Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Virus Did It

Posted by michael on from the dangers-of-running-insecure-operating-systems dept.

scubacuda writes "The Inquirer and Get Reading report that a UK man accused of having pornographic pictures of kids on his computer was acquitted after a court heard that his machine was infected with a Trojan on his PC which probably auto-downloaded the images. (In light of moves like Operation Ore, we'll probably hear more defenses like this.)"

4 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. What's the Point... by Valthonis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...of making a virus that downloads child pr0n onto a remote computer? I thought virii were created to wreak havoc, not frame random computer users... or am I wrong? And furthermore, if a jury can believe this defense, what's to keep all the imminent RIAA and MPAA suits from being defused by the same argument? FIRST POST! WOO!!

    --
    "Life in every breath... that is bushido"
  2. Sounded fishy at first... by Hee+Hee+Hee · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This sounded fishy at first, until I saw
    "The specialist found the day before the images were downloaded the program was implemented, so there's a direct correlation between them,"
    in the second article cited. Kinda makes you want to update your virus detection/bot detection/firewall/etc, doesn't it?
    --
    - Bill
  3. It's possible. I've seen it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    2001-12-25 02:34:02 Porn trojan virus? (articles,security) (rejected)

    I've seen and disinfected a laptop of a friend who was infected with a virus that downloaded porn pages in the background whenever he connected to the internet. I guess it was to collect link credits. His history and cache would fill up with porn crap and he claimed to not be visiting the sites. At first I didn't believe him (obviously) and was surprised when I saw the behavior for myself. Beware!

  4. My experience� by (H)elix1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I see a lot of comments about - wink, wink - sure it was the virus, or dumb ass for executing a Trojan.

    My first lesson with an improperly configured Linux box outside the firewall was when my ISP called asking about some insane bandwidth use. What? I checked the box and it seemed fine. Found out the traffic was on FTP, which I was not using. Sure enough, tons of porn and other files were getting uploaded and downloaded... all the files in a hidden directory. The box was owned, and I ended up rebuilding from scratch, this time leaving services off I did not actually use and patching some of the services I did. Than I discovered ssh and a few other key insights that were new to me.

    I cannot believe I am the only one this kind of thing happened to...

    --
    +++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU