VB Blog

Paper: New Keylogger on the Block

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 5, 2016

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Sophos researcher Gabor Szappanos takes a look at the KeyBase keylogger, sold as a commercial product and popular among cybercriminals who use it in Office exploit kits.

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BSides Denver to take place the day after VB2016

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2016

VB2016, the 26th International Virus Bulletin conference, is an excellent reason to go to Denver, Colorado in the first week of October. But there is another reason to come to Denver: BSides Denver, which will take place the day after VB2016, on Saturday 8 October 2016.

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

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jun 13, 2016

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, dynamic behaviour, C&C communication, obfuscation techniques, advanced methods of persistence and stealth, and elimination of rivals.

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Throwback Thursday: Hyppönen, that Data Fellow / Finnish Sprayer

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 2, 2016

This week, well known and universally respected industry guru Mikko Hyppönen celebrates his 25th anniversary of working at F-Secure (formerly known as Data Fellows). VB takes a look back in the archives at two articles published in 1994: an "insight" into the life and work of the then rising star of the anti-virus world, and a virus analysis penned by the man himself.

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VB2015 paper: Economic Sanctions on Malware

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jun 1, 2016

Financial pressure can be a proactive and potentially very effective tool in making our computer ecosystems safer. By cleverly employing various trust metrics and technologies such as digital signing, watermarking, and public-key infrastructure in strategically selected places, we can encourage good behaviours and punish bad ones. In his VB2015 paper, Igor Muttik analyses and gives examples of technologies (certificates, credentials, etc.) to de-incentivize bad behaviours in several ecosystems (Windows, Android, iOS).

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Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 26, 2016

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.

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Throwback Thursday: One_Half: The Lieutenant Commander?

Posted by   Helen Martin on   May 26, 2016

In October 1994, a new multi-partite virus appeared, using some of the techniques developed by the Dark Avenger in Commander_Bomber. As if this were not enough, the One_Half virus could also encrypt vital parts of the fixed disk. Eugene Kaspersky provided a detailed analysis.

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Advertisements on Blogspot sites lead to support scam

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 9, 2016

Support scam pop-ups presented through malicious advertisements show that, next to vulnerable end points, gullible users remain an easy source of money for online criminals.

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To make Tor work better on the web, we need to be honest about it

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   May 6, 2016

Many websites put barriers in front of visitors who use the Tor network. If we want to make the web more accessible through Tor, we need to be honest about why this is done, rather than cry wolf about a dislike for privacy, Martijn Grooten says.

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Paper: How It Works: Steganography Hides Malware in Image Files

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 28, 2016

A new paper by CYREN researcher Lordian Mosuela takes a close look at Gatak, or Stegoloader, a piece of malware that was discovered last year and that is controlled via malicious code embedded in a PNG image, a technique known as steganography.

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Latest VBWeb report describes current state of the web-based threat landscape

Today we released the Winter 2020 VBWeb report, detailing the performance of web security products against live web threats and looking at the current state of the web-based threat landscape.
VBWeb Comparative Review - Winter 2020 Read the report (HTML) Download the report (PDF)   If you are interested in having your product tested either publicly or privately, or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2020/01/latest-vbweb-report-describes-current-state-web-based-threat-landscape/

Virus Bulletin says a fond farewell and thank you to Martijn Grooten

As VB Editor Martijn Grooten steps down from his role to move on to new challenges, the team wish him a fond farewell and the very best of luck in his future endeavours.
Thirteen years ago, VB was searching for a web developer to join the very small team based in Oxfordshire, UK. A CV came in from one Martijn Grooten, a former Ph.D. student in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/12/virus-bulletin-says-fond-farewell-and-thank-you-martijn-grooten/

Job vacancy at VB: Security Evangelist

Virus Bulletin is recruiting for a person to be the public face of the company
Virus Bulletin is a small company with a largely remote team based all over Europe that is placed at the heart of the IT security industry. Through its product testing, annual… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/job-vacancy-vb-security-evangelist/

VB tests the web security products that play an important role in fending off web-based threats

The web continues to be a major infection vector for malware and credential-stealing threats. In the VBWeb tests, we measure products' ability to block such threats and certify products that perform a good job at doing so.
The web continues to be a major infection vector for individuals and organisations alike. Though the number of drive-by download attacks (often through exploit kits) is down from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/10/vb-tests-web-security-products-play-important-role-fending-web-based-threats/

Virus Bulletin researcher discovers new Lord exploit kit

Still in-development kit thus far only targets Flash Player vulnerabilities
The number of active exploit kits is very small: the recently published summer 2019 edition of Malwarebytes' quarterly round-up lists the seven then known active exploit kits. To… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/08/virus-bulletin-researcher-discovers-new-lord-exploit-kit/

Subscribe to the relaunched Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter

