VB Blog

Research shows web security products perform well against exploit kits

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 24, 2016

Research by Virus Bulletin, in which five web security products were served 54 live exploit kits, shows that the products blocked between 87 and 100 per cent of the kits.

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Throwback Thursday: Olympic Games

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Aug 2, 2016

In 1994, along with the Olympic Games came an Olympic virus, from a group of Swedish virus authors calling themselves ‘Immortal Riot’. We look back at Mikko Hyppönen's analysis in the VB archive.

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VB2016 call for last-minute papers opened, discounts announced

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Aug 1, 2016

Announcing the VB2016 call for last-minute papers and a number of discounts on the conference registration rate.

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Guest Blog: Malicious Scripts Gaining Prevalence in Brazil

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 28, 2016

In the run up to VB2016, we invited the conference sponsors to write guest posts for our blog. In the second of this series, ESET's Matías Porolli writes about malicious Visual Basic and JavaScript gaining prevalence in Brazil.

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Romanian university website compromised to serve Neutrino exploit kit

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 28, 2016

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.

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It's 2016. Can we stop using MD5 in malware analyses?

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 26, 2016

While there are no actually risks involved in using MD5s in malware analyses, it reinforces bad habits and we should all start using SHA-256 instead.

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Throwback Thursday: Holding the Bady

Posted by   Helen Martin on   Jul 21, 2016

In 2001, ‘Code Red’ caused White House administrators to change the IP address of the official White House website, and even penetrated Microsoft’s own IIS servers.

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Paper: The Journey of Evasion Enters Behavioural Phase

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 20, 2016

A new paper by FireEye researcher Ankit Anubhav provides an overview of evasion techniques applied by recently discovered malware.

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Guest blog: Espionage toolkit uncovered targeting Central and Eastern Europe

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 15, 2016

Recently, ESET researchers uncovered a new espionage toolkit targeting targeting Central and Eastern Europe. They provide some details in a guest post.

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Avast acquires AVG for $1.3bn

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jul 8, 2016

Anti-virus vendor Avast has announced the acquisition of its rival AVG for 1.3 billion US dollars.

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Search blog

Researchers crack into Storm botnet

Comms channels decrypted, automated removal possible.
Comms channels decrypted, automated removal possible. A group of German academics claim to have deciphered communications protocols used by the infamous 'Storm' botnet, allowing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/01/researchers-crack-storm-botnet/

Disconnection of dubious provider sees spam levels plummet

Web-hosting firm believed to be responsible for 75% of spam.
Web-hosting firm believed to be responsible for 75% of spam. Anti-spam researchers across the world reported a significant drop in the volume of spam seen after web-hosting firm… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/11/disconnection-dubious-provider-sees-spam-levels-plummet/

Riders on a Storm

Researchers hijack botnet - and find spam success rates lower than previously believed.
Researchers hijack botnet - and find spam success rates lower than previously believed. Less than 1 in 12 million spam emails sent through the infamous Storm botnet led to a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/11/riders-storm/

Storm mails bring spoof World War 3 news

US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage.
US-Iran war story used as hook for malware barrage. The Storm botnet has been spamming in force again in the past week, with its expected run targeting 4th of July celebrations in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/07/storm-mails-bring-spoof-world-war-3-news/

MAAWG unveils spam and botnet battling policies

Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines.
Working group of ISPs and net operators issue traffic calming guidelines. Global collaboration body the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) has ratified a set of guidelines… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/maawg-unveils-spam-and-botnet-battling-policies/

41 months plus hefty fine for botherder

Cross-border operation brings adware crook to book.
Cross-border operation brings adware crook to book. A Florida man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and fined $65,000 (approx. £32,000) after implanting bot software on… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/06/41-months-plus-hefty-fine-botherder/

'Kraken' monster botnet causing controversy

As latest botnet scare debated, Storm keeps on blowing.
As latest botnet scare debated, Storm keeps on blowing. Recent reports of a massive botnet, apparently sneaking its trojans past security software and far outnumbering better-known… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/kraken-monster-botnet-causing-controversy/

