VB Blog

Vulnerabilities play only a tiny role in the security risks that come with mobile phones

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 9, 2017

Both bad news (all devices were pwnd) and good news (pwning is increasingly difficult) came from the most recent mobile Pwn2Own competition. But the practical security risks that come with using mobile phones have little to do with vulnerabilities.

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VB2017 paper: The (testing) world turned upside down

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 8, 2017

At VB2017 in Madrid, industry veteran and ESET Senior Research Fellow David Harley presented a paper on the state of security software testing. Today we publish David's paper in both HTML and PDF format.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 3, 2017

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 infection process, and its aftermath, as seen through the lens of a tool used to perform man-in-the-middle decryption. Today, we publish both Andrew's slides and the recording of his presentation.

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Paper: FAME - Friendly Malware Analysis Framework

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 2, 2017

Today, we publish a short paper in which CERT Société Générale presents FAME, its open source malware analysis framework.

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Ebury and Mayhem server malware families still active

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 31, 2017

Ebury and Mayhem, two families of Linux server malware, about which VB published papers back in 2014, are still active and have received recent updates.

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VB2017 paper: Crypton - exposing malware's deepest secrets

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 27, 2017

Crypton, a tool developed by F5 Networks researchers Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman, aims to speed up the reverse engineering process by decrypting encrypted content found in a (malicious) binary. The researchers described the tool in a paper which they presented at VB2017 in Madrid. Today, we publish both the paper and the recording of their presentation.

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VB2017 paper: The sprawling market of consumer spyware

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 25, 2017

For many people, the threat of an abusive partner or ex-partner is very real - and the market for consumer spyware worryingly large. Today, we publish the recording of a presentation on the subject of consumer spyware given at VB2017 by The Daily Beast reporter Joseph Cox.

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Gábor Szappanos wins fourth Péter Szőr Award

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 23, 2017

At the VB2017 gala dinner, the fourth Péter Szőr Award was presented to Sophos researcher Gábor Szappanos for his paper "AKBuilder – the crowdsourced exploit kit".

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VB2017 paper: Walking in your enemy's shadow: when fourth-party collection becomes attribution hell

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 20, 2017

We publish the VB2017 paper and video by Kaspersky Lab researchers Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Costin Raiu, in which they look at fourth-party collection (spies spying on other spies' campaigns) and its implications for attribution.

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Didn't come to VB2017? Tell us why!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Oct 11, 2017

Virus Bulletin is a company - and a conference - with a mission: to further the research in and facilitate the fight against digital threats. To help us in this mission, we want to hear from those who didn't come to Madrid. What is your impression of the VB Conference? What did you think of this year's programme? And why couldn't you come to Madrid?

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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/

VB2018: looking for technical and non-technical talks

We like to pick good, solid technical talks for the VB conference programme, but good talks don't have to be technical and we welcome less technical submissions just as much.
Nine days from today, the call for papers for VB2018 will close. We've already received many great submissions (in fact, we already have more proposals than we have places to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2018-looking-technical-and-non-technical-talks/

Partner with VB2018 for extra visibility among industry peers

Partnering with the VB conference links your company to a successful and well-established event, demonstrates your commitment to moving the industry forward, allows you to meet potential clients, be visible to industry peers and build lasting connections.…
Preparations are under way for VB2018, or to give it its full name, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference – it truly is a global event, attracting speakers and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/partner-vb2018-extra-visibility-among-industry-peers/

VB2017 paper: The router of all evil

At VB2017 in Madrid, security researcher Himanshu Anand presented a paper on malware that targets routers, looking both at the topic in general and at some individual case studies. Today we publish both the paper (co-written with Chastine Menrige) and the…
In recent years, we have seem a significant increase in malware targeting routers. Given that, unlike most endpoint devices, routers are often connected directly to the internet,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2017-paper-router-all-evil/

VB2017 video: The state of cybersecurity in Africa: Kenya

Though many of the IT security issues we face are global, there is a noticeable difference in the threats faced in various countries and regions, as well as in the ways they are dealt with. At VB2017, we heard from Tyrus Kamau about the state of cybersecu…
IT security, or the lack thereof, affects Internet users around the world, and though many of the issues we face are global, there is a noticeable difference in the threats faced… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/03/vb2017-video-state-cybersecurity-africa-kenya/

What kind of people attend Virus Bulletin conferences?

