Fighting malware and spam

News

January issue released

The Virus Bulletin January 2005 issue is on its way.

23 December 2004

Latest VGrep

The latest version of the virus name lookup tool - VGrep, is now available.

23 December 2004

VB2005 call for papers

Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present at VB2005 in Dublin - so set aside some time between the season's festive parties to get writing!

23 December 2004

Synchronized malware identification for the new year

Causing a stir in the anti-virus community last month was the announcement of a new US-led initiative whose aim is to achieve threat synchronization.

23 December 2004

Test files: Straightening the record

VB sets the record straight regarding the collection of files referenced in Peter Morley's letter 'Generic detection - a specific case' published in last months main magazine.

23 December 2004

Teen brought to book for Randex

British teenager sentenced.

22 December 2004

No deal for AOL employee

Judge refuses to accept guilty plea.

22 December 2004

Trend ousts McAfee on Hotmail

Trend Micro to take over from McAfee as new provider of virus scanning for MSN.

21 December 2004

Deal for AOL employee

AOL worker accused of selling customer email lists offered deal.

21 December 2004

Virus Bulletin RSS feeds now support Live Bookmarks

Virus Bulletin RSS feeds now support 'Live bookmarks' allowing you to browse our latest headlines directly from your browsers bookmarks menu.

20 December 2004

ISP wins $1 billion against spammers

Largest judgement against spammers to date.

20 December 2004

GIANT purchase for Microsoft

Microsoft buys anti-spyware provider.

17 December 2004

Symantec to acquire Veritas?

Just in time for Christmas?

15 December 2004

Anti-spam law 'unconstitutional'

Judge says Maryland anti-spam law is flawed.

15 December 2004

Spyware-led investigations

Australian police given power to use spyware.

14 December 2004

DDoS stunt over

Lycos ends its 'make love not spam' campaign - but not before the file had been trojanised...

7 December 2004

More spammers for the slammer?

Microsoft continues to make good use of its legal resources.

3 December 2004

Most-spammed sees end in sight

Bill Gates says he hopes to have the spam problem under control within two years - again.

2 December 2004

Email authentication in the open

35 high-profile organisations sign open letter, calling for a rapid rollout of email authentication technologies

2 December 2004

VB2005 call for papers

Virus Bulletin is seeking submissions from those wishing to present at VB2005 in Dublin - so set aside some time between the season's festive parties to get writing!

02 December 2004

Hotmail originator turns to anti-spam

Sabeer Bhatia, the man behind Hotmail, has announced that he has invested in an anti-spam company

2 December 2004

FBI's virus blunder

Virus infection nearly blew the cover on a secret FBI fraud investigation two years ago.

02 December 2004

Errata - Windows Server 2003 comparative review

VB regrets that three mistakes crept into the Comparative review published in the November issue.

02 December 2004

Save your soul with spam

Spam goes yet one step further - spiritual salvation!

2 December 2004

Academic research journal

Announcement and first call for papers of the European Research Journal in Computer Virology

02 December 2004

Season's greetings

The VB team wishes all Virus Bulletin readers a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

02 December 2004

News by email

New twice-monthly email newsletter dedicated to news and technical information about the spam and anti-spam arena launched.

2 December 2004

Spam-reporting trial

Australia's latest anti-spam initiative

1 December 2004

Australia to protect critical computer systems

Vulnerability assessment for country's critical infrastructure systems

30 November 2004

Spam survey

Do women hate spam more than men? Are humans better at identifying spam than computers? Make your contribution to (anti-)spam research...

29 November 2004

Lycos turns hippy on spam

'Make love not spam'

29 November 2004

Standardised malware naming for the new year

An end to the virus-naming problem?

25 November 2004

Latest VGrep

The latest version of the virus name lookup tool - VGrep, is now available.

22 November 2004

Most spammed

Think you've got it bad? Spare a thought for Bill.

19 November 2004

29A virus writer sentenced

Member of notorious virus-writing group found guilty.

18 November 2004

Latest VGrep

The latest version of the virus name lookup tool - VGrep, is now available.

