VB Blog

Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 26, 2016

The current ransomware plague is one of the worst threats the Internet has seen and it is unlikely to go away any time soon. But telling people to never pay the ransom is unhelpful advice.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 22, 2016

In his VB2015 paper, Martin Korman presented his 'VolatilyBot' tool, which extracts malicious code from packed binaries, leveraging the functionality of the Volatility Framework.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 21, 2016

We have announced 37 papers (and four reserve papers) that will be presented at VB2016 in Denver, Colorado, USA in October. Registration for the conference has opened; make sure you register before 1 July to benefit from a 10% early bird discount.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 15, 2016

The people behind the MalwareHunterTeam have released a tool that helps victims of ransomware identify which of more than 50 families has infected their system, something which could help them find a tool to decrypt their files.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Apr 13, 2016

The PR campaign around the Badlock vulnerability backfired when it turned out that the vulnerability wasn't as serious as had been suggested. But naming vulnerabilities can actually be helpful and certainly shouldn't hurt.

Posted by Helen Martin on Apr 7, 2016

The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, recording the number of incidents of each virus reported to VB in the preceding month. In August 2000, Denis Zenkin, a self-confessed virus prevalence table junkie, shared his findings following a study of the virus prevalence tables over the preceding few years, allowing him to determine the top ten viruses of the period, the top viruses by type and the viruses of the year.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 30, 2016

Security researcher Andreas Lindh recently found a vulnerability in Apache OpenMeetings that could allow remote code execution on a vulnerable server. Andreas reported the vulnerability to the OpenMeetings developers and, once it had been patched, he wrote up the details.

Posted by Helen Martin on Mar 24, 2016

Word and Excel’s internal file formats used to be something in which few were interested – until macro viruses came along and changed all that. In 1996, Andrew Krukov provided an overview of the new breed of viruses.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Mar 18, 2016

You have until the early hours (GMT) of Monday 21 March to submit an abstract for VB2016! The VB2016 programme will be announced in the first week of April.

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Stalkerware poses particular challenges to anti-virus products

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.
Did you know that October has been Cyber Security Awareness Month? Of course you did ─ it has been pretty hard to avoid it. But did you know that it has also, at least in the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/stalkerware-poses-particular-challenges-anti-virus-products/

Healthcare CERTs highlight the need for security guidance for specific sectors

A new computer emergency response team has been launched in the Netherlands to provide guidance specifically tailored to the healthcare sector. Martijn Grooten welcomes the development.
In February 2016, a US hospital saw a heart operation interrupted by the rebooting of a monitoring PC, caused by anti-virus software running on the machine. The report filed makes… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/healthcare-certs-show-need-security-guidance-specific-sectors/

Meltdown and Spectre attacks mitigated by operating system updates

Just four days into the new year, two serious attacks in modern processors, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, have been discovered. The attacks can be mitigated by patches to the operating system, but anti-virus software vendors need to make sure their product…
We wish all our readers a very happy and very secure 2018! The latter part will not come without some serious work though. We are not even four days into the new year and we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/meltdown-and-spectre-attacks-mitigated-operating-system-updates/

Conference review: AVAR 2017

Martijn Grooten reports on the 20th AVAR conference, which took place earlier in December in Beijing, China.
The first week of December was packed with security conferences, and VB2017 speakers were busy presenting their research at no fewer than four different events: FIRST in Prague,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/conference-review-avar-2017/

Throwback Thursday: The beginning of the end(point): where we are now and where we'll be in five years

We look back at the VB2016 presentation by Adrian Sanabria on the state of endpoint security, both now and in the future.
Over the coming weeks and months, we plan to use the Throwback Thursday slot to look back at and publish some great VB conference presentations from our archives. We start… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-video-beginning-endpoint-where-we-are-now-and-where-well-be-five-years/

Standalone product test: FireEye Endpoint

Virus Bulletin ran a standalone test on FireEye's Endpoint Security solution.
FireEye is well known within the security community, both for its advanced protection products and for its regular research reports. Recently, the company launched a new version… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/standaline-test-fireeye-endpoint/

VB2017 preview: Stuck between a ROC and a hard place

We preview the VB2017 paper by Microsoft's Holly Stewart and Joe Blackbird, which uses data about users switching anti-virus provider to decide whether machine-learning models should favour avoiding false positives over false negatives.
Authors of security software in general, and anti-virus software in particular, have always needed to find the right balance between a high detection rate and a low false positive… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-stuck-between-roc-and-hard-place/

