VB Blog

VB2016 paper: Open Source Malware Lab

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Jan 4, 2017

At VB2016, ThreatConnect Director of Research Innovation Robert Simmons presented a paper on setting up an open source malware lab. Today, we share the accompanying paper and video.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 24, 2016

As a Christmas present for the security community, we have uploaded most of the papers and videos from the VB2015 conference which took place in Prague almost 15 months ago. The Virus Bulletin crew wishes you all the best for 2017!

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 21, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Acalvio researcher Abhishek Singh discusses some of the techniques used by malware to increase its impact by spreading further.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 20, 2016

At VB2016, Kaspersky Lab researcher Kurt Baumgartner delivered a presentation on the StrongPity watering hole attacks that targeted users of encryption technologies, and which were recently featured in a report by Microsoft. Today, we share the video of Kurt's presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 20, 2016

Three members of the Virus Bulletin team attended the Botconf 2016 conference in Lyon, France last month, enjoying talks on subjects that ranged from state-sponsored attacks to exploit kits, and from banking trojans to cyber insurance.

Posted by Helen Martin on Dec 15, 2016

"Most of you reading this article have the technical skill but do you have the people skills?" In 2000, James Wolfe urged security experts to sell themselves and their services.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 12, 2016

Today, we publish the VB2016 paper and presentation (recording) by ESET researchers Jean-Ian Boutin and Anton Cherepanov, in which they look at sophisticated attacks against Russian financial institutions.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 2, 2016

At Botconf 2016 this week, GoSecure researchers Masarah Paquet-Clouston and Olivier Bilodeau presented their research on the Moose botnet - something Olivier Bilodeau previously spoke about at VB2015.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 2, 2016

Today, we publish the VB2016 paper and presentation (recording) by Check Point Software researchers Alexander Chailytko and Stanislav Skuratovich, which focuses on the techniques used by malware to detect virtual environments, and provides detailed technical descriptions of what can be done to defeat them.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Nov 29, 2016

While the Internet of Things blossoms with newly connected objects every day, the security and privacy of these objects is often overlooked, making the IoT a major security concern. Unfortunately, reverse-engineering so-called smart devices is not an easy task. In her VB2016 paper, Axelle Apvrille presented a novel way of analysing smart devices: by looking at the accompanying mobile app. Today, we publish both Axelle’s paper and the video recording of her VB2016 presentation.

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Emotet continues to bypass many email security products

Having returned from a summer hiatus, Emotet is back targeting inboxes and, as seen in the VBSpam test lab, doing a better job than most other malicious campaigns at bypassing email security products.
Emails with a malicious link or attachment form only a small minority of the spam that is sent every day. If it appears that such emails are more common than that, it is not just… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/emotet-continues-bypass-many-email-security-products/

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/

New Emotet spam campaign continues to bypass email security products

On Monday, the infamous Emotet malware resumed its spam campaign to spread the latest version of the malware. As before, the malware successfully bypasses many email security products.
Following the resumption of activity by Emotet's C&C servers in August, it was only a matter of time before the botnet started sending out spam again. This did indeed happen on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/new-emotet-spam-campaign-continues-bypass-email-security-products/

The malspam security products miss: Emotet, Ursnif, and a spammer's blunder

The set-up of the VBSpam test lab gives us a unique insight into the kinds of emails that are more likely to bypass email filters. This week we look at the malspam that was missed: a very international email with a link serving Emotet, an Italian Ursnif c…
This blog post was put together in collaboration with VB test engineers Adrian Luca and Ionuţ Răileanu. Virus Bulletin uses email feeds provided by Abusix and Project Honey Pot.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/02/malspam-security-products-miss-emotet-ursnif-and-spammers-blunder/

From Amazon to Emotet: a look at those phishing and malware emails that bypassed email security products

We see a lot of spam in the VBSpam test lab, and we also see how well such emails are being blocked by email security products. Recently some of the emails that bypassed security products included a broken Amazon phishing campaign, a large fake UPS campai…
This blog post was put together in collaboration with VB test engineers Adrian Luca and Ionuţ Răileanu. On this blog, we regularly look at those phishing and malware emails… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/02/amazon-ups-emotet-formbook-and-lokibot-look-those-phishing-and-malware-emails-bypassed-email-security-products/

From HSBC to product descriptions: the malicious emails bypassing your filters

Using data from our VBSpam lab, we looked at the malicious emails that have been missed recently by a large number of email security products.
Over a one-week period earlier this month, the average email with a malicious attachment was almost three times as likely to bypass email security products than a spam email… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/01/hsbc-product-descriptions-malicious-emails-bypassing-your-filters/

VB2018 paper: Inside Formbook infostealer

The Formbook information-stealing trojan may not be APT-grade malware, but its continuing spread means it can still be effective. At VB2018 in Montreal, Gabriela Nicolao, a researcher from Deloitte in Argentina, presented a short paper in which she looked…
The Formbook information-stealing trojan has been spread by a number of recent spam campaigns. The malware was advertised in hacking forums as long ago as January 2016, but wasn't… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/01/vb2018-paper-inside-formbook-infostealer/

VB2018 paper: From Hacking Team to hacked team to…?

