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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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).

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

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.

Read more  

Search blog

VB2017 paper: Beyond lexical and PDNS: using signals on graphs to uncover online threats at scale

At VB2017 in Madrid, Cisco Umbrella (OpenDNS) researchers Dhia Mahjoub and David Rodriguez presented a new approach to detecting infected machines using graphs to detect botnet traffic at scale. Today we publish both Dhia and David's paper and the recordi…
Malicious Internet traffic, such as botnet C&C traffic, is easily recognized if it uses known bad domain names, or known bad IP addresses. This is why botnets constantly change… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-paper-beyond-lexical-and-pdns-using-signals-graphs-uncover-online-threats-scale/

VB2017 video: Consequences of bad security in health care

Jelena Milosevic, a nurse with a passion for IT security, is uniquely placed to witness poor security practices in the health care sector, and to fully understand the consequences. Today, we publish the recording of a presentation given by Jelena at VB201…
"You are probably asking yourselves what a nurse is doing at a cybersecurity conference. Trust me, my colleagues are even more surprised, because they truly believe that hospitals… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-video-consequences-bad-security-health-care/

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

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 in…
Trickbot, first reported a year ago by Malwarebytes researcher Jérôme Segura as the successor of Dyre/Dyreza, has become perhaps the most important banking trojan of 2017. It is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/11/vb2017-video-turning-trickbot-decoding-encrypted-command-and-control-channel/

Gábor Szappanos wins fourth Péter Szőr Award

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".
Every year, during the Virus Bulletin Conference gala dinner, we celebrate the life and works of Péter Szőr, the brilliant security researcher who passed away so sadly in 2013. We… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/10/gabor-szappanos-wins-fourth-peter-szor-award/

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

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.
Of all the possible targets for digital spies, there is one particularly attractive target that doesn't get a lot of attention: that of other espionage campaigns. Yet this kind… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/10/vb2017-paper-walking-your-enemys-shadow-when-fourth-party-collection-becomes-attribution-hell/

Didn't come to VB2017? Tell us why!

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 …
Last week, hundreds of security researchers from around the world gathered in Madrid for VB2017, the 27th Virus Bulletin International Conference.     Every year, we… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/10/didnt-come-vb2017-tell-us-why/

Montreal will host VB2018

Last week, we announced the full details of VB2018, which will take place 3-5 October 2018 at the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Last week, at the end of the very successful 27th Virus Bulletin conference, we announced the location for VB2018, the 28th Virus Bulletin conference, which will take place 3 to 5… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/10/montreal-announced-location-vb2018/

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

We preview the VB2017 paper by Kaspersky Lab researchers Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade and Costin Raiu on fourth-party collection and its implications for attack attribution.
"We heard you like popping boxes, so we popped your box so we can watch while you watch" Two years ago, Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade of Kaspersky Lab's GReAT team gave a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/10/vb2017-preview-walking-your-enemys-shadow-when-fourth-party-collection-becomes-attribution-hell/

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

We preview Patrick Wardle's VB2017 paper, in which the Synack researcher analyses the mysterious OSX/FruitFly malware by setting up a custom C&C server.
Apart from the odd taxi driver loudly making the claim, the idea that "Macs don't get malware" has become something of the past. Nevertheless, most security researchers focus on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-preview-offensive-malware-analysis-dissecting-osxfruitfly-custom-cc-server/

VB2017 - information for press

More than 50 security industry experts will present conference papers to their peers at VB2017 next week, and there are several papers on the programme with a certain newsworthiness. There is still time for cybersecurity journalists to apply for a press p…
Next week, security researchers from around the world will gather in Madrid for VB2017, the 27th International Virus Bulletin Conference. More than 50 security industry experts… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-information-press/

Test your technical and mental limits in the VB2017 foosball tournament

As has become tradition, VB2017 will once again see a security industry table football tournament. Register your team now for some great fun and adrenaline-filled matches in between sessions in Madrid!
We all know the scenario. You're using multiple layers of defence, combined with a fast response time, to prevent a skilled attacker from reaching the goal. Or maybe you are that… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/join-vb2017-foosball-tournament/

