VB Blog

VB2018: looking for technical and non-technical talks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 9, 2018

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.

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Partner with VB2018 for extra visibility among industry peers

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 8, 2018

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.

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VB2017 paper: The router of all evil

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 7, 2018

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 recording of Himanshu's presentation.

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Using Mailchimp makes malware campaigns a little bit more successful

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 6, 2018

In recent months, some malicious spam campaigns have been spreading via the systems of Mailchimp, a well-known email service provider - a tactic which may give the campaigns a slightly higher success rate.

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VB2017 video: The state of cybersecurity in Africa: Kenya

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Mar 1, 2018

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 cybersecurity in Kenya. Today, we publish the video of Tyrus's talk.

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A crime against statistics that is probably worse than the cyber attacks faced in County Durham

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 21, 2018

A report on the number of cyber attacks faced by UK local authorities is a good example of how the large numbers seen in many reports on security are rather meaningless.

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NCSC gives important advice on lateral movement

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 20, 2018

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has provided helpful and practical advice on preventing and detecting lateral movement by an attacker within a network.

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What kind of people attend Virus Bulletin conferences?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 17, 2018

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.

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Olympic Games target of malware, again

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 15, 2018

An unattributed malware attack has disrupted some computer systems of the 2018 Winter Olympics. In 1994, a computer virus also targeted the Winter Olympics.

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There are lessons to be learned from government websites serving cryptocurrency miners

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Feb 12, 2018

Thousands of websites, including many sites of government organisations in the UK, the US and Sweden, were recently found to have been serving a cryptocurrency miner. More interesting than the incident itself, though, are the lessons that can be learned from it.

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Search blog

Google AdWords phishing campaign spreads

Users urged to login because of 'issues'.
Users urged to login because of 'issues'. A new phishing campaign that targets users of Google AdWords looks worryingly real, GFI reports. The phish begins with an email claiming… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/10/google-adwords-phishing-campaign-spreads/

Google delists all .co.cc domains from its index

Large fraction of sites deemed 'spammy or low-quality'.
Large fraction of sites deemed 'spammy or low-quality'.Google has removed all sites running on subdomains of .co.cc from its search engine index as the company believes too large a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/07/google-delists-all-co-cc-domains-its-index/

Google acquires Zynamics

Internet giant buys into security.
Internet giant buys into security. Internet giant Google has acquired software analytics firm Zynamics, it was announced yesterday. The German company, which was founded in 2004… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/03/google-acquires-zynamics/

Android SMS trojan goes wild

Premium-rate text scam shows growing cracks in smart phone security.
Premium-rate text scam shows growing cracks in smart phone security. The first known SMS trojan affecting smart phones running Google's Android operating system has been observed… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/08/android-sms-trojan-goes-wild/

Morphing PDFs in new SEO poisoning trick

Harmless documents replaced by web pages containing malicious code.
Harmless documents replaced by web pages containing malicious code. Researchers at F-Secure have discovered a new SEO poisoning trick in which attackers put harmless PDFs on a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2010/03/morphing-pdfs-new-seo-poisoning-trick/

Security holes trouble vendors

Vulnerabilities fixed in McAfee website and Google Chrome; patch expected for Adobe Reader.
Vulnerabilities fixed in McAfee website and Google Chrome; patch expected for Adobe Reader. A range of vulnerabilities have been causing headaches recently for companies… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/security-holes-trouble-vendors/

Google shows off in-house browser beta

Open-source 'Chrome' promises security as well as efficiency.
Open-source 'Chrome' promises security as well as efficiency. Ever-expanding web giant Google has released an early version of its own browser, developed in house but under… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/09/google-shows-house-browser-beta/

China hosting over half of malicious sites

StopBadware.org report highlights Chinese dominance in web malware.
StopBadware.org report highlights Chinese dominance in web malware. A report from StopBadware.org released last week found that 52% of malicious websites were hosted in China, with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/china-hosting-over-half-malicious-sites/

Spammers turn to DoubleClick for open redirect

Loophole in Google's AdSense solved, but new flaw quickly uncovered.
Loophole in Google's AdSense solved, but new flaw quickly uncovered. The good name of web giant Google continues to be a popular source of legitimacy among spammers, despite their… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/spammers-turn-doubleclick-open-redirect/

Google Groups and Blogspot used to serve malware

Company finds own IP address to be serving most malware.
Company finds own IP address to be serving most malware.Malware writers have created thousands of Google Groups with the sole purpose of serving malware, Sunbelt reports. On the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/google-groups-and-blogspot-used-serve-malware/

'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/

Gmail CAPTCHA cracked

Twenty per cent success rate sufficient to create thousands of spam accounts.
Twenty per cent success rate sufficient to create thousands of spam accounts.Gmail has become the latest free webmail service to have its CAPTCHAs cracked by spammers. Following… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/gmail-captcha-cracked/

Over 1 per cent of search results include malicious sites

Google research paper confirms significant increase in number of malware-serving websites.
Google research paper confirms significant increase in number of malware-serving websites. Recent reports of increasing numbers of websites serving malicious content have been… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/over-1-cent-search-results-include-malicious-sites/

Ledger poisons Google

Actor's death exploited by malware writers to infect computers.
Actor's death exploited by malware writers to infect computers. The death of actor Heath Ledger on Tuesday had barely been confirmed a few hours when malicious websites started… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/01/ledger-poisons-google/

No taste for spam?

ICANN takes steps to combat domain tasting.
ICANN takes steps to combat domain tasting. The practice of domain tasting, often used by spammers and other shady types to register tens of thousands of Internet domain names at… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/01/no-taste-spam/

Symantec warns of rigged Google search links

Advanced search options lead clickers straight to junk sites.
Advanced search options lead clickers straight to junk sites. Spammers have found a novel use for Google's advanced search options and 'I'm Feeling Lucky' function, using a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/11/symantec-warns-rigged-google-search-links/

Another security hole found in GMail

Vulnerability latest in a growing list of holes in Google's web applications.
Vulnerability latest in a growing list of holes in Google's web applications. A significant security hole has been found in Google's web mail application GMail. Security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/another-security-hole-found-gmail/

Google buys Postini

Managed security service snapped up by giant.
Managed security service snapped up by giant. Ever-expanding web giant Google has continued its growth into both security and software-as-service spheres with the $625 million… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/07/google-buys-postini/

Online malware dangers analysed

Google, McAfee release webserver, search result figures.
Google, McAfee release webserver, search result figures. Two reports out this week have revealed some interesting statistics on the security dangers involved in browsing the… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/06/online-malware-dangers-analysed/

Google buys into security

Google makes stealth purchase of security firm.
Google makes stealth purchase of security firm. Search and entertainment giant Google completed the purchase of Internet security firm GreenBorder Technologies in mid-May - but… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/05/google-buys-security/

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