05 November 2004

Dial a detection

Guidance issued on how to deal with rogue Internet diallers ('porn diallers')

29 October 2004

Spam becomes a collectors' item

British man sets up his own Museum of Spam.

29 October 2004

Phishy goings on

Fewer than five zombie network operators are responsible for all Internet phishing attacks worldwide according to CipherTrust...

29 October 2004

November issue released

The Virus Bulletin November issue is on its way.

29 October 2004

Storms put the wind up spammers

Significant decline in the volume of spam messages seen in the days immediately following the three recent hurricanes.

29 October 2004

Spam gets the sniffles

Spammers seize the opportunity to cash in on the US flu vaccine problem.

28 October 2004

Trial of virus writer postponed

Sasser author made to wait.

26 October 2004

Sender ID specification revised

Microsoft has another stab at getting its email authentication protocol approved.

26 October 2004

RSS activated

Virus Bulletin RSS feeds revamped and live again.

18 October 2004

Action plan on spam

15 countries sign up to international action plan on spam.

13 October 2004

Online 'museum' displays collection of the finest spam...

As if you haven't already seen enough...

13 October 2004

Top ten security urban legends revealed

Most common cyber security myths unveiled as part of Cyber Security Month.

12 October 2004

FTC sues spyware outfit

US government begins crack down on spyware.

11 October 2004

Conference photos

Take a look at the VB2004 conference photos

07 October 2004

Another successful VB conference

Over 330 delegates and a collection of interesting and informative speakers. Take a look at the photos

05 October 04

Another successful VB conference

With over 330 delegates and a collection of interesting and informative speakers, VB2004 was a great success.

04 October 2004

MessageLabs teams up with Symantec

Companies collaborate to provide anti-spam services.

02 September 2004

Symantec to block phishing

Symantec announces new service to help stop phishing scams

24 September 2004

Governments urged to do more to combat cybercrime

The Council of Europe's 2001 Cybercrime Convention has been signed by 30 countries, but is only law in eight of these.

23 September 2004

IETF rejects sender ID

The Internet Engineering Task Force has rejected Microsoft's preferred anti-spam specification.

23 September 2004

Correction

VB regrets that an error slipped through the editorial net in the August 2004 Netware comparative review.

22 September 2004

Increase in infections for chinese

87.9% Thats the number of malware infected computer users in China, according to their Minister of Public Security.

21 September 2004

Symantec Buys Again

The AV company that never seems to stop buying, reveals its latest purchase.

20 September 2004

The bounty hunters are here

US Federal Trade Commission says the US government must be generous with its rewards if it decides to encourage 'bounty hunters' to track down email spammers

20 September 2004

Phish it yourself

Do-it-yourself phishing kits are available free of charge to anyone surfing the Internet.

31 August 2004

Virginian law is constitutional

US judge rules Virginia’s anti-spam law is constitutional.

27 August 2004

Chinese internet firm suspended

One-year suspension issued to mobile phone picture services supplier as punishment for carrying out unsolicited marketing.

26 August 2004

Security of hash functions called into question

The encryption field was thrown into a frenzy at the end of last month when the security of hash functions MD5, SHA-0 and SHA-1 was called into question.

23 August 2004

Verizon sues SMS spammers

Despite there currently being no US laws regarding SMS spam.

18 August 2004

CA buys PestPatrol

CA splashes out on anti-spyware technology.

17 August 2004

McAfee to buy Foundstone

McAfee splashes out on vulnerability management.

16 August 2004

XP SP2 wreaks havoc with AV

XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) establishes stronger security settings that help defend against viruses, hackers and worms.

15 August 2004

Guilty as charged

Teen admits to distributing Blaster variant.

12 August 2004

Two victories, a settlement and a reduction in spam

A promising month in the fight against spam.

10 August 2004

Spammers brought to justice

Prosecutions made in Denmark, USA and India.

28 July 2004

Mydoom.O

Latest Mydoom variant causes problems for Google.

26 July 2004

Probation for Magold author

Magold author sentenced, Finnish Lasku author arrested.

25 July 2004

Spammer to pay $40,000

Spam King agrees to settlement with NY State.

