VB Blog

Vulnerabilities play only a tiny role in the security risks that come with mobile phones

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 9, 2017

Both bad news (all devices were pwnd) and good news (pwning is increasingly difficult) came from the most recent mobile Pwn2Own competition. But the practical security risks that come with using mobile phones have little to do with vulnerabilities.

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VB2017 paper: The (testing) world turned upside down

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 8, 2017

At VB2017 in Madrid, industry veteran and ESET Senior Research Fellow David Harley presented a paper on the state of security software testing. Today we publish David's paper in both HTML and PDF format.

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VB2017 video: Turning Trickbot: decoding an encrypted command-and-control channel

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 3, 2017

Trickbot, a banking trojan which appeared this year, seems to be a new, more modular, and more extensible malware descendant of the notorious Dyre botnet trojan. At VB2017, Symantec researcher Andrew Brandt presented a walkthrough of a typical Trickbot infection process, and its aftermath, as seen through the lens of a tool used to perform man-in-the-middle decryption. Today, we publish both Andrew's slides and the recording of his presentation.

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Paper: FAME - Friendly Malware Analysis Framework

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 2, 2017

Today, we publish a short paper in which CERT Société Générale presents FAME, its open source malware analysis framework.

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Ebury and Mayhem server malware families still active

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 31, 2017

Ebury and Mayhem, two families of Linux server malware, about which VB published papers back in 2014, are still active and have received recent updates.

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VB2017 paper: Crypton - exposing malware's deepest secrets

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 27, 2017

Crypton, a tool developed by F5 Networks researchers Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman, aims to speed up the reverse engineering process by decrypting encrypted content found in a (malicious) binary. The researchers described the tool in a paper which they presented at VB2017 in Madrid. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2017 paper: The sprawling market of consumer spyware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 25, 2017

For many people, the threat of an abusive partner or ex-partner is very real - and the market for consumer spyware worryingly large. Today, we publish the recording of a presentation on the subject of consumer spyware given at VB2017 by The Daily Beast reporter Joseph Cox.

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Gábor Szappanos wins fourth Péter Szőr Award

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 23, 2017

At the VB2017 gala dinner, the fourth Péter Szőr Award was presented to Sophos researcher Gábor Szappanos for his paper "AKBuilder – the crowdsourced exploit kit".

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VB2017 paper: Walking in your enemy's shadow: when fourth-party collection becomes attribution hell

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 20, 2017

We publish the VB2017 paper and video by Kaspersky Lab researchers Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Costin Raiu, in which they look at fourth-party collection (spies spying on other spies' campaigns) and its implications for attribution.

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Didn't come to VB2017? Tell us why!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 11, 2017

Virus Bulletin is a company - and a conference - with a mission: to further the research in and facilitate the fight against digital threats. To help us in this mission, we want to hear from those who didn't come to Madrid. What is your impression of the VB Conference? What did you think of this year's programme? And why couldn't you come to Madrid?

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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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