypto blunder makes TorrentLocker easy to crack

Use of single XOR key leaves ransomware open to known-plaintext attack.
Use of single XOR key leaves ransomware open to known-plaintext attack. It has been said many times before: cryptography is hard. Earlier this year, the authors of the 'Bitcrypt'… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/crypto-blunder-makes-torrentlocker-easy-crack/

VB2014 preview: The three levels of exploit testing

Richard Ford and Marco Carvalho present an idea for how to test products that claim to detect the unknown.
Richard Ford and Marco Carvalho present an idea for how to test products that claim to detect the unknown.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-three-levels-exploit-testing/

VB2014 preview: last-minute papers added to the programme

Hot topics to be covered at VB2014 conference in Seattle.
Hot topics to be covered at VB2014 conference in Seattle. Although most of the VB2014 conference programme was announced back in April, it looks anything but dated. A paper on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-last-minute-papers-added-programme/

Paper: Prosecting the Citadel botnet - revealing the dominance of the Zeus descendent: part one

Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal dissect botnet primarily used for financial fraud.
Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal dissect botnet primarily used for financial fraud. It is unlikely that anyone still thinks that cybercrime is performed by 16-year-old kids who… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/paper-prosecting-citadel-botnet-revealing-dominance-zeus-descendent-part-one/

VB2014 preview: Swipe away, we're watching you

Hong Kei Chan and Liang Huang describe the various aspects and the evolution of point-of-sale malware.
Hong Kei Chan and Liang Huang describe the various aspects and the evolution of point-of-sale malware.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/preview-swipe-away-we-re-watching-you/

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https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/

VB2014 preview: Design to discover: security analytics with 3D visualization engine

Thibault Reuille and Dhia Mahjoub use particle physics to shows clusters of malicious domains.
Thibault Reuille and Dhia Mahjoub use particle physics to shows clusters of malicious domains.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference),… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/preview-design-discover-security-analytics-3d-visualization-engine/

Malicious ads served on java.com

If you do need to run plug-ins, make sure you enable click-to-play.
If you do need to run plug-ins, make sure you enable click-to-play. Last week, we published a blog previewing the VB2014 paper 'Optimized mal-ops. Hack the ad network like a boss'… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/malicious-ads-served-java-com/

Srizbi kernel-mode spambot reappears as Pitou

Malware possibly still in the 'brewing' stage.
Malware possibly still in the 'brewing' stage. In November 2007, we published an article by Kimmo Kasslin (F-Secure) and Elia Florio (Symantec), in which they analysed the 'Srizbi'… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/srizbi-kernel-mode-spambot-reappears-pitou/

VB2014 preview: Methods of malware persistence on Mac OS X

Patrick Wardle shows that OS X users really have something to worry about.
Patrick Wardle shows that OS X users really have something to worry about.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we will look at some… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/preview-methods-malware-persistence-mac-os-x/

More than two million home routers have 'wide open backdoor'

Default password makes vulnerability easy to exploit.
Default password makes vulnerability easy to exploit. Researchers at Trend Micro have discovered an easy-to-exploit backdoor in routers from Chinese manufacturer Netcore, that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/more-two-million-home-routers-have-wide-open-backdoor/

VB2014 preview: Duping the machine - malware strategies, post sandbox detection

James Wyke looks at four difference decoy methods.
James Wyke looks at four difference decoy methods.In the weeks running up to VB2014 (the 24th Virus Bulletin International Conference), we will look at some of the research that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/preview-duping-machine-malware-strategies-post-sandbox-detection/

Paper: Bird's nest

Raul Alvarez studies the Neshta prepending file infector.
Raul Alvarez studies the Neshta prepending file infector. File infectors can be categorized by how they attach themselves to the host file. A cavity virus attaches itself to the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/08/paper-bird-s-nest/

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