VB Blog

48 hours after initial reports, many mysteries remain around the latest ransomware/wiper threat

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 29, 2017

Whether you call it Petya, NotPetya, Nyetya or Petna, there are still many mysteries surrounding the malware that has been causing havoc around the world.

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VB2017 Early Bird discount to expire this week

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 28, 2017

This week, the Early Bird discount for VB2017 comes to an end - so, for a 10% saving on the cost of full price registration, make sure you register now!

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VB2016 paper: Steam stealers: it's all fun and games until someone's account gets hijacked

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 23, 2017

Last year, Kaspersky Lab researcher Santiago Pontiroli and PwC's Bart Parys presented a VB2016 paper analysing the malicious threats faced by users of the Steam online gaming platform, and highlighting how organized criminals are making money with these profitable schemes. Today, we publish the paper.

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Research paper shows it may be possible to distinguish malware traffic using TLS

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 22, 2017

Researchers at Cisco have published a paper describing how it may be possible to use machine learning to distinguish malware command-and-control traffic using TLS from regular enterprise traffic, and to classify malware families based on their encrypted C&C traffic.

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Is CVE-2017-0199 the new CVE-2012-0158?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 20, 2017

After five years of exploitation in a wide variety of attacks, CVE-2012-0158 may have found a successor in CVE-2017-0199, which is taking the Office exploit scene by storm.

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Review: BSides London 2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 19, 2017

Virus Bulletin was a proud sponsor of BSides London 2017 - Martijn Grooten reports on a great event.

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VB2017: one of the most international security conferences

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 15, 2017

It is well known that the problem of cybersecurity is a global one that affects users worldwide - but it's also one that has some unique local flavours. With speakers representing at least 24 countries, VB2017 is one of the most international security conferences on the circuit, allowing attendees to hear the viewpoints of experts from around the world. Register before 1 July and receive a 10% Early Bird discount.

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VB2016 paper: Diving into Pinkslipbot's latest campaign

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 12, 2017

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/Qakbot trojan and its then latest campaign. Their full paper is now available to download or read online.

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Book review: Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 2, 2017

VB Editor Martijn Grooten reviews Finn Brunton's book 'Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet'.

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Virus Bulletin to sponsor BSides London

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jun 1, 2017

Virus Bulletin is proud to be a Silver sponsor of BSides London next week; we look forward to the event and to meeting many security professionals.

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Virus Bulletin announces programme of the first International Threat Intelligence Summit

VB is thrilled to announce the programme of the first International Threat Intelligence Summit that will form an integral part of the VB2018 conference programme.
Today, we are excited to announce the programme of the first International Threat Intelligence Summit, which will form an integral part of the VB2018 conference programme. Most… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/virus-bulletin-announces-programme-first-international-threat-intelligence-summit/

VB2018 preview: Explain Ethereum smart contract hacking like I am five

Designing smart contracts is hard: we preview a VB2018 paper on the blockchain-based platform Ethereum, that describes both how the technology works and how a number of security issues inherent to the platform have led to various high-profile and often ve…
Shout 'blockchain' in a group of security experts and everyone will start to laugh. It is fair to say that the security community tends to be rather sceptical about… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2018-preview-explain-ethereum-smart-contract-hacking-i-am-five/

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

At VB2018, Google researcher Maddie Stone will present an analysis of the multi-layered 'WeddingCake' anti-analysis library used by many Android malware families.
Seven years ago, the first VB conference paper on Android malware looked at what was then a new, but growing trend. Since then both the threat and the research community have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2018-preview-unpacking-packed-unpacker-reversing-android-anti-analysis-library/

VB2018 preview: From drive-by download to drive-by mining

At VB2018, Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura will discuss the rise of drive-by cryptocurrency mining, explaining how it works and putting it in the broader context of changes in the cybercrime landscape.
"Understanding the new paradigm", Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura writes in the title of his upcoming VB2018 presentation on drive-by mining. He could hardly have put it… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2018-preview-drive-download-drive-mining/

VB announces Threat Intelligence Summit to take place during VB2018

We are very excited to announce a special summit, as part of VB2018, that will be dedicated to all aspects of threat intelligence.
The very first edition of Virus Bulletin magazine, published in July 1989, contained lists of "[all] known IBM PC viruses" and "[all] known Apple Macintosh viruses". In the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb-announces-threat-intelligence-summit-take-place-during-vb2018/

VB2018 Small Talk: An industry approach for unwanted software criteria and clean requirements

An industry approach for defining and detecting unwanted software to be presented and discussed at the Virus Bulletin conference.
The constantly evolving threat landscape poses challenges for security vendors. But an equally big, if less reported, challenge is that posed by the kind of software that lives on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/08/vb2018-small-talk-industry-approach-unwanted-software-criteria-and-clean-requirements/