22 July 2004

Two victories, a settlement and a reduction in spam

Despite there currently being no US laws regarding SMS spam.

21 July 2004

McAfee plans move to Ireland

Emerald Isle lures another AV firm.

21 July 2004

Virus in your pocket

Latest proof-of-concept virus affects Pocket PC.

20 July 2004

Court victory for Microsoft

Spammer ordered to pay $4 million damages to Microsoft.

16 July 2004

Bumper quarter for Symantec

Profits more than doubled since last year.

15 July 2004

AOL employee colludes with spammers

AOL victim of inside job.

8 July 2004

UN to curb spam within two years

UN aims to bring spam under control by 2007.

07 July 2004

The world from an email marketer's point of view

Spam King Scott Richter says he is "out to make the Internet a better place with email marketing" .

07 July 2004

International pact to fight spam

Countries join forces to declare war on spam.

05 July 2004

Magold teen on probation

Hungarian virus writer convicted.

02 July 2004

Patent filed for voice spam blocking technology

Technology to stamp out Internet telephony spam.

29 June 2004

SMS spammer arrested

First Russian to be sentenced for sending spam.

29 June 2004

Gates urges users to turn on auto-update

Microsoft chief says users must play their part in cutting down virus combat time.

28 June 2004

7 steps to a spam-free existence?

"Stunning" survey results lead to seven-step guide.

28 June 2004

AV going mobile

Mobile providers clamour to become the first to offer AV protection for mobile phones.

27 June 2004

Microsoft issues advice about critical vulnerability

Apply your patches and update your AV software.

25 June 2004

AOL victim of inside spam job

AOL employee arrested.

24 June 2004

ISPs take responsibility

The six major ISPs of the Anti-Spam Technical Alliance say spam cannot be stopped unless they take action.

23 June 2004

Microsoft to buy NAI?

Rumours abound. NAI CEO denies them.

22 June 2004

Obituary: Marek Sell

On 12 June 2004 Marek Sell, creator of the Polish MkS_Vir anti-virus, died. Aleksander Czarnowksi looks back.

20 June 2004

AV going mobile

Mobile providers clamour to become the first to offer AV protection for mobile phones.

19 June 2004

Sasser author jobseeking

Gis' a job! Name: Sven Jaschan. Age: 18. Previous work experience: creating and distributing Internet worm(s).

18 June 2004

FTC says no to 'Do Not Spam'

A 'Do Not Spam' list could actually increase spam levels, says FTC.

16 June 2004

Microsoft AV still on track

Not forgotten...

16 June 2004

Virus calling

First mobile phone worm discovered.

15 June 2004

More spammers sued

Microsoft throws its weight around against spammers

11 June 2004

Virus cost MOD £10 million

Ministry of Defence reveals Lovgate found a weakness in its defences

9 June 2004

Hormel halts Spam King in his tracks

No 'Spam King' clothing line for Richter.

17 June 2004

DIY do not spam

Chicago businessman takes matters into his own hands

2 June 2004

Taiwanese Trojan writer arrested

Suspect not a teenager for a change.

28 May 2004

German government spammed

Government email systems overwhelmed

27 May 2004

Legislation: NZ makes a move

New Zealand government moves toward anti-spam legislation

27 May 2004

Cajun spammer tells it like it is

Straight talking spammer

23 May 2004

Spend, spend, spend for Symantec

Anti-spam company to become AV vendor's latest purchase

20 May 2004

Buying and selling

Trend buys back shares, Sybari prepares to sell

13 May 2004

No rest for German police

Arrest of suspected Sasser author, arrest of suspected Phatbot author and questioning of five more suspects - all within the space of 7 days.

13 May 2004

SpamCop at receiving end of a restraining order

Venerable spam reporting outfit SpamCop has had a restraining order granted against it on behalf of alleged spammer OptInRealBig.com.

12 May 2004

Spam on the catwalk

Spammer extraordinaire launches own clothing line

6 May 2004

Figures and fluctuations

Dips, increases and the cost of dealing with spam

6 May 2004

Law and order

Spamming set to become illegal in the Netherlands and other legislative news...

