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US Leads the World In Malware Creation
PetManimal writes "Symantec says that China, Russia, and the other developing countries usually blamed for the increasing amount of malware are not the biggest culprits. The security software company released a report (PDF) claiming that the US leads the world in a number of malware categories, ranging from the 'amount of malicious activity originating from their networks' to 'underground economy servers.' Preston Gralla says the US lead should come as no surprise, considering the capitalist way of life and the high level of technical knowledge. He also suggests that the some of the 'criminals' may actually be Internet entrepreneurs who crossed over to the dark side: 'It's an inevitable result of a thriving free market and tech expertise. An underground economy often mirrors the legal, above-ground one. Scratch a criminal, and sometimes you find a misguided entrepreneur, looking to get rich a little too quick.'"
Heh. While I find your comment amusing I must point out it's not the /.er's fault that China and Russia are considered developing countries. Blame human geographers for that. Russia and China are considered Developing by those groups. Personally I think it's just silly, who are we (people in general, not the US) to determine what style of life is better than another, but hey, that's how it is.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
Ah yes, the 'Engineers are always moral' argument. Please remind me, what programmers were assigned to the Manhatten Project, the Cruise Missile project, and who designed Napalm?
Oh yeah... that's right, they were mostly Engineers. Spare us the high-and-mighty talk. Just becuase there's an old Freemason-like order with fancy rings involved doesn't mean engineers are some kind of uber-moral fraternity.
No offense to the good-hearted engineers out there reading this.. I just don't like the uppity attitude of some 'engineers' who think that computing science, along with every other realm of human endeavour other than those blessed by the local Engineering faculty, are something akin to making cute little blocks with playdough.
Parent: get off your high horse. Lots of people, no matter their vocation, have to pay the bills, and some are just attracted to the darker side, no matter their training.
He also suggests that the some of the 'criminals' may actually be Internet entrepreneurs who crossed over to the dark side
And they're different from the kind that run companies to the ground, create loopholes to avoid domestic workers, and fake their deaths to void convictions? Somehow the differences aren't stacking up.
It's an inevitable result of a thriving free market and tech expertise.
Apparently the Midwest hasn't gotten the memo on that one, since the 2001 recession is still going, continued by 2003's wave of job theft. There are some things that Ivy League economists will never understand. Thriving and "free market" somehow just aren't mixing in places that get the idea of not treating businesses like $DEITY.
An underground economy often mirrors the legal, above-ground one. Scratch a criminal, and sometimes you find a misguided entrepreneur, looking to get rich a little too quick.'
Wasnt that covered in Enron, Worldcom, HP (Hurd and Fiorina), and about any organization that uses loopholes to offshore work? That seems to point to a "misguided entrepreneur" as being one that has some morals left in them, not someone who's gone criminal.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Since when is criticism equal to hate?
...or so it seems.
Since September 11, 2001.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Did the author of this post even read the paper? The U.S. leads the world in Malicious Activity, this is very different from malware. Malicious Activity = phishing sites, attacks, command and control servers, bots, spam zombies and malicious code infections. The United States is the top country for the combination of all of these things. The paper does not state anywhere that the United States is the source of the most malware!