VB Blog

VB2018 preview: Anatomy of an attack: detecting and defeating CRASHOVERRIDE

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 26, 2018

In today's blog post, we preview the VB2018 paper by Dragos Inc.'s Joe Slowik, who looks at the CRASHOVERRIDE malware, the first (publicly known) malware designed to impact electric grid operations.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 25, 2018

In today's blog post we look at a report on illicit cryptocurrency mining by the Cyber Threat Alliance and also look forward to the VB2018 talk by the CTA's CEO Michael Daniel.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 21, 2018

In recent years, car hacking has evolved from a mostly theoretical research field involving giggling researchers and scared journalists, to one that actually concerns car owners and manufacturers. On today's blog we preview two VB2018 papers, by Inbar Raz and Spencer Hsieh, that look at the subject of hacking cars.

Posted by Virus Bulletin on Sep 20, 2018

In a guest blog post by VB2018 gold partner Kaspersky Lab, Costin Raiu, Director of the company's Global Research and Analysis Team, looks critically at the 'A' in APT.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 19, 2018

Today, we preview three VB2018 presentations that look at threats against civil society in general and the use of commercial spyware by governments for this purpose in particular.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 18, 2018

Today we preview the VB2018 paper by Saher Naumaan (BAE Systems Applied Intelligence) on the use of wipers in APT attacks.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 17, 2018

The VB2018 programme is packed with a wide range of security topics featuring speakers from all around the world. Today we preview two of them: one by Qihoo 360 researchers on tracking variants of Mirai and one by researchers from Bitdefender on the peer-to-peer Hide'n'Seek botnet.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 10, 2018

We are excited to announce the final additions to the VB2018 programme in the form of 10 'last-minute' papers covering up-to-the-minute research and hot topics and two more invited talks.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Sep 7, 2018

At VB2018, AhnLab researcher Minseok Cha will look at activities of the Lazarus Group on the Korean peninsula going back as early as April 2011.

Posted by Virus Bulletin on Sep 6, 2018

Paul Baccas reviews Bruce Schneier's latest thought-provoking book, 'Click Here to Kill Everybody'.

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VB2019 paper: Exploring the Chinese DDoS landscape

China has long been a hotbed of DDoS activities, and today we publish a VB2019 paper by Intezer researcher Nacho Sanmillan who looked at Chinese threat groups engaged in performing DDoS attacks. We have also uploaded the recording of his presentation.
Exploring the Chinese DDoS landscape Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF) China has long been a hotbed of DDoS activities, with several groups… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/vb2019-paper-exploring-chinese-ddos-landscape/

Tendency for DDoS attacks to become less volumetric fits in a wider trend

CDN provider Cloudflare reports an increase in DDoS attacks targeting layer 7 and focusing on exhausting server resources rather than sending large volumes of data. This fits in a wider trend.
A current trend sees DDoS attacks focusing less on large volume attacks and more on attacks that exhaust server resources, Cloudflare reports. The number of layer 7 attacks per… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/tendency-ddos-attacks-become-less-volumetric-fits-wider-trend/

WireX DDoS botnet takedown shows the best side of the security industry

Collaboration between a number of security companies has led to the takedown of the WireX Android DDoS botnet. Efforts like these, and the fact that the companies involved all decided to publish the very same blog post, show the best side of the security …
It is easy to be cynical about the security industry and its tendency to make ever bigger mountains out of molehills, but behind a thin layer of marketing, there are a great many… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/wirex-ddos-botnet-takedown-shows-best-side-security-industry/

Throwback Thursday: Tools of the DDoS Trade

As DDoS attacks become costlier to fix and continue to increase in both number and diversity, we turn back the clock to 2000, when Aleksander Czarnowski took a look at the DDoS tools of the day.
According to a recent report by analytics firm Neustar (summarized in a Threatpost blog post here), DDoS attacks are on the increase, are taking longer to detect, and are costing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/throwback-thursday-tools-ddos-trade/

VB2015 paper: DDoS Trojan: A Malicious Concept that Conquered the ELF Format

In their VB2015 paper, Peter Kálnai and Jaromír Hořejší look at the current state of DDoS trojans forming covert botnets on unsuspecting systems. The paper provides a technical analysis of the most important malware families, focusing on infection methods…
Recently, a new trend has emerged in non-Windows DDoS attacks. Malware has evolved into complex and relatively sophisticated pieces of code, employing compression, advanced… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/06/vb2015-paper-ddos-trojan-malicious-concept-conquered-elf-format1/

Throwback Thursday: What DDoS it all Mean?

