VB Conference 2009
September 25, 2009, 6:09 AM

Apple Malware Bounty: Infect a Mac, Earn $0.43

By Ryan Naraine

GENEVA -- In a sign that cyber-criminals are investing more time and resources into attacks against Apple's Mac users, a new malware affiliate program has been discovered offering 43c for every infected Mac machine.

During an eye-opening presentation at the VB Conference 2009 conference here, Sophos Labs researcher Dmitry Samosseikko provided a glimpse into the "Partnerka," a Russian network of spam and malware affiliates that have turned their attention to the Mac platform -- using social engineering tricks to load fake codecs and scareware programs.   More »

  • Comment
September 25, 2009, 4:47 AM

Talking Twitter Malware with Costin Raiu

By Ryan Naraine

On the heels of yet another Twitter phishing attack, Threatpost editor Ryan Naraine chats with Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Costin Raiu about a new "Krab Krawler" project that pinpoints signs of malicious activity on Twitter.  Raiu introduced the project at this year's Virus Bulletin conference.  View the VB presentation here.   More »

  • Comment
September 25, 2009, 3:34 AM

Talking Koobface with Ivan Macalintal

By Ryan Naraine

At the Virus Bulletin 2009 conference,Trend Micro security researcher Ivan Macalintal talks to Threatpost editor Ryan Naraine about the intricacies of the Koobface attack.  See more on this story here.   More »

  • Comment
September 24, 2009, 6:34 AM

AV Researcher Calls for Standard Threat Level Displays

By Ryan Naraine

GENEVA -- A veteran security researcher today challenged the anti-malware industry to work on a standard way of assigning computer/Internet threat levels to present transparent helpful information to consumers and businesses.

During a presentation at the Virus Bulletin 2009 conference here, Fortinet project manager Bryan Lu discussed the current scenario where anti-malware vendor use different systems to display threat levels -- either color-coded or using numbers and arrows -- and suggested that vendors use existing data to make threat level indicators more useful and meaningful.   More »

  • Comment
September 24, 2009, 5:31 AM

Koobface, Twitter Attacks Growing More Sophisticated

By Dennis Fisher

GENEVA -- The attacks and scams that have been affecting users of Facebook, Twitter and other popular social networking sites are continuing to evolve and improve, as the attackers learn more about their victims and refine their tactics, experts say.   More »

  • Comment
September 23, 2009, 1:48 PM

VB 2009: Stefan Tanase on Web 2.0 Threats and Anti-Social Networking

By Dennis Fisher

Digital Underground podcast with Dennis Fisher - September 23, 2009

Dennis Fisher talks with Stefan Tanase, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, live from Virus Bulletin 2009 about the threats on social networking sites and the privacy and security concerns presented by Web 2.0 technologies.  Here are the slides from Tanase's presentation.

  More »

  • Comment
September 23, 2009, 9:37 AM

Dogrobot Malware Penetrates System Restore on Windows

By Ryan Naraine

GENEVA --  Cyber crime gangs in China are penetrating the hard disk recovery cards on computers in Internet cafes and using a combination of zero-day flaws, rootkits and ARP spoofing techniques to steal billions of dollars worth of online gaming credentials.

According to Microsoft anti-virus researcher Chun Feng, five generations of the Win32/Dogrobot malware family have perfected the novel rootkit technique to hijack System Restore on Windows — effectively allowing the malicious file to survive even after the compromised machine is reverted to its previous clean state.   More »

  • Comment
September 23, 2009, 8:10 AM

Google Exec Calls For ISPs to Get Tough on Botnets

By Ryan Naraine

GENEVA -- Head of Google’s anti-malvertising team Eric Davis wants Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to look beyond profits and take a more proactive approach to dealing with malware-infested computers on their networks.

During a keynote presentation at the Virus Bulletin conference here, Davis said competitors in the ISP space must look beyond profits and partner on new initiatives to deal with the “parasites” that have taken control of the Internet landscape.   More »

  • Comment
September 23, 2009, 6:18 AM

From Gimmiv to Conficker: MS08-067 Under The Microscope

By Ryan Naraine

GENEVA -- The critical MS08-067 vulnerability used by the Conficker worm to build a powerful botnet continues to be a lucrative security hole for cybercriminals.

During a presentation at the Virus Bulletin 2009 conference here, a trio of Microsoft researchers dissected the malware attacks linked to MS08-067 and found that criminal gangs are still exploiting the flaw to plant data-theft Trojans on vulnerable Windows machines.   More »

  • Comment
September 23, 2009, 4:13 AM

Google: Cooperation Needed to Combat Malicious Ads

By Dennis Fisher

GENEVA -- A more comprehensive and serious level of cooperation among industry leaders is needed to help stop the scourge of malicious Web ads and botnets that result from the infected PCs, a top Google executive said Wednesday.   More »

  • Comment

Blogger Bio

About VB Conference 2009

Threatpost editors Ryan Naraine and Dennis Fisher bring you up-to-date news, podcasts and video interviews from the annual Virus Bulletin Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

more

Stay Connected