Subscribe to the re-launched Virus Bulletin eNews Newsletter to receive regular updates on the latest threat intelligence sources directly in your inbox.
Today, we relaunched the Virus Bulletin eNews newsletter. The newsletter provides weekly updates of what is happening both at Virus Bulletin and in the wider security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/subscribe-relaunched-virus-bulletin-enews-newsletter/

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

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.
Last Wednesday, Belgium-based Polish hacker Thomasz T. was arrested during a visit to his home country. Thomasz is believed to be the author of the Polski, Vortex, and Flotera… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2017-paper-life-story-ipt-inept-persistent-threat-actor/

Throwback Thursday: CARO: A personal view

This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts. As a founding member of CARO, Fridrik Skulason was well placed, in August 1994, to shed some light on t…
This week sees the 11th International CARO Workshop taking place in Krakow, Poland – a prestigious annual meeting of anti-malware and security experts which, this year, is themed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/throwback-thursday-caro-personal-view/

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/

Virus Bulletin says a fond farewell to John Hawes

As VB's COO John Hawes moves on to new challenges, the team wish him a fond farewell and good luck in his future endeavours.
Ten years ago, when I joined the very small Virus Bulletin team, the risk of computer viruses accidentally spreading to millions of PCs was still considered very real. Hence my… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/03/virus-bulletin-says-fond-farewell-john-hawes/

Throwback Thursday: Once a researcher...

VB was saddened to learn this week of the passing of one of the pioneers of the AV industry, Ross Greenberg. This Throwback Thursday we look back at an interview with Ross in November 1995.
VB was saddened to learn this week of the passing of one of the pioneers of the AV industry, Ross M. Greenberg.   Ross Greenberg, author of Flushot, Virex PC, and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/02/throwback-thursday-once-researcher/

Throwback Thursday: A troubled world

In early 1991, the world was a troubled place and conflict and violence were being reported globally on a daily basis. With this as a backdrop, the world of "indiscriminate" computer viruses which "victimise in a random and unpredictable manner" seemed re…
In early 1991, the world was a troubled place – President George H. W. Bush had just announced the start of military Operation Desert Storm and conflict and violence were being… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/02/throwback-thursday-troubled-world/

Virus Bulletin's job site for recruiters and job seekers

Virus Bulletin has relaunched its security job vacancy service and added a new section, in which job seekers can advertise their skills and experience.
Security is doing well. Not necessarily the security of your personal devices, corporate networks and critical infrastructure, but as an area to work in, IT security seems to be a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/05/looking-job-or-fill-vacancy-virus-bulletin-here-help/

Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, recording the number of incidents of each virus reported to VB in the preceding mo…
The Virus Bulletin Virus Prevalence Table, which ran from 1992 until 2013, gave users a regular snapshot of what was really going on in the virus (and later malware) world, each… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/04/throwback-thursday-number-beasts1/

Throwback Thursday: 'In the Beginning was the Word...'

Word and Excel’s internal file formats used to be something in which few were interested – until macro viruses came along and changed all that. In 1996, Andrew Krukov provided an overview of the new breed of viruses.
Microsoft has recently introduced a new feature to Office 2016: the ability to block macros,in an attempt to curb the spread of macro malware, which is once again on the rise.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/03/throwback-thursday-beginning-was-word/

Virus Bulletin publishes first web filter test report

After a lot of preparation, Virus Bulletin is proud to have published the first "VBWeb" comparative web filter test report, in which products' ability to block web-based malware and drive-by downloads was tested. Fortinet's FortiGuard appliance was the fi…
Virus Bulletin has been testing security products for more than 18 years, and in recent years, we have had many requests from product developers asking us to test their web… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/02/virus-bulletin-published-first-corporate-web-filter-test-report/

Throwback Thursday: Peter-II - Three Questions of The Sphinx

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1993, when an ordinary memory-resident master boot sector virus spiced things up with a bit of pop trivia.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1993, when an ordinary memory-resident master boot sector virus spiced things up with a bit of pop trivia. Over recent years we have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/01/throwback-thursday-peter-ii-three-questions-sphinx/

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/

Throwback Thursday: A View from the Lab

This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'A View from the Lab'.
This Throwback Thursday, VB heads back to 1997 with 'A View from the Lab'. According to its website, the AV-TEST Institute currently registers over 390,000 new malicious programs… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/12/throwback-thursday-view-lab/

Throwback Thursday: Legal attempts to reduce spam. A UK perspective

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to November 2003, when spam was such a hot topic that VB decided to launch a dedicated 'VB Spam Supplement'.
This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to November 2003, when spam was such a hot topic that VB decided to launch a dedicated 'VB Spam Supplement'. While, today, spam is a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/11/throwback-thursday-legal-attempts-reduce-spam-uk-perspective/

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