Virus Bulletin - May 2013


Editor: Helen Martin

Technical Consultant: John Hawes

Technical Editor: Morton Swimmer

Consulting Editors: Ian Whalley, Nick FitzGerald, Richard Ford, Edward Wilding

2013-05-03


Comment

Botnets of the mind

‘Hoaxers ... use a form of memetic malware (‘viruses of the mind’) in order to reprogram system users.' David Harley, ESET.

David Harley - ESET, UK

News

Security firms form new EU CERT

European security firms join forces to form the largest CERT provision in Europe.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

ACLU files complaint against mobile carriers

Complaint lodged against mobile phone carriers for failing to warn users about Android security flaws.

Helen Martin - Virus Bulletin, UK

Malware prevalence report

March 2013

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.


Malware analyses

Read the Transcript

Metamorphism seems to be the holy grail for virus writers in general. The assumption is that it is more difficult for an anti-virus engine to detect a metamorphic virus than it is to detect a ‘lesser’ virus. As a result, there have been attempts to implement metamorphism on multiple platforms, the latest of which is JavaScript. Peter Ferrie has the details of JS/Transcript.

Peter Ferrie - Microsoft, USA

A good look at the Andromeda botnet

The Andromeda bot is flexible and dynamic. Its modular structure allows it to enhance its abilities in different fields simply by installing different modules. He Xu takes a close look at the Andromeda botnet.

He Xu - Fortinet, Canada

Persistency in the wild

Strong encryption and sophisticated algorithms are not necessarily what make a piece of malware persistent. Rather, it is the use of a cocktail of techniques that ensures the longevity of malware in the wild. Raul Alvarez looks at some of the techniques used by W32/Kolab.

Raul Alvarez - Fortinet, Canada

Technical Feature

Cat-and-mouse game in CVE 2012-0158

Ruhai Zhang takes a look at the cat-and-mouse game of exploit samples, focusing on the widely used CVE-2012-0158 vulnerability.

Ruhai Zhang - Fortinet, China

Comparative review

VBSpam comparative review May 2013

This month's VBSpam test showed an upturn in average spam catch rates after the decline seen earlier in the year - with 19 out of 20 full solutions earning VBSpam certification. The test also highlighted the fact that spam sent from web hosts poses a bigger challenge for most filters than spam sent from other sources. Martijn Grooten has the details.

Martijn Grooten - Virus Bulletin, UK

Calendar

Anti-malware industry events

Must-attend events in the anti-malware industry - dates, locations and further details.


 

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