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49 Comments
- TexMexRex, on 07/11/2009, -1/+16It makes no sence for a bot to wipe it's host. the bot network then dies. I think this is nonsence.
Oh yea, and only windows PCs are cool enought to host botnets. Whooo ya! yea eat it fanboys. PCs rule. - t0ny, on 07/11/2009, -0/+13True. If you stop at 98.
- MentalBeaver, on 07/11/2009, -0/+10That was probably a joke.
- GorfTron, on 07/11/2009, -4/+14Why? I have never needed more than 640K.
- timschuit, on 07/11/2009, -1/+10Read the article.
The trojan is spread through email attachments.
Ie, the botnet is composed entirely of computers owned by bored grandmas.
Seriously, who still opens unsolicited attachments these days!?!? - TechEvil, on 07/11/2009, -4/+12/facepalm
DOS - Denial of Service - bratterscain, on 07/11/2009, -1/+7Us humans destroy the Earth that feeds us all the time. Seems possible in a world of idiots.
- Kwipper, on 07/11/2009, -0/+5*click* Where's the list. I don't see anyth.....
- BREZZZ, on 07/11/2009, -0/+5I have compiled a list, friend. Simply click this executable link for the list to appear.
- t0ny, on 07/11/2009, -1/+6PC = Personal Computer. PC != Windows.
I don't care what the common usage is if it is wrong.
I can say the common name for a computer is a CPU or Hard Drive because most people call it that. Or I can say that the name of Internet Explorer is Internet because most people call it that. - gtluke, on 07/11/2009, -4/+8if every single mac shut down at this very second, nobody would notice but you fanboys. nothing important is happening on mac's
your fisher price OS is only security through obscurity. maybe one day you'll get your wish and the whole world will switch to macs, and then you guys can be the target of a virus. - t0ny, on 07/11/2009, -1/+5Maybe because the person who is running the botnet does not want to keep it or he wants to cause a lot of damage more then he wants to keep the botnet.
- raydeen, on 07/11/2009, -0/+4Somebody just needs to ship a few million copies of Starcraft to North Korea. That'll leep 'em happy for a decade or so until they hear that South Korea is playing Starcraft II.
- gtluke, on 07/11/2009, -5/+8<mac user>
haha! nobody would bother writing a virus for me, for all it could ever do is delete my half written screenplay anyway. security through obscurity!
</mac user> - blankoboy, on 07/11/2009, -0/+3Backups, backups, backups...
- FlyingCaveman, on 07/11/2009, -0/+3Nice graphic. Remember to recycle your computers.
- JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2009, -0/+2Not really. I've known software development managers and software customer support personnel who have infected their office with malware before. Not just their own computers but coworkers in different departments.
You could be surprised how often people working at software companies bring in and spread a malware infection.
Why do you think this problem has just kept growing and growing since organized crime and hack/spam for profit operators got involved?
It's not just grandmas they are tricking with these emails. You think banking institutions and high tech companies are staffed exclusively with grandmas?
It's not always via an email but I know of cases where someone who was decidedly not a grandma did open an email attachment virus and that in turn executed a worm that infected multiple computers in departments around a company.
I have lost track of how many times a company I was at had a virus or worm infesting it. - cosmiccarl, on 07/11/2009, -1/+3A preacher just told me that the Korean virus wiped out all the data on his PC. He said his backup is also gone.
- thejackyl, on 07/11/2009, -1/+3That's just because you haven't been hit yet
- FredFredrickson, on 07/28/2009, -0/+2I'm digging this up because other people should get to laugh at it.
- KiraDnote, on 07/11/2009, -0/+2If they wipe the data on their host PC's they won't have a botnet anymore. I doubt that's going to happen.
- RSterkenburg, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1DOS was removed in ME (see: all the controversy because nothing worked anymore) and then was re-implemented as the shell (cmd.exe) for all the MS OSes you see used today.
- Archcoder, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1Those DOS attacks are pretty nasty, but all they're doing is imitating CP/M attacks.
- christoast, on 07/11/2009, -1/+2I have nothing but respect and admiration for a good old fashioned well designed Virus/Worm/Trojan. The ones that get a decent amount of attention are just good craftsmanship
- dralezero, on 07/11/2009, -10/+11If you are still running DOS I suggest you upgrade.
