VB Blog

Virus Bulletin at RSA

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 13, 2018

Next week, VB Editor Martijn Grooten will be at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

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Broad-ranging and international VB2018 programme announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 11, 2018

VB is excited to reveal the details of an interesting and diverse programme for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which takes place 3-5 October in Montreal, Canada.

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Netflix issue shows email verification really does matter

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 10, 2018

A clever trick taking advantage of the fact that Gmail ignores dots in email addresses could be used to trick someone into paying for your Netflix subscription - demonstrating the importance of confirmed opt-in.

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VB2017 paper: Exploring the virtual worlds of advergaming

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 10, 2018

At VB2017 in Madrid, Malwarebytes' Chris Boyd presented a paper in which he looked at various aspects of advergaming, from unreadable EULAs to fake programs that promise to block ads. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Chris's presentation.

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New paper: Distinguishing between malicious app collusion and benign app collaboration: a machine-learning approach

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 27, 2018

Two or more mobile apps, viewed independently, may not appear to be malicious - but in combination, they could become harmful by exchanging information with one another and by performing malicious activities together. Today, we publish a new paper by a group of researchers affiliated with various UK universities and companies, which looks at how machine-learning methods can be used to detect app collusions.

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VB2016 paper: Wild Android collusions

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 26, 2018

At VB2016 in Denver, Jorge Blasco presented a paper (co-written with Thomas M. Chen, Igor Muttik and Markus Roggenbach), in which he discussed the concept of app collusion - where two (or more) apps installed on the same device work together to collect and extract data from the device - and presented discoveries of colluding code in many in-the-wild apps. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Jorge's presentation.

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VB2017 paper: The life story of an IPT - Inept Persistent Threat actor

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 19, 2018

At VB2017 in Madrid, Polish security researcher and journalist Adam Haertlé presented a paper about a very inept persistent threat. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Adam's presentation.

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Five reasons to submit a VB2018 paper this weekend

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 16, 2018

The call for papers for VB2018 closes on 18 March, and while we've already received many great submissions, we still want more! Here are five reasons why you should submit a paper this weekend.

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First partners of VB2018 announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 15, 2018

We are excited to announce the first six companies to partner with VB2018.

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VB2018: looking for technical and non-technical talks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 9, 2018

We like to pick good, solid technical talks for the VB conference programme, but good talks don't have to be technical and we welcome less technical submissions just as much.

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VB2019 paper: Spoofing in the reeds with Rietspoof

In a VB2019 paper Avast researchers Jan Sirmer, Luigino Camastra and Adolf Středa revealed full details of the Rietspoof malware. Today we publish their paper and the recording of the presentation given by Jan and Luigino in London.
Spoofing in the reeds with Rietspoof Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF)     The Call for Papers for VB2020 in Dublin is open! Submit your abstract before… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2020/01/vb2019-paper-spoofing-reeds-rietspoof/

VB2017 video: Spora: the saga continues a.k.a. how to ruin your research in a week

Today, we publish the video of the VB2017 presentation by Avast researcher Jakub Kroustek and his former colleague Előd Kironský, now at ESET, who told the story of Spora, one of of the most prominent ransomware families of 2017.
First discovered at the beginning of the year, the Spora ransomware has become one of of the most prominent ransomware families of 2017, especially in Russia, a region it appears… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-video-spora-saga-continues-k-how-ruin-your-research-week/

Malicious CCleaner update points to a major weakness in our infrastructure

Researchers from Cisco Talos have found that a recent version of the widely used CCleaner tool installed malware on the machine.
For the security community, 2017 might well be called the year of the update: two of the biggest security stories – the WannaCry outbreak and the Equifax breach – involved… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/malicious-ccleaner-update-points-major-weakness-our-infrastructure/

Avast acquires AVG for $1.3bn

Anti-virus vendor Avast has announced the acquisition of its rival AVG for 1.3 billion US dollars.
There was interesting news in the anti-virus world yesterday, as Avast announced the acquisition of its competitor AVG. Both companies were founded in the Czech Republic and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/07/avast-acquires-avg-13bn/

Avast launches bug bounty programme

Security firm offers reward for info on bugs.
Security firm offers reward for info on bugs. Security firm Avast Software, producer of the popular avast! free anti-virus solution, has announced a bug bounty programme to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/01/avast-launches-bug-bounty-programme/

774,000 Avast! pirates on 14-user licence

Wildly popular free solution not good enough for some.
Wildly popular free solution not good enough for some. Leading provider of free anti-malware products Avast Software has spotted that a single 14-user licence key, issued last… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/12/774-000-avast-pirates-14-user-licence/

Sophos joins free home AV crowd with Mac release

Business-focused firm takes first step into home-user arena.
Business-focused firm takes first step into home-user arena.Sophos has announced the release of a home-user edition of its Mac anti-malware solution, which is being given away free… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/11/sophos-joins-free-home-av-crowd-mac-release/

Avast gets $100m investment boost

Growth equity firm invests in Czech firm
Growth equity firm invests in Czech firmAvast Software, the Czech anti-malware firm famous for its free avast! software, has announced that growth equity investor Summit Partners… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/avast-gets-100m-investment-boost/

False positive problem hits avast! users

Human failure blamed for faulty update.
Human failure blamed for faulty update. A relatively small subsection of the massive user base for Alwil's ever-popular avast! products were hit by a string of false positives last… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/12/false-positive-problem-hits-avast-users/

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