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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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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/11/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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/10/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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/09/september-issue-vb-published/

August issue of VB published

The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download in PDF format
The August issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download in PDF format Some of the things this month's issue has in store are: The secret… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/08/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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/june-issue-vb-published/

Almost half of users think virus-writing contests are a good idea

Shocking survey results disappoint security experts.
Shocking survey results disappoint security experts. Nearly half of the respondents in a Virus Bulletin poll said they thought that virus-writing contests are a useful way of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/05/almost-half-users-think-virus-writing-contests-are-good-idea/

Users divided about customer liability for online fraud losses

Many users worried about lack of knowledge.
Many users worried about lack of knowledge. In a poll of more than 700 visitors to the VB website, users were divided on whether or not it is fair for online banking customers to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/05/users-divided-about-customer-liability-online-fraud-losses/

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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/05/may-issue-vb-published/

More than 50% of users regularly double-check for false positive spam filtering

Only 12% of users trust their spam filter sufficiently not to bother sifting through spam folder.
Only 12% of users trust their spam filter sufficiently not to bother sifting through spam folder. In a poll of more than 1,000 visitors to the VB website, 52% of users say they… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/more-50-users-regularly-double-check-false-positive-spam-filtering/

Less than 30 per cent of smartphone users have AV installed

Experts disagree on the need for specialist mobile AV protection.
Experts disagree on the need for specialist mobile AV protection. In a poll only 19% of visitors to the VB website said they had anti-malware protection on their mobile phone.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/less-30-cent-smartphone-users-have-av-installed/

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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/april-issue-vb-published/

'Search engines should do more to fight malware'

85% of users think that search engines should be doing more.
85% of users think that search engines should be doing more. According to a recent poll, 85% of visitors to the VB website think that search engines should be doing more to fight… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/search-engines-should-do-more-fight-malware/

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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/march-issue-vb-published/

VB reveals new website design

Glossary, comments and mobile website among new additions.
Glossary, comments and mobile website among new additions. Regular visitors to VB may have noticed that the site has a fresh new look as well as some changes and additions to its… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/vb-reveals-new-website-design/

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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/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 2008 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/01/january-issue-vb-published/

VB100 update

Several issues resulting from recent Windows 2000 test cleared up.
Several issues resulting from recent Windows 2000 test cleared up. After a busy and drama-filled VB100 month, several issues arising from the test have been subject to further… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/12/update/

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 2007 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/12/december-issue-vb-published/

One in four consider online banking unsafe

Virus Bulletin finds that one in four users consider online banking to be unsafe, but manage their accounts online regardless, while 50% of users consider online banking to be risk free.
Virus Bulletin finds that one in four users consider online banking to be unsafe, but manage their accounts online regardless, while 50% of users consider online banking to be risk… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/11/one-four-consider-online-banking-unsafe/

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