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

We preview the VB2017 paper by Fortinet researcher Axelle Apvrille, in which she looks at some less obvious tools for reverse engineering Android malware.
Six years ago (coincidentally the last time the VB conference was held in Spain) saw the first VB conference paper presented on Android malware, which at that time was still an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-preview-android-reverse-engineering-tools-not-usual-suspects/

VB2017 preview: Crypton - exposing malware's deepest secrets

We preview the VB2017 paper by Julia Karpin and Anna Dorfman (F5 networks), in which they present a tool to decrypt encrypted parts of malware.
Ask a programmer to perform the same task twice and they will write a tool that automates it. Malware analysts are no different, and the Virus Bulletin Conference has a long… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-preview-crypton-exposing-malwares-deepest-secrets/

VB2017 preview: Hacktivism and website defacement: motivations, capabilities and potential threats

We preview the VB2017 paper by Marco Romagna and Niek Jan van den Hout (The Hague University of Applied Sciences), in which they thoroughly analyse the motivations and modus operandy of hacktivists.
In March this year, following a political row between the Netherlands and Turkey, a large number of Dutch websites were defaced to display messages in support of the Turkish… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-preview-hacktivism-and-website-defacement-motivations-capabilities-and-potential-threats/

VB2017: WHOIS and EICAR Small Talks added

Today, we announce two more 'Small Talks' for the VB2017 programme. In one of them, Neil Schwarzman will discuss the consequences of the GDPR for WHOIS and abuse research, while the other will be hosted by three members of EICAR, who will discuss its work…
In addition to the nine 'last-minute' papers that were announced and added to the VB2017 programme yesterday, we have also added two more 'Small Talks'. The 'Small Talks' take… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-whois-and-eicar-small-talks-added/

VB2017: nine last-minute papers announced

From attacks on Ukraine's power grid to web shells, and from car hacking to ransomware: we announce the first nine 'last-minute' papers on the VB2017 programme.
At Virus Bulletin we try not to follow the daily security hype, focusing instead on the bigger trends. This means that the topics covered on the VB2017 conference programme – the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-nine-last-minute-papers-announced/

VB2017 preview: State of cybersecurity in Africa: Kenya

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Tyrus Kamau (Euclid Security), who will talk about the state of cybersecurity in Africa, with a particular focus on his home country, Kenya.
The Internet is very much a global phenomenon, and for that reason, so is cybersecurity. A remote code execution vulnerability is as much of a problem on a server in Afghanistan… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/09/vb2017-preview-state-cyber-security-africa-kenya/

VB2017 preview: Calling all PUA fighters

We preview the VB2017 Small Talk to be given by AppEsteem's Dennis Batchelder that should help security vendors make decisions about apps whose behaviours sit right on the limits of what is acceptable from a security point of view.
While a lot of attention is focused on the fight against advanced malware, a different kind of threat is providing just as big a headache for security companies: that of apps… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-calling-all-pua-fighters/

VB2017 preview: From insider threat to insider asset: a practical guide

We preview the VB2017 paper by Forcepoint's Kristin Leary and Richard Ford, who will discuss a practical approach to preventing insider attacks.
"How to catch a Snowden" was the slogan branded across an exhibition booth at the recent Infosecurity Europe event by an exhibitor apparently offering a solution to insider… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-insider-threat-insider-asset-practical-guide/

VB2017 preview: Your role in child abuse

We preview the VB2017 presentation by Mick Moran, who will discuss online child abuse and the role the security community can play fighting it.
When previewing VB conference talks, I often get excited about presentations that are to showcase clever attacks and brilliant techniques to fight them. About Mick Moran's VB2017… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/vb2017-preview-your-role-child-abuse/

We have placed cookies on your device in order to improve the functionality of this site, as outlined in our cookies policy. However, you may delete and block all cookies from this site and your use of the site will be unaffected. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to Virus Bulletin's use of data as outlined in our privacy policy.