5 June 2004

NAI reverts to McAfee

Network Associates Inc. (NAI) to streamline and adopt (not so) new name.

5 May 2004

Call for papers: AVAR 2004

AVAR calls for papers

02 May 2004

Business news

Acquisitions and new product lines

28 April 2004

Symantec vulnerabilities

eEye reports four new Symantec vulnerabilities

20 April 2004

Business news

Acquisitions and new product lines

18 April 2004

New sentencing, new legislation

United States Sentencing Commission gets busy...

1 April 2004

No bull?

Eset vs. BullGuard

01 April 2004

Shrinking violets

Consolidation in the anti-spam industry

1 April 2004

Patent for Postini

Postini wins U.S. patent for email filtering

31 March 2004

Roll up, roll up

AOL raffles spammer's Porsche

30 March 2004

New kid on the certification block

CheckVir starts certification program

28 March 2004

A bit of R&R

Man. Loves. His. Spam. No really.

21 March 2004

News summary

AMD introduces hardware-level AV protection

19 March 2004

Fine for dialler spam

UK watchdog fines US company for sending spam

1 March 2004

ISPs refile lawsuits

AOL and EarthLink refile suits against spammers

1 March 2004

SMS spam goes down Down Under

Anti-spam code of conduct proves successful

1 March 2004

Errata: Windows NT comparative review

After re-testing, Alwil's AVAST! product gains a VB 100% award.

28 February 2004

China sets deadline for spammers

China blacklists offending IP addresses

22 February 2004

News summary

Microsoft source-code leak; Gigabyte arrested; Israelis, Egyptians and Trojans; weddings delayed in Thailand.

16 February 2004

Plans, acquisitions and royalty

NAI makes plans, Symantec acquires software manufacturer, Sophos receives royal visitors

15 February 2004

Gigabyte arrested

Well known female virus writer arrested. Finally.

14 February 2004

More core wars

Virus vs virus - new Welchia variant seeks to destroy Mydoom.

12 February 2004

News summary

MyDoom soap opera continues, hacker sentenced, Bill Gates' anti-spam crusade

03 February 2004

News summary

Why technical writing is best left to technical journalists, Netcraft monitors SCO, and February's VB magazine

02 February 2004

Congressional attack on inboxes

US Congressional representatives send bulk email

29 January 2004

An end to 419 spam?

Nigerian government takes action.

29 January 2004

MyDoom, YourDoom, OurDoom

SCO offers a bounty for the arrest of the MyDoom author, Bruce Perens offers a conspiracy theory...

28 January 2004

Divine intervention

AV on a spiritual level

25 January 2004

Waiting, reflecting and removing

Microsoft reports success of Blaster removal tool

23 January 2004

News summary...

Blaster (variant) author charged, AhnLab warns against complacency, India launches CERT-In, more on monoculture, and what's new in the spam world...

20 January 2004

Email coaching for marketers

DMA releases quick-glance reference guide for email marketers.

15 January 2004

Ahnlab partners with Sina.com

Ahnlab gets major ASP deal in China.

13 January 2004

Security-conscious processors

AMD and Intel prep technology to prevent buffer overflows at the hardware level.

12 January 2004

Weekend round-up

Narrowband blues, 2004 predictions, VeriSign scuttles Symantec, Dloader/Xombie

12 January 2004

US and UK spam legislation in place

Anti-spam legislation in place.

29 December 2003

Number crunching

Calculating the average cost of a virus attack - estimates or guesstimates?

19 December 2003

SAS - the SysAsmin Service?

Computer security experts prepare to become special constables.

18 December 2003

Seasonal spamming

Increase in spam in lead up to holiday season.

01 December 2003

Seasonal spamming

Increase in spam in lead up to holiday season.

01 December 2003

SpamCop snapped up

IronPort Systems to purchase SpamCop

01 December 2003

SpamCop snapped up

IronPort Systems to purchase SpamCop

1 December 2003

VB2004 call for papers

Virus Bulletin calls for all speakers papers.

05 January 2004

The menace within

Is BitDefender really staffed by Romanian vampire hackers...?

