VB Blog

VB2015 preview: advanced persistent threats

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 25, 2015

Several conference papers to deal with targeted attacks.

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Throwback Thursday: The Virus Analyst Headache

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 20, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to April 1999, when the average virus analyst had to manually process around ten or more viruses per day, and the growing complexity and volume of viruses was proving a headache.

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Back to the future: anti-virus engines and sandboxes

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 19, 2015

Szilard Stange makes the case for multi-engine malware scanning.

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Catch rates bounce back in latest spam filter test

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 18, 2015

Products defy prediction of tougher circumstances.

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Paper: Life after the apocalypse for the Middle Eastern NJRat campaign

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 14, 2015

Malware authors upped their game following 2014 disruption of No-IP.

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Throwback Thursday: IT Security Breaches: The 1994 NCC Survey

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 13, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to November 1994, when VB asked: what is the nature of the real virus problem, and how much does it cost?

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VB2015 preview: the Internet of Things

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 11, 2015

Experts to cover various aspects of IoT (in)security in a range of talks.

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File-stealing vulnerability found in Firefox PDF reader

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 7, 2015

Both Windows and Linux users actively being targeted.

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Paper: Hype heuristics, signatures and the death of AV (again)

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 7, 2015

David Harley responds to anti-malware's many criticasters.

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Throwback Thursday: Palm Breach

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Aug 6, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to July 2000, when concerns were growing about malicious threats to the Palm Personal Digital Assistant.

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WireX DDoS botnet takedown shows the best side of the security industry

Collaboration between a number of security companies has led to the takedown of the WireX Android DDoS botnet. Efforts like these, and the fact that the companies involved all decided to publish the very same blog post, show the best side of the security …
It is easy to be cynical about the security industry and its tendency to make ever bigger mountains out of molehills, but behind a thin layer of marketing, there are a great many… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/08/wirex-ddos-botnet-takedown-shows-best-side-security-industry/

Mostly blocked, but still good enough: Necurs sending pump-and-dump spam

The Necurs botnet has started sending pump-and-dump spam. Almost all of these emails are blocked by spam filters, yet the stock price still increased.
Over the past few days, the Necurs spam botnet has increased its activity, sending large amounts of pump-and-dump spam, in which a cheap stock is pushed with the aim of making a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2017/03/mostly-blocked-still-good-enough-necurs-sending-pump-and-dump-spam/

Conference review: Botconf 2016

Three members of the Virus Bulletin team attended the Botconf 2016 conference in Lyon, France last month, enjoying talks on subjects that ranged from state-sponsored attacks to exploit kits, and from banking trojans to cyber insurance.
This review was written by Martijn Grooten, Adrian Luca and Ionuț Răileanu. Though still only in its fourth year, Botconf has become one of the Virus Bulletin team's favourite… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/december/conference-review-botconf-2016/

More on the Moose botnet at Botconf

At Botconf 2016 this week, GoSecure researchers Masarah Paquet-Clouston and Olivier Bilodeau presented their research on the Moose botnet - something Olivier Bilodeau previously spoke about at VB2015.
This week, several members of the Virus Bulletin team are attending Botconf 2016 in Lyon, France. Security conferences provide good opportunities to meet fellow researchers and to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2016/december/more-moose-botnet-botconf/

Paper: a timeline of mobile botnets

Ruchna Nigam provides an overview of more than 60 mobile malware families.
Ruchna Nigam provides an overview of more than 60 mobile malware families. The rise of mobile malware is still a relatively recent thing, with the first actual mobile botnets not… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/03/paper-timeline-mobile-botnets/

VB2014 paper: Caphaw - the advanced persistent pluginer

Micky Pun and Neo Tan analyse the banking trojan that is best known for spreading through Skype.
Micky Pun and Neo Tan analyse the banking trojan that is best known for spreading through Skype.Since the close of the VB2014 conference in Seattle in October, we have been sharing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/paper-caphaw-advanced-persistent-pluginer/

Coordinated action takes down Ramnit botnet infrastructure

Malware remains present on infected machines; 2012 Virus Bulletin paper worth studying.
Malware remains present on infected machines; 2012 Virus Bulletin paper worth studying. A coordinated action from Anubisnetworks, Microsoft and Symantec, together with Europol has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2015/02/coordinated-action-takes-down-ramnit-botnet-infrastructure/

