The Internationalization of Malware

Ant brings us a write-up from a former malware analyst about the difficulties in fighting malware as it expands beyond English-language targets and into societies with different standards for privacy and security. Quoting: "One of the most fascinating facets of the increasing internationalization of malware is the cultural assumptions around such software. What is considered malware in the US may be commonly accepted in China or Japan, and this is largely due to the society that it exists in. Anti-cheating rootkits are very common in games released in these countries. What is considered to be invasive in the North American or European world is acceptable there. These anti-cheating rootkits would hook into the kernel space in a very invasive way, and have the behavioral characteristics of malware such as hooking into the keyboard driver. This made it very difficult from a purely technical standpoint to distinguish them."

Comments

Re:Considered to be invasive...bla bla bla

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory "awareness hasn't come in NA, either" comment.

Different cultures indeed

[4D6963]

What is considered malware in the US may be commonly accepted in China or Japan [...] These anti-cheating rootkits would hook into the kernel space in a very invasive way, and have the behavioral characteristics of malware such as hooking into the keyboard driver

Indeed. And if you look back in history, you will find documented examples in medieval Japan of samurais making alliances with kernel-space rootkit developers to repel Mongol invasions. But it actually goes back to the roots of Zen Buddhism which de-emphasized the attachment to privacy and instead favoured experimental realisation, including with various sorts of early meditation-space thought-loggers.