HP ships infected USB keys

Autorun worms found on batch of server setup devices.
Autorun worms found on batch of server setup devices. A batch of USB thumb drives containing software intended to assist in the setup of servers have been found to contain some… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/04/hp-ships-infected-usb-keys/

Cybercriminals charged in New Zealand, Korea

Law closes in on alleged botnet master and rogue anti-spyware maker.
Law closes in on alleged botnet master and rogue anti-spyware maker. Police in New Zealand have charged an 18-year-old in connection with a botnet he is suspected of building and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/03/cybercriminals-charged-new-zealand-korea/

Botnet-herding team arrested in Quebec

Gang held for managing million-machine zombie net.
Gang held for managing million-machine zombie net. Canadian police have announced the arrests of up to 17 people in Quebec, in connection with a major botnet operation thought to… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/botnet-herding-team-arrested-quebec/

Storm Valentines run under way

Seasonal spam and malware barrage gets going.
Seasonal spam and malware barrage gets going. The expected run of 'Storm' spams, pushing links to their latest line of malware disguised as Valentine's messages, has begun, with… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/02/storm-valentines-run-under-way/

Stormy love letters

Storm botnet celebrates birthday with new wave of spam.
Storm botnet celebrates birthday with new wave of spam. Earlier this week malware experts warned of likely increased activity of the Storm botnet around Valentine's Day next month.… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/01/stormy-love-letters/

Phishing danger increases as Storm botnet is hired out

Smart new trojan and Storm diversification add to online banking risk.
Smart new trojan and Storm diversification add to online banking risk. The dangers of banking online grew significantly in past weeks, as portions of the ever-expanding Storm… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2008/01/phishing-danger-increases-storm-botnet-hired-out/

Botnet roasting on an open fire

FBI reports successes of operation Bot Roast; McAfee predicts cyber espionage for 2008.
FBI reports successes of operation Bot Roast; McAfee predicts cyber espionage for 2008. The FBI has revealed that eight individuals have been indicted, pled guilty or been… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/12/botnet-roasting-open-fire/

Teenage botherder arrested in New Zealand

International cooperation also leads to eight arrests in the US.
International cooperation also leads to eight arrests in the US. Police in New Zealand have arrested an 18-year-old youth believed to be the herder of a botnet of 1.3 million… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/11/teenage-botherder-arrested-new-zealand/

US botnet master confesses to crimes

Security consultant to plead guilty, could face heavy sentence.
Security consultant to plead guilty, could face heavy sentence. A Los Angeles man has agreed to plead guilty to several counts of fraud and unauthorised interfering with computer… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/11/us-botnet-master-confesses-crimes/

Storm botnet evolution hints at spam and DDoS renting

Latest change in tactics could mean zombie clusters for hire.
Latest change in tactics could mean zombie clusters for hire. The latest twist in the long-running 'Storm' saga, the use of encryption in communications between infected hosts and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/10/storm-botnet-evolution-hints-spam-and-ddos-renting/

Storm DDoS hits anti-scam sites

419 fighters attacked - NFL and TOR latest spam hooks.
419 fighters attacked - NFL and TOR latest spam hooks. The massive botnet amassed by the 'Storm' (Zhelatin/Nuwar/Dorf/etc.) attack continues to target new victims, with the TOR… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/09/storm-ddos-hits-anti-scam-sites/

House of Lords warns of e-crime fears

Report recommends harder, smarter fight against online dangers.
Report recommends harder, smarter fight against online dangers. A major report by the Science and Technology Committee of the UK's House of Lords has found the internet to be rife… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/house-lords-warns-e-crime-fears/

Worries of Storm forming massive botnet

DDoS danger looms as infection levels boom.
DDoS danger looms as infection levels boom. Repeated waves of the 'Storm' trojan attacks continue to be spammed out, with the latest using more eCards to hook in still more… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2007/08/worries-storm-forming-massive-botnet/

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