2008-05-01
Abstract
Online banking call to arms (comment); Algorithms for grouping similar samples in malware analysis (feature); Metamorphic authorship recognition using Markov models (feature); Blended malware defence (opinion); eEye Digital Security Blink Professional 4.0 (product review)
Comment
Online banking call to arms
'Banking organizations have failed to pledge that they will stop sending emails that add to the confusion.' Helen Martin, Virus Bulletin
News
Malware gets terms of use
Malware package distributed with EULA.
Grand theft personal information
Scammers exploit release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Malware prevalence report
March 2008
The Virus Bulletin prevalence table is compiled monthly from virus reports received by Virus Bulletin; both directly, and from other companies who pass on their statistics.
Features
Algorithms for grouping similar samples in malware analysis
Malware researchers are frequently faced with huge collections of files that must be analysed to determine whether or not they are malware. In such situations, grouping the files according to their binary similarity can save time and effort. Víctor Álvarez discusses the algorithms that can be used to make the life of the malware researcher easier.
Metamorphic authorship recognition using Markov models
Automated code morphing techniques can make malware recognition difficult. In this article researchers at the University of Lafayette propose a method that can be used to decide whether a binary is a variant of a known item of metamorphic malware by treating the morphing engine as an author.
Opinion
Blended malware defence
It's a well known problem in the security industry that the time taken to get a sample to the vendor, through analysis and finally to distribute detection updates to clients, can still be much longer than it takes for the malware itself to spread. Morton Swimmer describes how the convergence of various security technologies can help accomplish the goal of spreading the cure faster than the disease.
Product review
eEye Digital Security Blink Professional 4.0
John Hawes takes an in-depth look at the security features of eEye Digital Security's Blink Professional and finds a solid package with impressive breadth of power.
Calendar
Anti-malware industry events
Must-attend events in the anti-malware industry - dates, locations and further details.
Spam Bulletin
Spam Supplement - May 2008
Anti-spam news; Delivering reliable protection against phishing websites (feature)
Poll
Should anti-virus software be free for personal use?Leave a comment
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VB2009
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