VB Blog

VB2019 call for papers - now open!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 15, 2019

Have you analysed a new online threat? Do you know a new way to defend against such threats? Are you tasked with securing systems and fending off attacks? The call for papers for VB2019 is now open and we want to hear from you!

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VB2018 paper: Unpacking the packed unpacker: reversing an Android anti-analysis library

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 14, 2019

Today, we publish a VB2018 paper by Google researcher Maddie Stone in which she looks at one of the most interesting anti-analysis native libraries in the Android ecosystem. We also release the recording of Maddie's presentation.

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VB2018 paper: Draw me like one of your French APTs – expanding our descriptive palette for cyber threat actors

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Jan 7, 2019

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Chronicle researcher Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, who argues we should change the way we talk about APT actors.

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Book Review: Cyber Wars

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 19, 2018

VB Editor Martijn Grooten reviews Charles Arthur's Cyber Wars, which looks at seven prominent hacks and attacks, and the lessons we can learn from them.

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VB2018 paper: Office bugs on the rise

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 14, 2018

At VB2018 Sophos researcher Gábor Szappanos provided a detailed overview of Office exploit builders, and looked in particular at the widely exploited CVE-2017-0199. Today we publish his paper and release the video of his presentation.

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VB2018 video: The Big Bang Theory by APT-C-23

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 12, 2018

Today, we release the video of the VB2018 presentation by Check Point researcher Aseel Kayal, who connected the various dots relating to campaigns by the APT-C-23 threat group.

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VB2019 London - join us for the most international threat intelligence conference!

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 11, 2018

VB calls on organisations and individuals involved in threat intelligence from around the world to participate in next year's Virus Bulletin conference.

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VB2018 paper: Tracking Mirai variants

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 7, 2018

Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Qihoo 360 researchers Ya Liu and Hui Wang, on extracting data from variants of the Mirai botnet to classify and track variants.

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VB2018 paper: Hide'n'Seek: an adaptive peer-to-peer IoT botnet

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 6, 2018

2018 has seen an increase in the variety of botnets living on the Internet of Things - such as Hide'N'Seek, which is notable for its use of peer-to-peer for command-and-control communication. Today, we publish the VB2018 paper by Bitdefender researchers Adrian Șendroiu and Vladimir Diaconescu, who studied the Hide'N'Seek IoT botnet. We also release the recording of their presentation.

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New paper: Botception: botnet distributes script with bot capabilities

Posted by   Martijn Grooten on   Dec 4, 2018

In a new paper, Avast researchers Jan Sirmer and Adolf Streda look at how a spam campaign sent via the Necurs botnet was delivering the Flawed Ammyy RAT. As well as publishing the paper, we have also released the video of the reseachers' VB2018 presentation on the same topic.

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Search blog

Google's Project Zero to hunt for zero-days

Bugs to be reported to the vendor only, and to become public once patched.
Bugs to be reported to the vendor only, and to become public once patched.Google has created a new team, called Project Zero, whose task is to find vulnerabilities in any kind of… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/google-s-project-zero-hunt-zero-days/

Paper: API-EPO

Raul Alvarez studies the unique EPO methodology used by the W32/Daum file infector.
Raul Alvarez studies the unique EPO methodology used by the W32/Daum file infector. A few months ago, we published an article by Fortinet's Raul Alvarez on the Expiro file… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/paper-api-epo/

Paper: Not old enough to be forgotten: the new chic of Visual Basic 6

Marion Marschalek looks at two Miuref binaries: one packed with Visual Basic 6 and one with C++.
Marion Marschalek looks at two Miuref binaries: one packed with Visual Basic 6 and one with C++. Two months ago, Microsoft announced it had added 'Miuref' to its Malicious Software… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/paper-not-old-enough-be-forgotten-new-chic-visual-basic-6/

Paper: VBA is not dead!

Gabor Szappanos looks at the resurgence of malicious VBA macros that use social engineering to activate.
Gabor Szappanos looks at the resurgence of malicious VBA macros that use social engineering to activate.Macro malware had long been assumed dead. After all, macros are disabled by… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/paper-vba-not-dead/

'Cyber attack on hedge fund' turns out to be internal 'scenario' used by BAE Systems

Story that appeared to be taken from fiction turns out... to have been fiction.
Story that appeared to be taken from fiction turns out... to have been fiction. Two weeks after BAE Systems reported its technicians had thwarted an attack against hedge fund… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/cyber-attack-hedge-fund-turns-out-be-internal-scenario-used-bae-systems/

Paper: Obfuscation in Android malware, and how to fight back

Axelle Apvrille and Ruchna Nigam look at both off-the-shelf products and custom obfuscation techniques.
Axelle Apvrille and Ruchna Nigam look at both off-the-shelf products and custom obfuscation techniques. After a relatively slow start, in recent years mobile malware has really… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/paper-obfuscation-android-malware-and-how-fight-back/

Virus Bulletin celebrates 25th birthday by making all content free

Neither subscription nor registration required to access content.
Neither subscription nor registration required to access content. Happy birthday Virus Bulletin! Today it is exactly 25 years since, in the very first issue of Virus Bulletin,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/celebrates-25th-birthday-making-all-content-free/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/07/

Exploit kit requires link to be clicked before redirection

Automatic analysis of malicious payloads becomes a little bit harder again.
Automatic analysis of malicious payloads becomes a little bit harder again. A security researcher at ESET has discovered how a malicious site serving the Angler exploit kit… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/exploit-kit-requires-link-be-clicked-redirection/

Cheap Android phone comes shipped with spyware

Trojan masquerades as Google Play app; cannot be removed.
Trojan masquerades as Google Play app; cannot be removed. Researchers at German security firm G Data have discovered Android smartphones that come shipped with spyware. The phone… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/cheap-android-phone-comes-shipped-spyware/

Virus Bulletin seeks security researchers

Would you like to publish your research through Virus Bulletin - or perhaps even work for us?
Would you like to publish your research through Virus Bulletin - or perhaps even work for us? As of 1 July, all Virus Bulletin content will be freely available to everyone. This… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/seeks-security-researchers/

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/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/

June issue of VB published

The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The June issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The June 2014 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/06/june-issue-vb-published/

Virus Bulletin announces Péter Ször Award

'Brilliant mind and a true gentleman' commemorated through annual award for technical security research.
'Brilliant mind and a true gentleman' commemorated through annual award for technical security research. In commemoration of the life and work of security researcher Péter Ször,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/05/announces-p-ter-sz-r-award/

1 in 500 secure connections use forged certificate

For reasons ranging from relatively good, to actual malware.
For reasons ranging from relatively good, to actual malware. Researchers from Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University have published a paper (PDF) in which they show that out of a… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/05/1-500-secure-connections-use-forged-certificate/

May

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/05/

May issue of VB published

The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The May issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The May 2014 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/05/may-issue-vb-published/

AOL spam spreads 'NotCompatible' Android trojan

AOL responds by following Yahoo! in setting strict DMARC policy.
AOL responds by following Yahoo! in setting strict DMARC policy. This week, #AOLhacked has become a popular hashtag on Twitter: many AOL users are using it to complain that their… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/04/aol-spam-spreads-notcompatible-android-trojan/

Yahoo's DMARC policy wreaks havoc among mailing lists

Collateral damage in instruction to reject emails with invalid DKIM signatures.
Collateral damage in instruction to reject emails with invalid DKIM signatures. A change in Yahoo's DMARC policy has caused frustration among operators of many mailing lists and… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2014/04/yahoo-s-dmarc-policy-wreaks-havoc-among-mailing-lists/

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