04 November 2003

Unanimous vote for CAN-SPAM Act

US Senate approves federal anti-spam legislation.

01 November 2003

New VB Spam Supplement

VB plans to present a selection of news and articles on spam and anti-spam techniques - some technical, some ethical, some relating to real-world experiences of dealing with spam.

01 November 2003

Unanimous vote for CAN-SPAM Act

US Senate approves federal anti-spam legislation.

1 November 2003

Totally Toronto: VB2003

Helen Martin recounts the Virus Bulletin conference.

30 October 2003

Linux vs. Windows viruses: a rebuttal

Pete Sergeant responds to an article by a SecurityFocus columnist, which hints that Linux users really don't need to worry about viruses.

06 October 2003

Four arrests and a congressional hearing

US Congress starts to take computer security seriously, four alleged malware writers arrested...

30 September 2003

Youth faces arrest for Blaster variant

Teenager suspected of creating Blaster variant faces arrest.

29 August 2003

Watching and waiting for Sobig

On 22 August 2003 anti-virus experts and sysadmins worldwide waited to discover what events, if any, would unfold when Sobig.F began a synchronized attack.

26 August 2003

Symantec acquires Hilgraeve patent

Symantec pays $62.5m for a software patent, considers litigation against infringing competitors.

19 August 2003

No more Mr Nice Guy: UK gets tough on hi-tech criminals

Welsh virus-writer shown justice, not mercy

01 August 2003

The big wait

Will Microsoft's second attempt at entering the anti-virus field result in the 'vast shake-up' of the AV industry that was expected last time?

01 July 2003

Canadian retreat

Ontario plays host to VB2003 and NTBugtraq Retreat.

01 July 2003

School without thought - your thoughts

Your thoughts on the University of Calgary's proposals to teach virus writing in its course on computer viruses and malware.

30 June 2003

Microsoft buys into AV

Microsoft announces acquisition of anti-virus technology.

10 June 2003

School without thought

University course teaches students to write malware.

01 June 2003

Military intelligence

US Army gets serious about anti-virus.

10 April 2003

Same old, same old

Virus writers plead stupidity...

02 April 2003

Security in the classroom

Microsoft supporting secure code initiative at University of Leeds

01 April 2003

Lighter sentences for virus writers?

A US report claims that sentences for computer-related crimes are too harsh.

03 March 2003

Anti-virus for Lindows

Lindows teams up with Central Command to sell Linux anti-virus - a step in the right direction, but perhaps not far enough...

20 February 2003

Symantec press release backfires

Watch out for your marketing department...

17 February 2003

VB2003 programme announced

Details of the VB2003 conference programme announced ...

05 February 2003

Calling all speakers

Submit your papers for VB2003 now!

04 February 2003

Calling all speakers

Submit your papers for VB2003 now!

04 February 2003

Standing up for free speech

NAI lands itself a hefty fine...

03 February 2003

Two years for three viruses

Author of Gokar, Redesi and Admirer jailed for two years.

01 February 2003

Virus writers get a helping hand

Two organizations send viruses to mailing list subscribers...

23 Jan 2003

W32/B(e)agle

VB predicts: 'Beagle's bark worse than its bite', 'Beware of Bagles in the morning', 'The Beagle has landed', ad nauseam.

19 January 2003

News summary...

Trend estimates $5b virus damage in 2003, monoculture blues, Symantec 'reels from week of mishaps', more MiMail, and more...

16 January 2003

Microsoft rights management

What digital and information rights management may mean for the industry.

14 January 2003

RIAA worm

RIAA allegedly buying worms to stop P2P piracy

14 Jan 2003

Anti anti anti

NAI buys DeerSoft Inc., manufacturer of SpamAssassin Pro - confusion assured ...

07 Jan 2003

Lessons to be Learned

Proving that mistakes can happen to us all, it seems that W32/Winevar.A was not the only virus 'story' to have arisen from the AVAR 2002 conference in Korea.

03 January 2003

A Happy New Year

In a cheery end-of-year message, mi2g has made ten security predictions for 2003.

02 January 2003

Stocks, viruses and a disgruntled employee

A systems administrator has been charged with attempting to manipulate a company's stock price by introducing a virus into its computer system.