If you are considering submitting a proposal for a talk to VB2018 and you're not familiar with the event, you may find it useful to know what kind of people attend the conference.
The Call for Papers for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which will take place in Montreal, 3-5 October 2018, opened last month. It will remain open until… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/02/what-kind-people-attend-virus-bulletin-conferences/

Throwback Thursday: Malware taking a bit(coin) more than we bargained for

This Throwback Thursday, we republish the VB2012 paper by Microsoft researcher Amir Fouda, one of the earliest papers to look at malware targeting Bitcoin.
In late spring of 2011, a sudden rise in the price of Bitcoin – reaching almost US$30, up from less than $1 barely a month earlier – attracted the attention of malware authors.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/02/throwback-thursday-malware-taking-bitcoin-more-we-bargained/

First time speaker? Don't be afraid of submitting to the VB2018 CFP

We especially encourage those less experienced in speaking in public to submit to the call for papers for VB2018, where we aim to provide a friendly and welcoming environment in which people can both present their own research and learn from what others h…
Last week, we opened the Call for Papers for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which will take place in Montreal, 3-5 October this year. Over the years,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/first-time-speaker-we-hope-you-submit-vb2018-cfp/

VB2017 paper: VirusTotal tips, tricks and myths

At VB2017 in Madrid, security researcher Randy Abrams presented an overview of the VirusTotal service and then went on to bust several of the persistent myths that surround it. Today we publish both Randy's paper and the recording of his presentation.
In a surprise announcement, Google's parent company Alphabet has introduced Chronicle, a threat intelligence offering in which Google-owned VirusTotal will play an important role.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/vb2017-paper-virustotal-tips-tricks-and-myths/

VB2018 call for papers now open!

Have you analysed a new online threat? Do you know a new way to defend against such threats? Are you tasked with securing systems and fending off attacks? The call for papers for VB2018 is now open and we want to hear from you!
The call for papers for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin International Conference, which will take place in Montreal, Canada, 3-5 October 2018, is now open! We welcome… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/01/vb2018-call-papers/

Conference review: AVAR 2017

Martijn Grooten reports on the 20th AVAR conference, which took place earlier in December in Beijing, China.
The first week of December was packed with security conferences, and VB2017 speakers were busy presenting their research at no fewer than four different events: FIRST in Prague,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/conference-review-avar-2017/

Conference review: Botconf 2017

Virus Bulletin researchers report back from a very interesting fifth edition of Botconf, the botnet fighting conference.
Since its first edition in 2013, the Virus Bulletin team have been big fans of Botconf, the botnet fighting conference held every year in France. This year, Virus Bulletin sent… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/conference-review-botconf-2017/

VB2017 videos on attacks against Ukraine

(In)security is a global issue that affects countries around the world, but in recent years none has been so badly hit as Ukraine. Today, we publish the videos of two VB2017 talks about attacks that hit Ukraine particularly badly: a talk by Alexander Adam…
(In)security is a global problem that affects every country in the world, but in recent years, none has been as badly hit as Ukraine. The most well known malware that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-videos-attacks-against-ukraine/

VB2017 paper: Nine circles of Cerber

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…
Earlier this week, we published the video of a VB2017 presentation on the Spora ransomware. Spora is hardly alone in this prominent threat type though, and one of the other major… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-paper-nine-circles-cerber/

Throwback Thursday: BGP - from route hijacking to RPKI: how vulnerable is the Internet?

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.
Yesterday, a 'mysterious event' involving BGP, the Internet's border gateway protocol, led to the traffic to many popular websites being routed for around six minutes. BGP… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/throwback-thursday-bgp-route-hijacking-rpki-how-vulnerable-internet/

VB2017 video: Spora: the saga continues a.k.a. how to ruin your research in a week

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.
First discovered at the beginning of the year, the Spora ransomware has become one of of the most prominent ransomware families of 2017, especially in Russia, a region it appears… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-video-spora-saga-continues-k-how-ruin-your-research-week/

VB2017 paper: Modern reconnaissance phase on APT – protection layer

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…
Targeted attack campaigns involve multiple stages, the first of which consists of collecting information about the target: the reconnaissance phase. It's an essential part of any… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-paper-modern-reconnaissance-phase-apt-protection-layer/

VB2017 paper: Peering into spam botnets

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.
Spam continues to be an important infection vector for many malware campaigns, but while a lot of attention is paid to the payloads delivered by these campaigns – Andrew Brandt's… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/12/vb2017-paper-peering-spam-botnets/

VB2017 paper: Offensive malware analysis: dissecting OSX/FruitFly.B via a custom C&C server

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 …
Few readers of this blog will believe that there aren't any security issues with Apple's macOS operating system, a point made rather unsubtly by yesterday's discovery of a flaw… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-paper-offensive-malware-analysis-dissecting-osxfruitflyb-custom-cc-server/

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