VB Blog

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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Compromised site serves Nuclear exploit kit together with fake BSOD

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 31, 2015

Support scammers not lying about a malware infection for a change.

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Throwback Thursday: Riotous Assembly

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 30, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to January 1994, shortly after Cyber Riot had emerged as the first virus capable of infecting the Windows kernel.

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Stagefright vulnerability leaves 950 million Android devices vulnerable to remote code execution

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 28, 2015

The operating system has been patched, but it is unclear whether users will receive those patches.

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Throwback Thursday: Sizewell B: Fact or Fiction?

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 23, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to 1993, when VB asked the key question: could a virus compromise safety at one of Britain's nuclear power plants?

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Call for last-minute papers for VB2015 announced

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 21, 2015

Ten speaking slots waiting to be filled with presentations on 'hot' security topics.

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'NOMORE' attack makes RC4 a little weaker again

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 20, 2015

No good reason to continue using the stream cipher, yet attacks remain impractical.

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Spam levels fall below 50% for the first time in 12 years

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 20, 2015

Decline not necessarily good news for spam filters.

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Throwback Thursday: What You Pay For...

Posted by   Virus Bulletin on   Jul 16, 2015

This Throwback Thursday, we turn the clock back to 1996, when VB looked at what was available to protect your computer free of charge.

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August

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/08/

McColo shutdown not felt the same by all recipients

Mailbox-level reduction may depend on spam detection methods.
Mailbox-level reduction may depend on spam detection methods. When the rogue provider McColo was taken offline in November 2008, depriving many botnets of their command and control… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/mccolo-shutdown-not-felt-same-all-recipients/

Yxe trojan infecting mobile phones

Symbian software-signing slipup certifies SMS spambot.
Symbian software-signing slipup certifies SMS spambot. A new trojan, the first of its kind, is affecting users of the Symbian mobile operating system by spreading itself via text… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/yxe-trojan-infecting-mobile-phones/

Call for last-minute technical papers

Submissions invited for technical 'turbo' talks at VB Geneva.
Submissions invited for technical 'turbo' talks at VB Geneva. Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present last-minute technical papers at VB2009. The VB… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/call-last-minute-technical-papers/

Five botnets responsible for 75% of spam sent

Each infected machine sends spam at rate of almost two messages per second.
Each infected machine sends spam at rate of almost two messages per second.Spam levels have increased 60% since the beginning of this year, according to security company Marshal8e6… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/five-botnets-responsible-75-spam-sent/

Korea DDoS surge mired in hype and confusion

Rows rumble on over sources and targets of botnet attacks.
Rows rumble on over sources and targets of botnet attacks. Last week's gush of denial-of-service attacks has sparked considerable excitement and argument, with rumours of possible… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/korea-ddos-surge-mired-hype-and-confusion/

Patch Tuesday brings little relief from browser exploits

Six fixes issued, but new IE zero day emerges along with Firefox flaw.
Six fixes issued, but new IE zero day emerges along with Firefox flaw.Microsoft has issued its monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security update, with some serious browser flaws patched, but… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/patch-tuesday-brings-little-relief-browser-exploits/

URL shorteners experience surge of popularity among spammers

More than 2.2% of spam contains shortened URLs.
More than 2.2% of spam contains shortened URLs. URL shortening services have proven recently to be popular not just among microbloggers in need of shorter URLs, but also among… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/url-shorteners-experience-surge-popularity-among-spammers/

Keyloggers used to loot US county

$415,000 sneaked from local government funds.
$415,000 sneaked from local government funds. A Kentucky county has suffered losses of $415,000 after keylogging malware infiltrated its computer systems, allowing cybercriminals… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/keyloggers-used-loot-us-county/

Serious false positive hits users of old McAfee engines

Batch of system files wrongly flagged as malware, current versions not affected.
Batch of system files wrongly flagged as malware, current versions not affected. An update released by McAfee last week resulted in problems around the world, as some vital system… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/serious-false-positive-hits-users-old-mcafee-engines/

Another IE zero day exploited

Second DirectShow vulnerability in six weeks labelled 'extremely critical'.
Second DirectShow vulnerability in six weeks labelled 'extremely critical'.Microsoft has issued an advisory on a serious vulnerability in an ActiveX control in its Internet… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/another-ie-zero-day-exploited/

VB announces latest VBSpam certification results

Two products achieve top level VBSpam Platinum award.
Two products achieve top level VBSpam Platinum award. Virus Bulletin has announced the results of its second comparative review of anti-spam products, revealing two top-level… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/vb-announces-latest-vbspam-certification-results/

July issue of VB published

The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download.
The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The July 2009 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/july-issue-vb-published/

July

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/07/

DKIM usage shows significant growth

US banks urged to use authentication method
US banks urged to use authentication method In a report on its website, Internet giant Cisco states it has been seeing almost 700,000 non-spam messages that contain valid DKIM… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/06/dkim-usage-shows-significant-growth/

June

Anti-virus and security related news provided by independent anti-virus advisors, Virus Bulletin
https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/06/

Latest AV-Comparatives results released

Retrospective figures follow up February test.
Retrospective figures follow up February test. Independent testing body AV-Comparatives have issued their latest set of retrospective test figures, completing the round of testing… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/latest-av-comparatives-results-released/

Gumblar compromise growth continues

Dominant web threat infecting still more vulnerable sites.
Dominant web threat infecting still more vulnerable sites. A major web compromise, estimated by some to represent over 40% of infected web pages last week, has continued growing in… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/gumblar-compromise-growth-continues/

McAfee to acquire Solidcore

Whitelisting firm to be assimilated by security giant.
Whitelisting firm to be assimilated by security giant.McAfee has announced the acquisition of whitelisting firm Solidcore in a deal reported to be worth a base rate of $33 million,… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/mcafee-acquire-solidcore/

Cyber-security organisations link up to foster collaboration

ASC, NCSA and StopBadware form 'chain of trust' initiative.
ASC, NCSA and StopBadware form 'chain of trust' initiative. Three major groups focused on issues of cyber security - the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), the US National Cyber… https://www.virusbulletin.com/blog/2009/05/cyber-security-organisations-link-foster-collaboration/

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