18 December 2002

Stocking Fillers

It's that time of year again when we're frantically scouring the shopping malls for something unique and meaningful to give to our loved ones. Coincidentally, it's also that time of year when VB turns out its stock cupboards and puts some truly fabulous merchandise up for grabs.

04 December 2002

Addendum: Windows 2000 Advanced Server Comparative Review

After re-testing, Trend's ServerProtect product gains a VB 100% award.

01 December 2002

Some thoughts on ViraLock

We examine ViraLock, a product which promises 'Zero Escape For Email Viruses', provided, it seems, the virus plays by their rules.

25 November 2002

Who's There?

New security portal unveiled by publishers of Information Security Bulletin magazine.

23 November 2002

Paying the Price

McAfee Security issues press release estimating the potential costs to businesses of 'the next big virus attack'

22 November 2002

Writer of virus trio in court

A British man has appeared in court charged with the creation and distribution of a trio of mass-mailing viruses: Gokar, Redesi and Admirer.

13 November 2002

'Kournikova' writer loses appeal

Reports are that Jan de Wit, author of the 'Kournikova' virus (VBSWG variant) has lost his appeal against 150 hours of community service.

29 October 2002

With friends like these...

A nuisance email which is neither viral nor a hoax is proving to be equally bothersome.

24 October 2002

Addendum: June 2002 Windows XP Comparative Review

F-Prot users relying on the on-access protection against W32/Nimda.A are safe

24 October 2002

Moth-eaten software...

A warning issued by Israeli security firm GreyMagic Software last month revealed a total of nine vulnerabilities in IE 5.5 and 6.0, all concerning object caching.

22 October 2002

Service or bust

So confident is Trend Micro of its virus detection abilities that it is offering a financial penalty-backed detection guarantee.

08 October 2002

Viruses - Some Good

Just occasionally, a virus infection can have some positive effects...

10 September 2002

Bring on the DEET

The latest award for the most tenuous product-pushing story goes to BitDefender, whose marketeers claim a 'mosquito-borne disease could easily become a computer infection.'

03 September 2002

Virtually There

The Infosecurity show and exhibition has gone virtual with the launch of the first Infosecurity World Online exhibition. But where are the sweets?

01 September 2002

The youth of today...

Five Israeli teenagers have been charged in connection with writing and disseminating W32/Goner.

06 August 2002

Bugs galore

Symantec's acquisition of SecurityFocus last month has unsettled a number of contributors to the BugTraq vulnerability list. So much so that they created a new one.

05 August 2002

Third time unlucky

NAI's third attempt to re-acquire McAfee.com was scuppered yesterday when 96% of McAfee.com shareholders rejected NAI's latest exchange offer for McAfee.com shares.

01 August 2002

Retail Therapy

Symantec has been on a blow-out shopping spree...

01 August 2002

Erratum: Windows XP comparative review: McAfee VirusScan

After re-testing, McAfee's VirusScan product gains a VB 100% award.

29 August 2002

Quarter byte squaw?

Worryingly, many sysadmins seemed unaware both of the Apache 'chunked encoding' bug and of their systems' vulnerability...

01 July 2002

Crying wolf revisited

While one AV vendor comes in for a roasting, the others enjoy the rare taste of the moral high ground.

01 July 2002

Windows XP Professional comparative review

After re-testing, Panda Antivirus Platinum's on-access scanner product gains a VB 100% award.

28 June 2002

Shakira cynicism

As reports begin to appear of the latest VBSWG variant climbing prevalence tables, VB has received a particularly relevant comment from sys-admin Scott Francis.

07 June 2002

As complex as Euler's formula

IT news website Slashdot's report of Simile's cross-platform capabilities was met with the usual host of ill-informed, biased and naïve comments from users of the site.

05 June 2002

Outraged of Slovakia

Is there really any need to include virus samples in product tests? CNET seems to think it's not worth the bother.

23 May 2002

Closed source sauce

Microsoft has claimed that open source software threatens security - unlike proprietary software such as its own SQL Server, currently playing vector to a new worm.

22 May 2002

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