VB2018 call for last-minute papers opened

The call for last-minute papers for VB2018 is now open. Submit before 2 September to have your abstract considered for one of the nine slots reserved for 'hot' research.
Virus Bulletin has opened the call for last-minute papers for VB2018. The VB2018 programme already boasts some 40 talks, with a few more exciting things to be added very soon… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/vb2018-call-last-minute-papers-opened/

Save the dates: VB2019 to take place 2-4 October 2019

Though the location will remain under wraps for a few more months, we are pleased to announce the dates for VB2019, the 29th Virus Bulletin International Conference.
While we hope that you have already circled the dates of 3-5 October 2018 in your agendas, and that you will join us and security experts from around the world for VB2018 in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/07/save-dates-vb2019-take-place-2-4-october-2019/

Benefit now from early bird discount tickets for VB2018

If you want to come to VB2018 in Montreal this year (and why wouldn't you?) and want to save a bit on the ticket price (and why wouldn't you?), remember that early bird discounts will be available until 30 June.
In a little over three months, security experts from around the world will gather in Montreal for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference. We have an exciting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/last-week-buy-early-bird-discount-ticket-vb2018/

'North Korea' a hot subject among VB2018 talks

Several VB2018 papers deal explicitly or implicitly with threats that have been attributed to North Korean actors.
A few years ago, I somehow got involved in the discussion of a run-of-the-mill malicious spam campaign and ended up speaking to a journalist from the Daily Telegraph. "Is it true… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/06/north-korea-hot-subject-among-vb2018-talks/

Registration for VB2018 now open!

Registration for VB2018, the 28th International Virus Bulletin conference, is now open, with an early bird rate available until 1 July.
Registration for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin Conference, which will take place in Montreal 3-5 October this year, is now open. Last month, we announced an exciting and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/registration-vb2018-now-open/

RSA 2018: the good, the bad, the ugly, the great and the fantastic

In April, VB's Martijn Grooten attended the RSA Expo in San Francisco. He shares his views on the expo and the industry.
Two weeks ago, I was one of the more than 50,000 people who attended the RSA expo in San Francisco. I deliberately say 'expo', for while I spoke at the event two years ago, this… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/05/rsa-2018-good-bad-ugly-great-and-fantastic/

VB2017 paper: Android reverse engineering tools: not the usual suspects

Within a few years, Android malware has grown from a relatively small threat to a huge problem involving more than three million new malware samples a year. Axelle Apvrille, one of the world's leading Android malware researchers, will deliver a workshop o…
Within a few years, Android malware has grown from a relatively small threat – the first VB conference talk on Android, in 2011, mentioned fewer than 100 malware families – to a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/04/vb2017-paper-android-reverse-engineering-tools-not-usual-suspects/

Virus Bulletin at RSA

Next week, VB Editor Martijn Grooten will be at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Next week, I will be joining the international security community to attend the RSA Conference in San Francisco. Though it lacks the intimate atmosphere of so many smaller… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/04/virus-bulletin-rsa/

Broad-ranging and international VB2018 programme announced

VB is excited to reveal the details of an interesting and diverse programme for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which takes place 3-5 October in Montreal, Canada.
Today, we are very excited to announce the programme for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which is to take place in Montreal, 3-5 October 2018. Putting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/04/broad-and-international-vb2018-programme-announced/

VB2017 paper: Exploring the virtual worlds of advergaming

At VB2017 in Madrid, Malwarebytes' Chris Boyd presented a paper in which he looked at various aspects of advergaming, from unreadable EULAs to fake programs that promise to block ads. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of Chris's presentat…
At VB2016 in Denver, Malwarebytes researchers Jérôme Segura and Chris Boyd presented a paper on malicious advertising, or malvertising. At the end of the paper, as they looked at… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/04/vb2017-paper-exploring-virtual-worlds-advergaming/

VB2016 paper: Wild Android collusions

At VB2016 in Denver, Jorge Blasco presented a paper (co-written with Thomas M. Chen, Igor Muttik and Markus Roggenbach), in which he discussed the concept of app collusion - where two (or more) apps installed on the same device work together to collect an…
Playing out in the sidelines of the Cambridge Analytica scandal was the discovery that Facebook had been collecting metadata on the calls and SMS conversations of many of the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2016-paper-wild-android-collusions/

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/

Five reasons to submit a VB2018 paper this weekend

The call for papers for VB2018 closes on 18 March, and while we've already received many great submissions, we still want more! Here are five reasons why you should submit a paper this weekend.
The call for papers for VB2018 will close this Sunday, 18 March (in fact, to ensure we cover the entirety of the deadline day across all time zones, we'll close submissions first… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/five-reasons-submit-vb2018-paper-weekend/

First partners of VB2018 announced

We are excited to announce the first six companies to partner with VB2018.
We are excited to announce that all four Platinum partnerships of VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, have been filled. Both ESET and Tencent have… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/first-partners-vb2018-announced/

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