VB2014 paper: Hiding the network behind the network. Botnet proxy business model

Cristina Vatamanu and her colleagues describe how botherders keep their C&C servers hidden.
Cristina Vatamanu and her colleagues describe how botherders keep their C&C servers hidden.Over the next few months, we will be sharing VB2014 conference papers as well as video… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/10/paper-hiding-network-behind-network-botnet-proxy-business-model/

Paper: Prosecting the Citadel botnet - revealing the dominance of the Zeus descendent: part two

Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal study the malware's behaviour when ran on a physical machine.
Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal study the malware's behaviour when ran on a physical machine. Last week, we published the first part of the paper 'Prosecting the Citadel botnet -… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/paper-prosecting-citadel-botnet-revealing-dominance-zeus-descendent-part-two/

Paper: Prosecting the Citadel botnet - revealing the dominance of the Zeus descendent: part one

Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal dissect botnet primarily used for financial fraud.
Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal dissect botnet primarily used for financial fraud. It is unlikely that anyone still thinks that cybercrime is performed by 16-year-old kids who… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/09/paper-prosecting-citadel-botnet-revealing-dominance-zeus-descendent-part-one/

Game over for GameOver Zeus botnet?

Coordinated effort against gang that's also behind CryptoLocker ransomware.
Coordinated effort against gang that's also behind CryptoLocker ransomware. A large, coordinated effort involving law enforcement, security vendors and various security… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/game-over-gameover-zeus-botnet/

Updated botnet likely cause of surge in Tor traffic

New Tor version should help the network deal with increased traffic.
New Tor version should help the network deal with increased traffic. Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words: The graph shows the daily number of users of the Tor… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/09/updated-botnet-likely-cause-surge-tor-traffic/

Kelihos checks machines' IP addresses against DNS blacklists

Role of node in a botnet dependent on whether the IP address is blacklisted.
Role of node in a botnet dependent on whether the IP address is blacklisted. Whenever I look at the results of the VBSpam tests, it always amazes me how large a percentage of spam… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/08/kelihos-checks-machines-ip-addresses-against-dns-blacklists/

VB2013 speaker spotlight

We speak to James Wyke about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.
We speak to James Wyke about his research interests and what he aims to bring to VB2013.The VB2013 conference takes place this autumn (2-4 October) in Berlin, with an exciting… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/07/speaker-spotlight-wyke/

Latest VBSpam tests show web host spam harder to block

Most filters see a small increase in their catch rates overall.
Most filters see a small increase in their catch rates overall. The results of VB's latest spam filter test show that the spam sent from web hosts is significantly harder to block… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/06/latest-vbspam-tests-show-web-host-spam-harder-block/

Ruby on Rails vulnerability exploited in the wild

Code executed on web servers to cause them to join IRC botnet.
Code executed on web servers to cause them to join IRC botnet. A critical vulnerability in Ruby on Rails is currently being exploited to make web servers join an IRC botnet, Ars… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/05/ruby-rails-vulnerability-exploited-wild/

German anti-botnet advisory recommends the use of ad blockers for security

'If websites want to include ads, they must make sure they are secure.'
'If websites want to include ads, they must make sure they are secure.' In an open letter to several prominent German websites, Botfrei, the German anti-botnet advisory centre, has… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2013/05/german-anti-botnet-advisory-recommends-use-ad-blockers-security/

Grum botnet's command-and-control servers shut down

Spam-sending botnet believed to be third largest in the world.
Spam-sending botnet believed to be third largest in the world. International co-operation between a number of parties has led to all command-and-control servers of the 'Grum'… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/07/grum-botnet-s-command-and-control-servers-shut-down/

New Zeus/SpyEye botnet does away with command-and-control servers

Increasing use of UDP to avoid communication tracking.
Increasing use of UDP to avoid communication tracking. Researchers at Symantec have discovered a new parallel build of Zeus (also known as Zbot) and SpyEye that appears to be… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2012/02/new-zeus-spyeye-botnet-does-away-command-and-control-servers/

Compromised websites used to mine bitcoins

In-the-browser botnet turns victims' CPU cycles into cash for the attackers.
In-the-browser botnet turns victims' CPU cycles into cash for the attackers. Researchers have discovered a compromised website where a piece of JavaScript has been included that is… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2011/12/compromised-websites-used-mine-bitcoins/

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