VB Blog

Paying a malware ransom is bad, but telling people never to do it is unhelpful advice

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 26, 2016

The current ransomware plague is one of the worst threats the Internet has seen and it is unlikely to go away any time soon. But telling people to never pay the ransom is unhelpful advice.

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VB2015 paper: VolatilityBot: Malicious Code Extraction Made by and for Security Researchers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 22, 2016

In his VB2015 paper, Martin Korman presented his 'VolatilyBot' tool, which extracts malicious code from packed binaries, leveraging the functionality of the Volatility Framework.

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VB2016 programme announced, registration opened

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 21, 2016

We have announced 37 papers (and four reserve papers) that will be presented at VB2016 in Denver, Colorado, USA in October. Registration for the conference has opened; make sure you register before 1 July to benefit from a 10% early bird discount.

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New tool helps ransomware victims indentify the malware family

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 15, 2016

The people behind the MalwareHunterTeam have released a tool that helps victims of ransomware identify which of more than 50 families has infected their system, something which could help them find a tool to decrypt their files.

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It's fine for vulnerabilities to have names — we just need not to take them too seriously

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Apr 13, 2016

The PR campaign around the Badlock vulnerability backfired when it turned out that the vulnerability wasn't as serious as had been suggested. But naming vulnerabilities can actually be helpful and certainly shouldn't hurt.

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Throwback Thursday: The Number of the Beasts

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Apr 7, 2016

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 month. In August 2000, Denis Zenkin, a self-confessed virus prevalence table junkie, shared his findings following a study of the virus prevalence tables over the preceding few years, allowing him to determine the top ten viruses of the period, the top viruses by type and the viruses of the year.

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Paper: All Your Meetings Are Belong to Us: Remote Code Execution in Apache OpenMeetings

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 30, 2016

Security researcher Andreas Lindh recently found a vulnerability in Apache OpenMeetings that could allow remote code execution on a vulnerable server. Andreas reported the vulnerability to the OpenMeetings developers and, once it had been patched, he wrote up the details.

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

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Mar 24, 2016

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.

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VB2016 Call for Papers Deadline

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 18, 2016

You have until the early hours (GMT) of Monday 21 March to submit an abstract for VB2016! The VB2016 programme will be announced in the first week of April.

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How broken is SHA-1 really?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 15, 2016

SHA-1 collisions may be found in the next few months, but that doesn't mean that fake SHA-1-based certificates will be created in the near future. Nevertheless, it is time for everyone, and those working in security in particular, to move away from outdated hash functions.

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May issue of VB published

The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The May 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/05/may-issue-vb-published/

April issue of VB published

The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The April 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/04/april-issue-vb-published/

March issue of VB published

The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The March 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/march-issue-vb-published/

February issue of VB published

The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The February 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/02/february-issue-vb-published/

January issue of VB published

The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The January issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The January 2011 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/01/january-issue-vb-published/

December issue of VB published

The December issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The December issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The December 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/12/december-issue-vb-published/

November issue of VB published

The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The November issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The November 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/11/november-issue-vb-published/

October issue of VB published

The October issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The October issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The October 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/10/october-issue-vb-published/

September issue of VB published

The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The September issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The September 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/09/september-issue-vb-published/

A third of anti-malware products fail to secure Vista Business Edition, Virus Bulletin reveals

VB urges industry to work harder at quality assurance.
VB urges industry to work harder at quality assurance. Virus Bulletin has revealed that, out of 54 anti-malware products tested, 19 failed to reach the standard required for VB100… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/third-anti-malware-products-fail-secure-vista-business-edition-reveals/

August issue of VB published

The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The August 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/august-issue-vb-published/

July issue of VB published

The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The July 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/07/july-issue-vb-published/

June issue of VB published

The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The June 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/06/june-issue-vb-published/

May issue of VB published

The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The May 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/05/may-issue-vb-published/

Record breaking 60 anti-malware products undergo VB100 testing on Windows XP

One third fail to gain certification.
One third fail to gain certification. Virus Bulletin has completed its largest ever test of anti-malware products, with a phenomenal 60 products being tested on Windows XP. 40 of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/04/record-breaking-60-anti-malware-products-undergo-testing-windows-xp/

April issue of VB published

The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The April issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The April 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/04/april-issue-vb-published/

VB2010 conference programme announced

Schedule for Vancouver security conference announced after bumper crop of submissions.
Schedule for Vancouver security conference announced after bumper crop of submissions. Following a bumper crop of submissions, the VB2010 conference committee is pleased to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/conference-programme-announced/

March issue of VB published

The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The March issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The March 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/march-issue-vb-published/

Nearly 20% still running IE 6

VB poll finds users still running outdated browser despite campaigns to boycott it.
VB poll finds users still running outdated browser despite campaigns to boycott it. Despite widespread calls to boycott IE 6 and Microsoft's plans to retire support for the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/nearly-20-still-running-ie-6/

February issue of VB published

The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The February issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The February 2010 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/02/february-issue-vb-published/

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