Modern security software is not necessarily powerless against threats like WannaCry

The WannaCry ransomware has affected many organisations around the world, making it probably the worst and most damaging of its kind. But modern security is not necessarily powerless against such threats.
We have become used to the idea of cybersecurity stories sometimes making the mainstream news, but the UK's newspapers across the spectrum, from broadsheets to tabloids, all… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/modern-security-software-not-powerless-against-threats-wannacry/

The Living Dead Anti-Virus

Should users uninstall their anti-virus products, as was recently suggested by a security expert in a widely shared article? In a guest post, security consultant Hendrik Pilz explains why he doesn't think this is a good idea.
A former director of testing at AV-TEST and a one-time VB conference speaker, security consultant Hendrik Pilz is passionate about the quality of security products. In a guest… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/01/living-dead-anti-virus/

Researchers seek ransomware samples for their generic solution

VB2015 presentation to include demonstration of technique against recent samples.
VB2015 presentation to include demonstration of technique against recent samples. 'The scary hack that's on the rise' is how Wired's Kim Zetter described ransomware in an overview… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/09/researchers-seek-ransomware-samples-their-generic-solution/

Paper: Hype heuristics, signatures and the death of AV (again)

David Harley responds to anti-malware's many criticasters.
David Harley responds to anti-malware's many criticasters. Anti-virus is dead. After all, in the current threat landscape, who would use a system that relies on signatures of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/08/paper-hype-heuristics-signatures-and-death-av-again/

NSA, GCHQ found to target anti-virus products

Agencies looked for vulnerabilities to exploit and for submitted malware samples.
Agencies looked for vulnerabilities to exploit and for submitted malware samples. New documents from NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden have revealed the agency and its British… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/06/nsa-gchq-found-target-anti-virus-products/

VirusTotal project aims to remediate false positives

Security vendors to receive alerts when legitimate files are detected as malicious.
Security vendors to receive alerts when legitimate files are detected as malicious.False positives are a huge problem for the IT industry in general and for security products in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/virustotal-project-aims-remediate-false-positives/

Low VirusTotal detection rates for new malware, do they matter?

It is not as important as is often suggested — and doesn't mean the malware is allowed to execute.
It is not as important as is often suggested — and doesn't mean the malware is allowed to execute. It is fairly common these days for security researchers to write about new… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/low-virustotal-detection-rates-new-malware-do-they-matter/

Report: VB100 comparative review on Windows 8.1

40 out of 48 tested products earn VB100 award.
40 out of 48 tested products earn VB100 award. If you follow the security news, you may believe that all you have to worry about are nation states using zero-day vulnerabilities to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/11/report-comparative-review-windows-8-1/

The VB2014 presentation you never saw. Early launch Android malware: your phone is 0wned

Malicious apps may have more privileges than security software.
Malicious apps may have more privileges than security software. There are many people without whom a Virus Bulletin conference wouldn't be possible: the VB team, the crew from Cue… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/presentation-you-never-saw-early-launch-android-malware-your-phone-0wned/

Open letter asks AV companies for openness on surveillance malware

Old issue has become hot topic again following Snowden revelations.
Old issue has become hot topic again following Snowden revelations. A group of experts in privacy and digital rights has sent an open letter (pdf) to a number of anti-virus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/10/open-letter-asks-av-companies-openness-surveillance-malware/

US lifts ban on anti-virus software for Iran

Eased restrictions welcomed by security experts.
Eased restrictions welcomed by security experts. The United States has announced it has eased export restrictions to Iran, and now allows for the export of mobile phones and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/05/us-lifts-ban-anti-virus-software-iran/

Anti-virus software significantly shortens life of banking trojans

Security software causes malware to run for less than a third as long.
Security software causes malware to run for less than a third as long. 'Does anti-virus software actually help?' is a question often asked, even by security experts - who point to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/10/anti-virus-software-significantly-shortens-life-banking-trojans/

Fake codec trojan disables anti-virus software

Victim tricked into believing security software still active.
Victim tricked into believing security software still active. A new trojan, discovered by researchers at ESET, spreads itself via fake codecs, then disables running anti-virus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/08/fake-codec-trojan-disables-anti-virus-software/

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