VB Blog

Throwback Thursday: A troubled world

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Feb 9, 2017

In early 1991, the world was a troubled place and conflict and violence were being reported globally on a daily basis. With this as a backdrop, the world of "indiscriminate" computer viruses which "victimise in a random and unpredictable manner" seemed relatively trivial to then Editor of VB, Edward Wilding.

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VB2016 video: Nymaim: the Untold Story

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 8, 2017

Until very recently, the Nymaim banking trojan was a serious problem in Poland. Today, we publish the video of the VB2016 presentation by CERT Polska researchers Jarosław Jedynak and Maciej Kotowicz, in which they analyse this malware-dropper-turned-banking-trojan.

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The Living Dead Anti-Virus

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Feb 2, 2017

Should users uninstall their anti-virus products, as was recently suggested by a security expert in a widely shared article? In a guest post, security consultant Hendrik Pilz explains why he doesn't think this is a good idea.

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Paper: The journey and evolution of God Mode in 2016: CVE-2016-0189

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 31, 2017

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, FireEye researchers Ankit Anubhav and Manish Sardiwal analyse the 'God Mode' vulnerability CVE-2016-0189 in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

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VB2016 video: Neverquest: Crime as a Service and On the Hunt for the Big Bucks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 30, 2017

At VB2016, Peter Kruse gave a presentation detailing the Neverquest trojan, the alleged author of which was arrested in Spain earlier this month. Today, we publish the recording of Peter's presentation.

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VB2016 paper: Great crypto failures

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 24, 2017

Crypto is hard, and malware authors often make mistakes. At VB2016, Check Point researchers Yaniv Balmas and Ben Herzog discussed the whys and hows of some of the crypto blunders made by malware authors. Today, we publish their paper and the recording of their presentation.

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Call for Papers: VB2017

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 19, 2017

We have opened the Call for Papers for VB2017. We are particularly interested in receiving submissions from those working outside the security industry itself.

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Ransomware not a problem for half of businesses

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 11, 2017

According to a report by IBM Security, 70 per cent of businesses that are the victim of a ransomware attack end up paying the ransom. However, the report also suggests that a little over half of businesses manage to avoid getting infected at all, showing they must be doing something right.

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Ransomware would be much worse if it wasn't for email security solutions

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 5, 2017

The latest VBSpam test brings good news: at least 199 out of every 200 emails containing a malicious attachment were blocked by email security solutions. All of the full solutions tested achieved a VBSpam award, with five earning a VBSpam+ award.

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Throwback Thursday: The malware battle: reflections and forecasts

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jan 5, 2017

"Another year has come to its end and the malware battle still rages on." In January 2004, Jamz Yaneza reflected on the year just ended and pondered what the coming year would have in store for the AV industry.

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VB2019 paper: Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) analysed in depth

Though active for not much longer than a year, GandCrab had been one of the most successful ransomware operations. In a paper presented at VB2019 in London, McAfee researchers John Fokker and Alexandre Mundo looked at the malware code, its evolution and t…
Different ways to cook a crab: GandCrab ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) analysed in depth Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF)       Though active for not… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/11/vb2019-paper-different-ways-cook-crab-gandcrab-ransomware-service-raas-analysed-depth/

Guest blog: TotalAV uncovers the world’s first ransomware

In a guest blog post by VB2019 Silver partner TotalAV, Matthew Curd, the software’s Technical Expert, considers the changes in the cybersecurity landscape.
In a guest blog post by VB2019 Silver partner TotalAV, Matthew Curd, the software’s Technical Expert, considers the changes in the cybersecurity landscape. Rediscovered in an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2019/09/guest-blog-totalav-uncovers-worlds-first-ransomware/

VB2018 video: Behind the scenes of the SamSam investigation

Today we have published the video of the VB2018 presentation by Andrew Brandt (Sophos) on the SamSam ransomware, which became hot news following the indictment of its two suspected authors yesterday.
Yesterday, a federal grand jury in the US unsealed an indictment charging two Iranians with being behind the SamSam ransomware. SamSam has been one of the most successful… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2018/11/vb2018-video-behind-scenes-samsam-investigation/

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/

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: 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/

NoMoreRansom's first birthday demonstrates importance of collaboration

This week the NoMoreRansom project celebrated its first birthday. It has already helped many victims of ransomware with advice and tools and is an excellent example of collaboration between private and public partners in IT security.
This week, the NoMoreRansom project celebrates its first anniversary and can look back to subtle but important successes in the fight against ransomware. The advice from… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/07/nomoreransoms-first-birthday-shows-importance-collaboration/