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to March 2000, when DDoS attacks were a newly emerging menace.
This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to March 2000, when DDoS attacks were a newly emerging menace. Today, DDoS attacks are a well-known form of cyber abuse — indeed,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/11/throwback-thursday-what-ddos-it-all-mean/

Dutch citizens keep extra cash at hand following DDoS attacks

Month-long attacks had significant impact.
Month-long attacks had significant impact. 25% of Dutch citizens have followed advice to keep extra cash at home, following a recent spate of DDoS attacks on Dutch banks. At the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/05/dutch-citizens-keep-extra-cash-hand-following-ddos-attacks/

WordPress pingback used for DDoS attacks

Millions of sites could potentially be used in attack.
Millions of sites could potentially be used in attack. Security firm Incapsula reports that it has discovered a DDoS attack on a gaming website using thousands of legitimate… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/05/wordpress-pingback-used-ddos-attacks/

Dutchman arrested in Spain for DDoS attacks on Spamhaus

Suspect drove around in 'mobile bunker' to co-ordinate attacks.
Suspect drove around in 'mobile bunker' to co-ordinate attacks. Police in Spain have arrested a 35-year-old Dutchman, believed to be responsible for the DDoS attacks on Spamhaus… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/04/dutchman-arrested-spain-ddos-attacks-spamhaus/

Anonymous petitions Obama Administration

Anti-virus and security related articles provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
"Make DDoS a legal form of protest." Hacking/protest group Anonymous has petitioned the Obama Administration to recognize DDoS attacks as a legal form of protest. The petition… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/01/anonymous-petitions-obama-administration/

Cybercriminals offering service flooding email, phone and SMS

DDoS-type attack could seriously disrupt business.
DDoS-type attack could seriously disrupt business. A new service is being offered on underground forums where between 25,000 and 100,000 emails are being sent to an email account… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/07/cybercriminals-offering-service-flooding-email-phone-and-sms/

International co-operation leads to scareware arrests

ChronoPay co-founder arrested for DDoS attacks on rivals.
ChronoPay co-founder arrested for DDoS attacks on rivals. Last week, Russian authorities arrested Pavel Vrublevsky, co-founder of ChronoPay, Russia's largest processor of online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/international-co-operation-leads-scareware-arrests/

Botnet rented for online extortion

Man who threatened World Cup bookmakers with DDoS attack convicted.
Man who threatened World Cup bookmakers with DDoS attack convicted. A German man who hired a botnet and used it to threaten bookmakers with DDoS attacks during the 2010 FIFA World… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/06/botnet-rented-online-extortion/

Anti-Obama sentiments used in spam campaign

'DDoS software' turns out to be malware.
'DDoS software' turns out to be malware. In a new spam campaign users are being urged to participate in a DDoS attack on the website of American president Barack Obama in protest… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/08/anti-obama-sentiments-used-spam-campaign/

Korea DDoS surge mired in hype and confusion

Rows rumble on over sources and targets of botnet attacks.
Rows rumble on over sources and targets of botnet attacks. Last week's gush of denial-of-service attacks has sparked considerable excitement and argument, with rumours of possible… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/korea-ddos-surge-mired-hype-and-confusion/

BBC botnet hijack proves controversial

Legal issues raised by broadcaster's demo of spamming, DDoS, cleanup attempt.
Legal issues raised by broadcaster's demo of spamming, DDoS, cleanup attempt. A BBC report into the dangers of botnets has got the corporation into hot water, after reporters took… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/03/bbc-botnet-hijack-proves-controversial/

Botnet-herding team arrested in Quebec

Gang held for managing million-machine zombie net.
Gang held for managing million-machine zombie net. Canadian police have announced the arrests of up to 17 people in Quebec, in connection with a major botnet operation thought to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/botnet-herding-team-arrested-quebec/

Attempted virus fumbles attack on F-Secure

Flawed file-infector fails to frighten Finns.
Flawed file-infector fails to frighten Finns. A highly buggy intended virus has been found to include an attempt to launch a DDoS attack on the websites of Finnish security firm… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/11/attempted-virus-fumbles-attack-f-secure/

Storm botnet evolution hints at spam and DDoS renting

Latest change in tactics could mean zombie clusters for hire.
Latest change in tactics could mean zombie clusters for hire. The latest twist in the long-running 'Storm' saga, the use of encryption in communications between infected hosts and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/10/storm-botnet-evolution-hints-spam-and-ddos-renting/

Storm DDoS hits anti-scam sites

419 fighters attacked - NFL and TOR latest spam hooks.
419 fighters attacked - NFL and TOR latest spam hooks. The massive botnet amassed by the 'Storm' (Zhelatin/Nuwar/Dorf/etc.) attack continues to target new victims, with the TOR… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/storm-ddos-hits-anti-scam-sites/

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