Today we publish the VB2018 paper and video by ESET researcher Filip Kafka, who looked at the new malware by Hacking Team, after the company had recovered from the 2015 breach.
It is good practice not to mock or laugh at hacking victims. But when the victim is a company that itself is in the business of hacking and has a habit of selling its products and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/01/vb2018-paper-hacking-team-hacked-team/

The spam that is hardest to block is often the most damaging

We see a lot of spam in the VBSpam test lab, and we also see how well such emails are being blocked by email security products. Worryingly, it is often the emails with a malicious attachment or a phishing link that are most likely to be missed.
This blog post was put together in collaboration with VB test engineers Adrian Luca and Ionuţ Răileanu. In a talk I gave at IRISSCON last year (the video of which you will find… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/01/spam-hardest-block-often-most-damaging/

VB2018 paper: Unpacking the packed unpacker: reversing an Android anti-analysis library

Today, we publish a VB2018 paper by Google researcher Maddie Stone in which she looks at one of the most interesting anti-analysis native libraries in the Android ecosystem. We also release the recording of Maddie's presentation.
Though still relatively new (the first VB conference paper on Android malware was presented in 2011), malware targeting the Android mobile operating system has evolved quickly, in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/01/vb2018-paper-unpacking-packed-unpacker-reversing-android-anti-analysis-library/

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

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.
One of the many highlights of last year's Virus Bulletin Conference was a last-minute paper by ESET researchers Anton Cherepanov and Robert Lipovsky on Industroyer, 'the first… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/09/vb2018-preview-anatomy-attack-detecting-and-defeating-crashoverride/

VB2017 video: Client Maximus raises the bar

At VB2017, IBM Trusteer researcher Omer Agmon, presented a 'last-minute' paper in which he analysed the Client Maximum trojan, which targets Brazilian users of online banking. Today, we release the recording of his presentation.
Brazil has long been known as a hotbed of cybercrime, but what makes the country especially unique is that a lot of this cybercrime is inwards-focused. Thus there are many malware… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2017-video-client-maximus-raises-bar/

Malware authors' continued use of stolen certificates isn't all bad news

A new malware campaign that uses two stolen code-signing certificates shows that such certificates continue to be popular among malware authors. But there is a positive side to malware authors' use of stolen certificates.
A malware campaign has been using code-signing certificates stolen from Taiwanese companies to sign its samples, ESET researcher and regular VB conference speaker Anton Cherepanov… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/malware-authors-continued-use-stolen-certificates-not-only-bad-news/

.SettingContent-ms files remind us that it is features, not bugs we should be most concerned about

Security researcher Matt Nelson has discovered how .SettingContent-ms files can be embedded into Office files to deliver malware.
One of the most significant developments in the threat landscape in recent years has been the return of malicious Office macros, their resurgence having started four years ago.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/settingcontent-ms-files-remind-us-it-features-not-bugs-we-should-be-most-concerned-about/

XMRig used in new macOS cryptominer

A new piece of cryptocurrency-mining malware on macOS has been found to use the popular XMRig miner.
Users complaining on Apple's official discussion forum about processes that use a lot of CPU have led to the discovery of a new piece of cryptocurrency-mining malware on macOS… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/xmrig-used-new-macos-cryptominer/

GravityRAT malware takes your system's temperature

The GravityRAT malware, discovered by Cisco Talos researchers, gives some interesting insight into modern malware development.
Cisco Talos researchers Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagnères recently discovered and analysed 'GravityRAT', an advanced Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that appears to have been used in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/04/gravityrat-malware-takes-your-systems-temperature/

Using Mailchimp makes malware campaigns a little bit more successful

In recent months, some malicious spam campaigns have been spreading via the systems of Mailchimp, a well-known email service provider - a tactic which may give the campaigns a slightly higher success rate.
Sending one email is easy. Sending thousands or millions of emails is hard: one effect of the anti-spam infrastructure we have collectively built is that the process of sending… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/using-mailchimp-makes-malware-campaigns-little-bit-more-successful/

We need to continue the debate on the ethics and perils of publishing security research

An article by security researcher Collin Anderson reopens the debate on whether publishing threat analyses is always in the public interest.
At VB2015 in Prague, Juan Andrés Guerro-Saade, then of Kaspersky Lab, presented an important paper on the transformation of security researchers into intelligence brokers and how… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/02/we-need-continue-debate-ethics-and-perils-publishing-security-research/

There is no evidence in-the-wild malware is using Meltdown or Spectre

Reports of malware using the Meltdown or Spectre attacks are likely based on proof-of-concept code rather than files written for a malicious purpose.
Almost a month after the Meltdown and Spectre attacks against various CPUs were discovered and revealed to the public, there have been reports of the existence of malware that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/02/there-no-evidence-wild-malware-using-meltdown-or-spectre/

Alleged author of creepy FruitFly macOS malware arrested

A 28-year old man from Ohio has been arrested on suspicion of having created the mysterious FruitFly malware that targeted macOS and used it to spy on its victims.
It is almost a year since the mysterious FruitFly malware for macOS was discovered. Malware targeting macOS is still uncommon enough to be newsworthy, but FruitFly seemed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/alleged-author-creepy-fruitfly-macos-malware-arrested/

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