Tag: china
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VB2019 paper: Pulling the PKPLUG: the adversary playbook for the long-standing espionage activity of a Chinese nation state adversary
PKPLUG is the name used by Palo Alto Networks ’ Unit 42 team for a China-based threat actor engaged in cyber espionage. The actor uses both off-the-shelf and custom-made malware and some of its infrastructure overlaps with other threat groups. The group’s activities were detailed in a VB2019 paper by Unit 42 ’s Alex Hinchliffe,…
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VB2019 paper: Exploring the Chinese DDoS landscape
China has long been a hotbed of DDoS activities, with several groups operating in this space and attacks being performed that are criminal in nature but also that are in line with the country’s geopolitical interests. In a paper presented a VB2019 in London, Intezer researcher Nacho Sanmillan explored the Chinese DDoS threat landscape. In…
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Conference review: AVAR 2017
The first week of December was packed with security conferences, and VB2017 speakers were busy presenting their research at no fewer than four different events: FIRST in Prague, Black Hat Europe in London, Botconf in Montpellier, and AVAR in Beijing. Security researchers were spoilt for choice, and while other members of the VB team headed…
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Conference review: AVAR 2017
The first week of December was packed with security conferences, and VB2017 speakers were busy presenting their research at no fewer than four different events: FIRST in Prague, Black Hat Europe in London, Botconf in Montpellier, and AVAR in Beijing. Security researchers were spoilt for choice, and while other members of the VB team headed…
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By removing VPNs from its Chinese App Store, Apple turns its biggest security asset against its users
A little over a month ago, Apple ‘s iPhone celebrated its tenth birthday. The iPhone has been one of the biggest commercial success stories ever, but it has also been a great success from a security point of view: malware targeting its iOS operating system remains extremely rare. iPhone is 10 years old today. After…
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By removing VPNs from its Chinese App Store, Apple turns its biggest security asset against its users
A little over a month ago, Apple ‘s iPhone celebrated its tenth birthday. The iPhone has been one of the biggest commercial success stories ever, but it has also been a great success from a security point of view: malware targeting its iOS operating system remains extremely rare. iPhone is 10 years old today. After…
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Small Talks return to the Virus Bulletin Conference
VB2015 was the 25th Virus Bulletin conference and, to celebrate the occasion, we added a third stream to the programme. Dubbed “Small Talks”, these talks were longer than those on the regular programme and took place in a smaller room, which allowed for a more informal discussion. Various subjects were covered, ranging from targeted attacks…
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Small Talks return to the Virus Bulletin Conference
VB2015 was the 25th Virus Bulletin conference and, to celebrate the occasion, we added a third stream to the programme. Dubbed “Small Talks”, these talks were longer than those on the regular programme and took place in a smaller room, which allowed for a more informal discussion. Various subjects were covered, ranging from targeted attacks…
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WireLurker malware infects iOS devices through OS X
Non-jailbroken devices infected via enterprise provisioning program. Researchers at Palo Alto Networks have published a research paper ( PDF ) analysing the ‘WireLurker’ malware that runs on Mac OS X , and which is then used to further infect iOS devices connected to an infected machine. WireLurker is found to have infected 467 apps on…
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Hundreds of APTs linked to Chinese Army department
‘Unit 61398’ employs hundreds of people. A new report by security firm Mandiant links a large number of cyber-espionage cases to a department of the Chinese army. The report is far from the first to point to China as the source of many targeted attacks. However, it would be too easy to dismiss the report…