Virus Bulletin - December 2009


Editor: Helen Martin

Technical Consultant: John Hawes

Technical Editor: Morton Swimmer

Consulting Editors: Ian Whalley, Nick FitzGerald, Richard Ford, Edward Wilding

2009-12-01


Comment

Cybersecurity awareness for the next generation

'Ignorance of the risks of cybercrime is what poses the greatest threat to the new generation of Internet citizens.' Jeff Debrosse, ESET.

Jeff Debrosse - ESET, USA

News

Happy holidays

Yuletide greetings to all.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

Ikee author develops iPhone apps; Apple sees no need for security

Job offer for iPhone worm author; Apple doesn't see need for security apps.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

Congrats

VB congtratulates the winner of a hat trick of blogging awards.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

Malware prevalence report

October 2009

The Virus Bulletin prevalence table is compiled monthly from virus reports received by Virus Bulletin; both directly, and from other companies who pass on their statistics.


Malware analysis

Twinkle, twinkle little star

Peter Ferrie likens W32/Satevis to a viral version of a mix tape - a virus that is essentially made up of a collection of routines taken from other viruses.

Peter Ferrie - Microsoft, USA

Tutorial

Behavioural analysis of Flash files

We have seen a notable escalation in web-based attacks over the past few years, especially with regard to malicious Flash files - which are capable of redirection, execution of embedded malicious code and exploitation via vulnerabilities. Here, Ken Dunham provides an overview of the behavioural analysis of Flash files.

Ken Dunham - iSIGHT Partners, USA

Call for papers

Calling all speakers: VB2010 Vancouver

VB is seeking submissions from those wishing to present papers at VB2010 - the 20th Virus Bulletin International Conference in Vancouver.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

Feature

Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail users hacked, but how?

In October, thousands of usernames and passwords belonging to Hotmail users were posted publicly online, and anyone could have taken them, logged into the accounts and done something with them. Gmail and Yahoo! were also targeted. Terry Zink asks: how did the hacker(s) gain access to all of these accounts and usernames? Should we be afraid that someone will guess our passwords? Why did they do it? What did they do with it? And should we worry about it happening to us?

Terry Zink - Microsoft, USA

Comparative review

Windows 7

With a double whammy of a brand new platform and a record-breaking haul of 43 products to test, the VB test team had their work cut out this month. John Hawes has all the details of how the products fared on the shiny new Windows 7 platform.

John Hawes - Virus Bulletin

Calendar

Anti-malware industry events

Must-attend events in the anti-malware industry - dates, locations and further details.


 

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