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Virus Author Motives Changing
Tragamor writes "BBC News is reporting that, with the suspected authors behind the zotob virus recently arrested, they are giving insights into the motivation of modern hackers. With the availability of virus sourcecode, authors are spreading to countries which had previously no history of virus origins." From the article: "What the pair were probably taken aback by was the response that the worm generated. Few virus writers now want to hit the front pages, said Mr Hypponen, most prefer to have their creations sneak under the radar, rack up a few thousand unwitting victims who are then milked for money or saleable data. It appears that Mr Essebar was intending to make money several different ways from the people caught out by the Mytob and Zotob viruses he is alleged to have created. "
Back in the 90s, virus writing was a hobby, if a black-hat one. The most famous viruses--Melissa, ILOVEYOU, were all done for fun, not for profit. But as the internet went mainstream in the late 90s, the motivation changed--viruses are now merely a tool for a goal: criminal profit.
``With the availability of virus sourcecode, authors are spreading to countries which had previously no history of virus origins.''
Finally! The year of open-source on the desktop has come!
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Sure as there's imagination there'll be more tactics to come.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Before: Fame.
Now: Fortune.
'Nuff said.
See The Register's story.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
First of all, there hasn't been a VIRUS for years. All these modern "viruses" are actually worms.
Secondly, if the worm destroys the harddrive then it also destroys itself and can no longer replicate. That means that it doesn't spread very well and doesn't last in the wild. The whole idea of a worm is to remain undetected for as long as possible, spreading itself all the while. The more owned hosts, the greater the profits and the bragging rights.
Thirdly, there probably are "psychos" out there writing viruses. But, there are more Danish teens and Russian mafia writing viruses than the supposed psychos. The teens have too much time on their hands and in Soviet Russia, profit and a low likelyhood of prosecution is a massive motivation.
I've had people argue furiously that this is not true. Yet, it does not make sense tactically; if your enemy knows your weakness, it is not benificial to them to let you know about it -- else they loose the ability to exploit the weakness.
As such, do not attempt to secure what you do not control. Secure the hell out of what you do control. Treat everything else as potentially hostile.
Do the right thing and spend time to make things as simple as possible on the design level. Eventually, this will pay you back in reduced 'emergencies', though initially it is a real PITA. There's no other way to get a handle on these things -- it's just too complex already.
Ripper was on of the first Virii I have seen in the weirld, and that was back of 8086's :)
It killed the MBR & BIOS and fucking up data been writen to the disc at random....
Unlike all these pussy WinBlowz & Macro Virus that are going around...
It's spreading to other countries that have never had a history of it before because there are now ways to make money with it. Most viruses these days are not put in to the wild without some kind of profit motive. Now, take in to consideration the fact that a few of these places where viruses are coming from are low-income countries, even a small amount of money made with it can equate to 'time well spent' to them.
Think about it - say your income in a country is measured in tens or hundreds of dollars per month rather than thousands, which is more common in 1st world countries. Even something that makes you $50 - $100 USD per month is a big deal. How do you think they react when they learn they can make thousands with it? For some people, that's pretty much like winning the lottery. In order to stop the problem we need to either a) fix all vulnerabilities in all current (and future) operating systems (unlikely) or b) somehow find a way to make it not profitable for people to do it in the first place (also not likely). Otherwise, people are going to keep abusing it to make money.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Nah, it didn't touch the BIOS just inserted itself into the MBR so it would boot up when the machine did.
I've wondered the same thing for years. Every day I hope that some worm would destroy all machines running M$ Windows, a sort of selective pressure or extinction event. I say, instead of bickering about which OS is the best, let evolution choose.
NBAD systems in enterprises are rapidly making hydra-like virus spreading a thing of the past, because the sudden surge in traffic coming from an infected host is so easily identifiable and quarentined automatically.
What you need to worry about are viruses that spread very very slowly, are very well hidden, and only activate after some preset condition.
``AIDS, on the other hand, won't manifest symptoms for years and therefore can travel across great spaces and through community barriers with ease.''
Err? Does that mean that scores of people in various places and communities are having sex with ease? Why can't I have that!
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Virus writers are now trying to harvest data for monetary gain; one would assume that this would create a traceable path back to the virus creator.
In the past, virus writers just wanted notoriety among other virus writers - not much of a trail left behind to follow.
Now, hopefully, law enforcement will start catching some of these people.
-ted
but ther is no reason a hacker can not also be a virus writer. Then tradition definition of hacker implies skill, not moral conduct.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Very interesting, that the author sees that modern-day computer viruses are perhaps less virulent, while they do whatever it is they were designed to do.
Reminds me of syphilus -- when first discoverd in Europe, syphilus was a virulent disease that ravaged the body, killing victims off relatively quickly. Natural selection dictated that syphilus strains that avoided early detection were more successful at passing along their DNA to new hosts. Virulent, crippling strains died off. [1]
Today, syphilus is rarely fatal, the symptoms are often just a little annoying for a long time. Plenty of time for new partners to be infected.
Computer virues are very similar -- viruses that avoid detection and quietly do their work of replication, transfer, and whatever else they are designed for, end up surviving. Emergency patches don't happen unless the virus (or worm, whatever) disrupts enough computers.
[1] Evolution? I'd say so...
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai