VB Blog

VB2017 paper: Nine circles of Cerber

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 15, 2017

Cerber is one of the major names in the world of ransomware, and last year, Check Point released a decryption service for the malware. Today, we publish a VB2017 paper by Check Point's Stanislav Skuratovich describing how the Cerber decryption tool worked; we have also uploaded the video of the presentation of this paper, by Or Eshed and Yaniv Balmas.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 14, 2017

Dutch security firm Fox-IT deserves praise for being open about an attack on its client network. There are some important lessons to be learned about DNS security from its post-mortem.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 14, 2017

For this week's Throwback Thursday, we look back at the video of a talk Level 3's Mike Benjamin gave at VB2016 in Denver, on BGP and BGP hijacks.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 13, 2017

Citizen Lab's Security Planner helps you improve your online safety, based on the specific threats you are facing.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 11, 2017

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.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 7, 2017

During recent research, Cisco Talos researchers observed the ways in which APT actors are evolving and how a reconnaissance phase is included in the infection vector in order to protect valuable zero-day exploits or malware frameworks. At VB2017 in Madrid, two of those researchers, Paul Rascagneres and Warren Mercer, presented a paper detailing five case studies that demonstrate how the infection vector is evolving. Today we publish both Paul and Warren's paper and the recording of their presentation.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Dec 1, 2017

At VB2017 in Madrid, CERT Poland researchers Maciej Kotowicz and Jarosław Jedynak presented a paper detailing their low-level analysis of five spam botnets. Today we publish their full paper.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Nov 30, 2017

We look back at the VB2016 presentation by Righard Zwienenberg (ESET) and Luis Corrons (Panda Security), in which they discussed various issues relating to anti-malware testing.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Nov 30, 2017

As an independent body in the IT security industry, Virus Bulletin is in an ideal position to act as a global source of information both about jobs currently available in the field and about those candidates currently seeking to start or progress their career in the industry - which is why we have relaunched the VB Security Jobs Market.

Posted by Martijn Grooten on Nov 29, 2017

At VB2017 in Madrid, macOS malware researcher Patrick Wardle presented the details of a specific piece of Mac malware, FruitFly, which he analysed through a custom C&C server - a technique that will also be of interest for researchers of malware on other platforms. Today we publish both Patrick's paper and the recording of his presentation.

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Emotet trojan starts stealing full emails from infected machines

The infamous Emotet trojan has added the capability to steal full email bodies from infected machines, opening the possibilities for more targeted spam and phishing campaigns.
Researchers at Kryptos Logic have discovered that the Emotet banking trojan is exfiltrating entire email bodies as opposed to merely email addresses. Emotet was first discovered… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/10/emotet-trojan-starts-stealing-full-emails-infected-machines/

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/

MnuBot banking trojan communicates via SQL server

Researchers at IBM X-Force have discovered MnuBot, a banking trojan targeting users in Brazil, which is noteworthy for using SQL Server for command and control communication.
Researchers at IBM X-Force have discovered a new banking trojan, dubbed 'MnuBot', which is targeting Internet users in Brazil. The trojan performs tasks common to banking… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/mnubot-banking-trojan-communicates-sql-server/

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

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 in…
Trickbot, first reported a year ago by Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura as the successor of Dyre/Dyreza, has become perhaps the most important banking trojan of 2017. It is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-video-turning-trickbot-decoding-encrypted-command-and-control-channel/

Worms wiggling inside your networks are a lot harder to stop

The authors of the Trickbot banking trojan seem to have taken note of the use of SMB by WannaCry and (Not)Petya and have added an (experimental) module that uses SMB for lateral movement.
Damaging though they were, the recent WannaCry and (Not)Petya outbreaks taught security practitioners many valuable lessons. Unfortunately, they taught important lessons to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/worms-wiggling-inside-your-networks-are-lot-harder-stop/

VB2016 paper: Diving into Pinkslipbot's latest campaign

Qakbot or Qbot, is a banking trojan that makes the news every once in a while and was the subject of a VB2016 paper by Intel Security researchers Sanchit Karve, Guilherme Venere and Mark Olea. In it, they provided a detailed analysis of the Pinkslipbot/Qa…
Pinkslipbot, also known as Qakbot or Qbot, is a banking trojan that makes the news every once in a while, yet never seems to get the attention of the world's Zbots and Dridexes. I… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/06/vb2016-paper-diving-pinkslipbots-latest-campaign/

VB2016 video: Neverquest: Crime as a Service and On the Hunt for the Big Bucks

At VB2016, Peter Kruse gave a presentation detailing the Neverquest trojan, the alleged author of which was arrested in Spain earlier this month. Today, we publish the recording of Peter's presentation.
Earlier this month, Spanish police officers arrested a Russian national on suspicion of creating the Neverquest banking trojan. Neverquest, also known as Vawtrak, is one of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/01/vb2016-video-neverquest-crime-service-and-hunt-big-bucks/

Throwback Thursday: I say Virus, You say Trojan

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1998 — a time when anti-virus vendors avoided tackling non-replicating trojans, worms, jokes and corrupted files.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1998 — a time when anti-virus vendors avoided tackling non-replicating trojans, worms, jokes and corrupted files. Today, the idea of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/01/throwback-thursday-i-say-virus-you-say-trojan/

Paper: Shifu — the rise of a self-destructive banking trojan

Thorough analysis of this new kid on the malware block.
Thorough analysis of this new kid on the malware block. Times are changing rapidly for banking trojans. Some prominent arrests and at least partially successful takedowns have left… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/11/paper-shifu-rise-self-destructive-banking-trojan/

Paper: Not a GAMe maKER

Raul Alvarez performs low-level analysis of information-stealing trojan.
Raul Alvarez performs low-level analysis of information-stealing trojan. The Gamker information-stealing trojan (also known as Shiz) has been around for a few years. It made the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/08/paper-not-game-maker/

Paper: Life after the apocalypse for the Middle Eastern NJRat campaign

Malware authors upped their game following 2014 disruption of No-IP.
Malware authors upped their game following 2014 disruption of No-IP. In June last year, somewhat controversially Microsoft moved against dynamic DNS provider No-IP and seized 22 of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/08/paper-life-after-apocalypse-middle-eastern-njrat-campaign/

Vawtrak uses Tor2Web to connect to Tor hidden C&C servers

Option hides the servers, without having to include a Tor client in the malware.
Option hides the servers, without having to include a Tor client in the malware. The authors of the Vawtrak trojan (also known as Neverquest) have moved some of its C&C servers to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/06/vawtrak-uses-tor2web-connect-tor-hidden-c-amp-c-servers/

Vawtrak trojan spread through malicious Office macros

Users easily tricked, but plenty of opportunity for the malware to be blocked.
Users easily tricked, but plenty of opportunity for the malware to be blocked. Researchers at Trend Micro report that the 'Vawtrak' banking trojan now also spreads through Office… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/vawtrak-trojan-spread-through-malicious-office-macros/

Adobe to patch Flash Player zero-day next week

Patch due next week as malvertising leads to Bedep trojan downloader.
Patch due next week as malvertising leads to Bedep trojan downloader. As the news of a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe's Flash Player actively being exploited reached the security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/01/adobe-patch-flash-player-zero-day-next-week/

VB2014 paper: The evolution of webinjects

Jean-Ian Boutin looks at the increased commoditization of webinjects.
Jean-Ian Boutin looks at the increased commoditization of webinjects.Virus Bulletin has always been about sharing information, and the Virus Bulletin conference is an important… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-evolution-webinjects/

Paper: Not old enough to be forgotten: the new chic of Visual Basic 6

Marion Marschalek looks at two Miuref binaries: one packed with Visual Basic 6 and one with C++.
Marion Marschalek looks at two Miuref binaries: one packed with Visual Basic 6 and one with C++. Two months ago, Microsoft announced it had added 'Miuref' to its Malicious Software… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/paper-not-old-enough-be-forgotten-new-chic-visual-basic-6/

Cheap Android phone comes shipped with spyware

Trojan masquerades as Google Play app; cannot be removed.
Trojan masquerades as Google Play app; cannot be removed. Researchers at German security firm G Data have discovered Android smartphones that come shipped with spyware. The phone… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/cheap-android-phone-comes-shipped-spyware/

Game over for GameOver Zeus botnet?

Coordinated effort against gang that's also behind CryptoLocker ransomware.
Coordinated effort against gang that's also behind CryptoLocker ransomware. A large, coordinated effort involving law enforcement, security vendors and various security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/game-over-gameover-zeus-botnet/

Spam link sends Android users to trojan proxy

Meanwhile, desktop users sent to (relatively harmless) weight-loss site.
Meanwhile, desktop users sent to (relatively harmless) weight-loss site. Links found in certain spam emails which redirect desktop users to a phony weight-loss website, have been… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/03/spam-link-sends-android-users-trojan-proxy/

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/

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