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

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.
"What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet" Shakespeare's philosophising can equally be applied to malware, and whether you call it… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/06/48-hours-after-initial-reports-many-mysteries-around-latest-ransomwarewiper-threat-remain/

WannaCry shows we need to understand why organizations don't patch

Perhaps the question we should be asking about WannaCry is not "why do so many organizations allow unpatched machines to exist on their networks?" but "why doesn't patching work reasonably well most of the time?"
For the past few days, the world of Infosec on Twitter has tried to find as many ways as possible of saying "we told you so". To be fair, it's true – we did tell you so: for… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/wannacry-shows-we-need-understand-why-organisations-dont-patch/

Modern security software is not necessarily powerless against threats like WannaCry

The WannaCry ransomware has affected many organisations around the world, making it probably the worst and most damaging of its kind. But modern security is not necessarily powerless against such threats.
We have become used to the idea of cybersecurity stories sometimes making the mainstream news, but the UK's newspapers across the spectrum, from broadsheets to tabloids, all… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/may/modern-security-software-not-powerless-against-threats-wannacry/

Ransomware not a problem for half of businesses

According to a report by IBM Security, 70 per cent of businesses that are the victim of a ransomware attack end up paying the ransom. However, the report also suggests that a little over half of businesses manage to avoid getting infected at all, showing …
If you are wondering why ransomware continues to thrive, a recent study from IBM Security provides a simple explanation: 70 per cent of the ransomware-infected businesses they… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/01/ransomware-not-problem-half-businesses/

Paper: Spreading techniques used by malware

In a new paper published by Virus Bulletin, Acalvio researcher Abhishek Singh discusses some of the techniques used by malware to increase its impact by spreading further.
Malware infections usually start with a user opening an attachment, visiting a link, or simply accessing an infected site with a vulnerable browser. But once malware has infected… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/december/paper-spreading-techniques-used-malware/

VB2016 preview: Cryptography mistakes in malware

At VB2016, two talks will discuss mistakes made by malware authors in cryptographic implementations. Ben Herzog and Yaniv Balmas will present a paper in which they look at a number of these mistakes, while Malwarebytes researcher hasherezade will present …
"Don't roll your own crypto", software developers are often told: cryptography is hard and thus it is always safer to use a well-tested public library rather than writing your own… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/september/vb2016-preview-presentations-cryptography-mistakes-malware/

Guest blog: Nemucod ransomware analysis

In a guest blog, Webroot researcher Jesse Lopez looks at another variant in the massive crop of malware that takes users’ files hostage: Nemucod ransomware.
In the run up to VB2016, we invited the sponsors of the conference to write guest posts for our blog. In the third of this series, Webroot's Jesse Lopez writes about the Nemucod… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/september/guest-blog-nemucod-ransomware-analysis/

Romanian university website compromised to serve Neutrino exploit kit

The website of the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy has been compromised to inject a hidden iframe into the site's source code that serves the Neutrino exploit kit and may infect visitors with ransomware.
This blog post was written by Martijn Grooten and Adrian Luca. Like every summer, millions of prospective students around the world have been taking entry exams for the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/07/romanian-university-website-compromised-serve-neutrino-exploit-kit/

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

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.
I'm not usually one to spread panic about security issues, but in the case of the current ransomware plague, I believe that at the very least a sense of great concern is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/04/paying-malware-ransom-bad-telling-people-never-do-it-unhelpful-advice/

New tool helps ransomware victims indentify the malware family

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.
Malware infections are never fun, but ransomware is particularly nasty and the plague doesn't seem likely to cease any time soon: new families are spotted almost daily. A small… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/04/new-tool-helps-ransomware-victims-indentify-malware-family/

Researchers seek ransomware samples for their generic solution

VB2015 presentation to include demonstration of technique against recent samples.
VB2015 presentation to include demonstration of technique against recent samples. 'The scary hack that's on the rise' is how Wired's Kim Zetter described ransomware in an overview… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/09/researchers-seek-ransomware-samples-their-generic-solution/

TorrentLocker spam has DMARC enabled

Use of email authentication technique unlikely to bring any advantage.
Use of email authentication technique unlikely to bring any advantage. Last week, Trend Micro researcher Jon Oliver (who presented a paper on Twitter abuse at VB2014) wrote an… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/03/torrentlocker-spam-has-dmarc-enabled/

'RansomWeb' ransomware targets companies' databases

Encryption first added as a patch, key only removed when all backups are encrypted.
Encryption first added as a patch, key only removed when all backups are encrypted. Make backups, they said. Then you won't have to worry about ransomware, they said. Ransomware… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/ransomweb-ransomware-targets-companies-databases/

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