Most sophisticated technique of the year goes to…

Kalpesh Mantri (Quick Heal)
partner message

ANY.RUN - Interactive malware analysis sandbox

http://any.run/

Get fast results in real-time! Intuitive interface. Convenient for any level analysts.

Join for free and start your malware hunting!

partner message

Avira Cloud Sandbox API. Completely private, unlimited-scale, automated malware analysis service

https://oem.avira.com/en/solutions/cloud-sandbox-api

Avira’s Cloud Sandbox API is built to ensure data privacy.

Receive detailed, file-specific threat intelligence reports containing actionable intelligence.

Supports MITRE ATT&CK™ framework.

partner message

Do APT Mercenary Groups Pose Real Threat to Companies?

https://businessresources.bitdefender.com/apt-as-a-service-webinar

Learn about the recent Bitdefender investigation of a new attack attributed to a sophisticated actor offering advanced-persistent-threats-as-a-service.

Access the investigation

partner message

Be a part of the cyber resilience story - explore careers at

https://careers.opentext.com/

Join the cybersecurity and data protection team at Carbonite + Webroot, OpenText companies.

partner message

We don’t just talk about sharing. We do it every day

https://www.cyberthreatalliance.org/our-sharing-model/

Find out more about how threat intelligence sharing and collaboration through the Cyber Threat Alliance can function as a force multiplier to improve defenses across the ecosystem.

partner message

Map Malicious Infrastructures with Pure Signal™ Intelligence

https://partners.team-cymru.com/pure-signal-trial

Elite analyst teams use Team Cymru’s Pure Signal platform to access 50+ data types, including global network flow, PDNS, malware and more.

Start your 2-week trial now!

partner message

What is cyber threat intelligence (CTI) and how is it used?

Join the VB2020 Threat Intelligence Practitioners’ Summit (TIPS)

Join the VB2020 Threat Intelligence Practitioners’ Summit, sponsored by the Cyber Threat Alliance,

to hear from leading industry voices on how CTI sharing can function as a force multiplier to strengthen defenses across the ecosystem.

partner message

Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal - find cyberthreats in files, URLs, IPs and domains

https://opentip.kaspersky.com/

Know which alerts or incidents pose real threats, and prioritize them fast and effectively based on impact and risk levels.

partner message

No-Cost Threat Detection for ISPs and Hosting Providers

https://partners.team-cymru.com/nimbus-threat-monitor

Partner with Team Cymru and get near-real-time threat detection, powered by our world-class IP Reputation data.

Join us now!

partner message

Outsource your Unwanted Software/PUA Work for Free

https://appesteem.com/avs

AppEsteem’s feeds sort out the good apps from the Deceptors.

Our criteria are widely accepted. We’ll help with your disputes.

All for Free. Giving you more time to fight real malware.

partner message

Do you want to know how IT security products score in independent tests?

https://www.av-comparatives.org/enterprise/latest-tests/

AV-Comparatives is an ISO certified independent organization offering systematic testing that checks whether security software lives up to its promises.

Results are available for free!

partner message

Defeating Application Fraud - Learn How

https://www.shapesecurity.com/solutions

We protect more accounts from fraud than everyone else in the world combined.

Shape Security is now part of F5 (www.f5.com)

partner message

30+ years of experience in the anti-malware industry

www.virusbulletin.com

Virus Bulletin is so much more than just a great conference.

Check out our website to see what more we have to offer.

partner message

DNSDB®: The DNS Super Power for Security Teams

https://www.farsightsecurity.com/get-started-guide/

Farsight Security DNSDB®: the world's largest real-time and historical database of DNS resolutions.

Get your free DNSDB API key and use it in our newly updated web GUI, DNSDB Scout and your own environments.

Contextualize everything DNS related with one API key - DNSDB.

partner message

Tired of home office and in urgent need of some networking?

https://www.amtso.org/newsletter/

Join the AMTSO community and meet security vendors, testers, journalists, and researchers to discuss cybersecurity trends, tests and standards!

2019, as has been the case in the recent past, was again full of new malware campaigns and APT attack discoveries. Some were discovered for the first time, while many others made a comeback. We have been tracking such attacks for several years and have observed a variety of techniques being used in them.

In this talk we will share a few highly sophisticated techniques used by attackers that have helped the attacks to stay undetected for years. These techniques are not very prevalent at this point; however, we suspect more and more attacks to adopt them in the future.

This paper will focus on some highly sophisticated techniques used in malware campaigns and APTs in 2019. In this talk I will discuss the following techniques/attacks:

  • An APT actor was found communicating with command-and-control servers over VPN. This APT was able to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) as well!

  • Inbuilt, but somewhat obscure Windows commands and educational proof-of-concept tools that can be used to execute malware. These tricks may be used by threat actors as they bypass security alerts. Should the defender community proactively hunt for these educational POCs?

  • Are password managers safe? Should we use any? They are increasingly being targeted by threat actors to steal credentials.

  • We will explore how a ransomware group is using Wake-on-LAN (WoL) feature to increase monetization of infections.

  • Web skimmers started using a retired technique called steganography and are still successfully evading security solutions. Would this technique help exploit kits to make a comeback in 2020?

During the talk, I will share insights on the techniques used in these attacks and will discuss the questions called out above. This paper’s intent is to bring these sophisticated techniques to defenders’ attention so that we all can work on proactively blocking attacks that use them.
Kalpesh Mantri
Quick Heal Kalpesh Mantri currently works on hunting APTs and improving EDR products for Quick Heal Security Labs. Kalpesh has more than seven years of experience in the malware reversing and threat hunting domain. He has spoken at security conferences including AVAR and CARO. Previously he worked for Intel Security Labs (now McAfee) and and for Mindtree (in the Microsoft Windows Defender team).
arrow left Back

Most sophisticated technique of the year goes to…

Kalpesh Mantri (Quick Heal)
2019, as has been the case in the recent past, was again full of new malware campaigns and APT attack discoveries. Some were discovered for the first time, while many others made a comeback. We have been tracking such attacks for several years and have observed a variety of techniques being used in them.

In this talk we will share a few highly sophisticated techniques used by attackers that have helped the attacks to stay undetected for years. These techniques are not very prevalent at this point; however, we suspect more and more attacks to adopt them in the future.

This paper will focus on some highly sophisticated techniques used in malware campaigns and APTs in 2019. In this talk I will discuss the following techniques/attacks:

  • An APT actor was found communicating with command-and-control servers over VPN. This APT was able to bypass two-factor authentication (2FA) as well!

  • Inbuilt, but somewhat obscure Windows commands and educational proof-of-concept tools that can be used to execute malware. These tricks may be used by threat actors as they bypass security alerts. Should the defender community proactively hunt for these educational POCs?

  • Are password managers safe? Should we use any? They are increasingly being targeted by threat actors to steal credentials.

  • We will explore how a ransomware group is using Wake-on-LAN (WoL) feature to increase monetization of infections.

  • Web skimmers started using a retired technique called steganography and are still successfully evading security solutions. Would this technique help exploit kits to make a comeback in 2020?

During the talk, I will share insights on the techniques used in these attacks and will discuss the questions called out above. This paper’s intent is to bring these sophisticated techniques to defenders’ attention so that we all can work on proactively blocking attacks that use them.
Kalpesh Mantri
Quick Heal Kalpesh Mantri currently works on hunting APTs and improving EDR products for Quick Heal Security Labs. Kalpesh has more than seven years of experience in the malware reversing and threat hunting domain. He has spoken at security conferences including AVAR and CARO. Previously he worked for Intel Security Labs (now McAfee) and and for Mindtree (in the Microsoft Windows Defender team).