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70% Of 2004 Virus Activity Down To One Man
arpy writes "According to a report produced by anti-virus software provider Sophos, 70% of anti-virus activity in the first half of this year can be blamed on Sven Jaschan, an 18-year-old German who wrote the Netsky and Sasser worms. According to the report, "Sasser claimed the top spot of the virus chart, in spite of the raging battle between the widespread Netsky and Bagle worms." The Register has a good summary of the report."
Like his mother? IIRC, he wrote these viruses to increase revenue for his mother's computer consulting business....
I don't know about that. In the martial arts classes I go to most people are typical nerds. They look the part too, but you should see them move while fighting.
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No that has been a phatbot infection.
This poor guy may have been arrested for the development of Netsky/Sasser but according to several IT-Newspapers in germany he was not the only one who was developing them. There were some backings and partners who may have made him their scapegoat although these are mainly rumors.
This guy has also been blamed for phatbot although that one was developed by a different person meanwhile arrested (which at some time in the past had made contact to the Netsky Author)
Jeff
"...one of Jaschan's schoolfriends revealed the worm author's identity to Microsoft."
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/netskyher o.html
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
You DO NOT speak Latin. Stop making up words. There is no plural tu the latin word virus. It means "poison", the plural of which is "much poison" (notice the absence of an s) in most contexts.
Even if it had a Latin plural, it would not be "virIi". That would be the plural of "virIus" which doesn't exist. It cannot be "viri" either, as this is the nominative plural of "vir" (man).
How on earth must one believe that a worm works (or think that one's readers believe that a worm works) in order for them make such a statement?
I suspect a lot of people think they all get sent directly by the person who wrote them, and that they are somehow under his control.
But to be honest, I don't think most pepole actually think about how computer programs work at all. They just do.
It's like when I wrote a chess playing program as an exercise. I showed it off to a friend, and then said I wasn't entirely happy with the way it played. The response: "How can you not be happy? Isn't it playing like you do?"
Err... no... I didn't just copy my brain directly into the computer, actually.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
Sindri Traustason.
You mean that it's Joe user's fault that his DSL connected PC got infected? What do you suggest we do about that?]
Joe User probably isn't a computer expert, and he isn't PAID to maintain security of a system. Yes, technically he's the admin of his own little PC and DSL connection.
But I believe the grandparent post was saying to blame "ADMINS," those whose job it is to stop this stuff.
It's their job to maintain proper security, apply patches, use recent virus software, watch over incoming / outgoing traffic and email, and lock down ports if necessary.
It's the large centers that really help spread the virus all over the dang place; ISP's, corporations, free email providers, etc.
Joe Use might spread a small number of people from his Outlook Express address book (who in turn infect another small number). These large data centers can spread hundreds or thousands of users within a few hours if they're not careful.
Nearly half of german youths ready for work cant find meaningful employment due to the sluggish economy and heavy-handed government regulation of industry. The adult unemployment hovers 10-14%. Germany still widely uses the apprentice system for working youths into the economy, even for white collar jobs. Other youths become perpetual students (6,8,10 years) in the low-cost university system. So there's lots ofidle, creative people to get into mischief.
The article ( I know, none of you read it ) also talks about Kim Vanvaeck. She was arrested as well.
The funny part is, she might have been good at code - but she was not good at crime.
A quick Google groups search comes up with funny stuff. Like her back in 1998 asking for someone to please send her a virus so she could learn about them.
Or her in a discussion about sleep habits which starts out asking for the best "hacker babe"...
There are more. But the best part is that in almost all of them she always ties her real name, "Kim Vanvaeck", to her "hacker name", "Gigabyte". It must have taken the authorities a whole 7 minutes to track her down...
As an aside, anyone able to find a photo of her? This is Slashdot... It would be cool if she was as attractive as Angelina Jolie in the [silly] movie "Hackers". (Why else do you think I would be searching on her name?)