VB Blog

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 29, 2017

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 platforms. Today we publish both Patrick's paper and the recording of his presentation.

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Tizi Android malware highlights the importance of security patches for high-risk users

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 28, 2017

Researchers from Google have taken down 'Tizi', an Android malware family, that used nine already patched vulnerabilities to obtain root on infected devices.

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Virus Bulletin to attend AMTSO, AVAR and Botconf

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 27, 2017

Next week, Virus Bulletin researchers will be attending the AMTSO meeting and AVAR conference in Beijing, China, as well as the 5th edition of the Botconf conference in Montpellier, France.

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VB2017 video: FinFisher: New techniques and infection vectors revealed

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 24, 2017

Today, we publish the video of the VB2017 presentation by ESET researcher Filip Kafka, who looked at recent changes in the FinFisher government malware, including its infection vectors.

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Throwback Thursday: The beginning of the end(point): where we are now and where we'll be in five years

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 23, 2017

We look back at the VB2016 presentation by Adrian Sanabria on the state of endpoint security, both now and in the future.

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

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 22, 2017

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 recording of their presentation.

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Firefox 59 to make it a lot harder to use data URIs in phishing attacks

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 21, 2017

Firefox developer Mozilla has announced that, as of version 59 of the browser, many kinds of data URIs, which provide a way to create "domainless web content", will not be rendered in the browser, thus making this trick - used in various phishing campaigns - a lot less attractive.

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Standalone product test: FireEye Endpoint

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 16, 2017

Virus Bulletin ran a standalone test on FireEye's Endpoint Security solution.

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VB2017 video: Consequences of bad security in health care

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Nov 13, 2017

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 VB2017 in Madrid, in which she shared her inside view of security in hospitals.

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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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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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