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New Malware Wiping Data On Computers In Iran
L3sPau1 writes "Iran's computer emergency response team is reporting new malware targeting computers in the country that is wiping data from partitions D through I. It is set to launch on only particular dates. 'Clearly, the attacker was trying to think ahead. After trying to delete all the files on a particular partition the malware runs chkdsk on said partition. I assume the attacker is trying to make the loss of all files look like a software or hardware failure. Next to these BAT2EXE files there's also a 16-bit SLEEP file, which is not malicious. 16-bit files don't actually run on 64-bit versions of Windows. This immediately gives away the malware's presence on a x64 machine.' While there has been other data-wiping malware targeting Iran and other Middle East countries such as Wiper and Shamoon, researchers said there is no immediate connection."
wiping data from partitions D through I
Thank God I hid all my porn on C drive!
The old drone shaped USB drive trick always works!
There was no holocaust...there are no homosexuals in Iran...Israel doesn't exists....We are....FUCK another computer just vanished off the internet. We are so fucked right now. What's our exchange rate? Quick..sell some oil...right..sanctions...Fuck! Fuck fuck FUCK!
Stay frosty.
...it's fairly clever to target partitions that aren't the OS partition. I didn't read the article, but if it's targeting all entries mapped on D:-I: then that could be network shares, flash memory, external hard disks, internal extra hard disks, and possibly even files awaiting burn to disc, and with the OS left untouched would not raise suspicion as quickly.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
No, they'll just start writing more Linux trojans.
The US Government is full of Linux and Unix machines. You're a moron.
" Iran switches operations to Linux to evade these viruses."
You mean 2013 is the year of Linux on Iranian desktops?
Why do I picture a guy frantically photoshopping Windows Explorer screenshots to show that there's still data on the D drive?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
they just outsource it(malware creation) anyways. to the same guys who tell them that it's a good idea to dump money on buying that service. it's a good business plan.
of course though, linux installations rarely autostart something on a drive found on the street and so forth.. but they're targetting windows because their scada etc systems run windows. and yeah it would be much harder to target a random linux or bsd version. but they're not going to run it on random linux or bsd as long as their industrial control sw is controlled form windows applications.
they could of course write their own industrial control sw. why they don't is a mystery, since it's the only sensible choice if you're building something you're dumping tens of thousands of manpower on.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I can't say this is a bad thing... Hopefully it eats their backups too.
Why isn't this bad?
What possible good can come from attacking innocent people?
While we have no way of knowing who is behind these attacks... With the increase in attacks, targeting and seriousness of the recent attacks we've seen, one could fear that this is state sponsored terrorism. In which case I supose it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that Israel and maybe the US could be involved.
Anyway, you put it, this isn't open declared and honest warfare, it's more like terrorism (with no regards for collateral damage).
Personally, I don't think it's suitable for democracies to conduct secret attacks on anybody. I'm confident my country doesn't do it, but well aware that our allies, such as the US, have a long reputation of such hostilities... And I suppose sometimes it can be justified, but is it really necessary these days, the cold war is over.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the following question:
What possible hope is there of peaceful development, democracy, arab spring and political improvement in Iran if they truly are under attack?
If anything, this will make Iranians more disconnected from independent media, less able to organize and help the authorities convince the people that everybody wants to harm Iran.
Think we can all agree that internet and information technology is the best catalyst for democracy.
You call it malware.
I call it a black ops program using my US tax dollars to attack Iran's nuclear weapons program.
Potato. Tater.
Same diff.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Sophos covered this on their Naked Security blog today. Iran is going off the deep end with this one. The attack could have been written by a 5th grader and contains nothing that is targeted at Iran. Sophos noted that it is amateur compared to Stuxnet, Flame, and the other one widely considered to be written with Iran specifically in mind. Apparently it was a slow day at Iran's CERT.
And many of the Linux server boxes are mapped by Windows clients as say P:. A Windows user infected with write privileges can wipe the share drive. Wiping share drives seems to be the goal.
The truth shall set you free!