- tymme, on 07/11/2009, -1/+2I've only heard of it referred to as DDoS. My old-school brain went to Disk Operating System as well.
- RSterkenburg, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1They have far, far fewer PCs than you might expect. They don't even have 1 million phones in the entire country.
- JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1Backups at companies frequently do not work for a variety of reasons. And that is if they are even doing them.
- thejackyl, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Your arrogance will be your undoing.
- JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1Macs are PCs and are capable of booting MS-Windows and/or Mac OS X.
Linux runs on PCs almost exclusively although Linux also runs on non-PCs like IBM mainframes and I think Macs can boot that too, though it is less common.
If there is a problem that is specific to an operating system then you really need to specify the operating system. If there is a bug in IE, then it is understood that is on MS-Windows and if it's on say a 6+ year old Macintosh then you should expressly mention the operating system.
Safari originally only ran on the Macintosh but it has run on MS-Windows too for years.
You can't guess the OS from the hardware and the reverse is also true. Ditto for web browsers. - ZippyV, on 07/11/2009, -0/+1Windows has already switched from their DOS-based, mono-tasking, single-user kernel. It's called NT.
Welcome to 2009. - JohnnySoftware, on 07/12/2009, -0/+1Sure, it happens - in offices of high tech companies as well as grandmas homes.
If you get an email at work from a coworker, friend, vendor, or official business contact you're not going to open it unless you have told them to send that specific email to you or they have phoned you to tell you to be expecting it?
The email worm is combing the victim's address book and then emailing all the people in it.
I have had the policy of not executing email attachments sent by good friends since the 1990s. The only place where I have ever accepted or sent executable code by email is in an office and the email is going to/from coworkers or business partners of the firm.
The first risk is that the executable is sent by from malware via automation (assuming it doesn't have forged email headers and came from someone else's computer entirely). The second risk is they really sent it and they really viewed/ran/whatever it but it contains a malware payload. - dtfinch, on 07/11/2009, -2/+2If you have a botnet, you don't just destroy it. Though having the option might make you feel all warm and fuzzy, if you were that kind of person.
- christoast, on 07/11/2009, -2/+2People that know things about computers & the internet know enough to not 'get hit'
- glendower, on 07/11/2009, -1/+1Maybe if your botnet starts loosing ground once patches/fixes for it are widespread you can have your botnet go out with a bang by dumping photos of grandkids off of every 90-year-old's pc in the country.
- AppleMacStud, on 07/15/2009, -1/+1It's Mac time.
- AraleNorimaki, on 07/11/2009, -2/+1http://lh4.ggpht.com/_z1OqUXGftkU/SZ2K0VmlETI/AAAA ...
- graemee, on 07/11/2009, -3/+2PC = Windows based = IBM compatible
If you don't think so, go watch the I'm a PC, I'm a Mac ads. Even Apple thinks a PC is a Windows based machine. Yes at one time even a Commodore 64 was a PC. But it's like losing a trademark that never was one in the first place. If you feel hurt put a band-aid on it and man up. - Ghostwo, on 07/11/2009, -6/+5Actually, calling it a 'windows' PC is redundant. In modern usage, all PC's are understood to run on windows. e.g. Mac vs PC vs Linux. Each term describes a specific platform.
And yes, having a minority in market share means that there will only be a minority of black hats bothering to target you; windows is crappy and insecure, and macs/linux are so much better, yet 90% of us are too stupid to realize it. We get it. - fidoda, on 07/11/2009, -4/+1Yep, without Windows no ddos.
- inactive, on 07/11/2009, -4/+1I think I found a solution
- RadiantSilver, on 07/11/2009, -4/+1gtluke, that was the 90s. Macs are very popular now, with a massive, diverse user base, and it has been proven in many hacking contests that Mac OS X is far more secure than Windows. Also, Mac OS X is a much more powerful, industrial grade OS, it's simply a matter of inarguable fact. I'm not a Mac zealot by any means, it's just obvious if you know anything about operating systems - any *NIX variant beats Windows in terms of security, and if you add up all of the *NIX based OSs out there, it's a huge number of machines, so the obscurity argument is completely moot.
Windows is not secure because it's still piggybacked to ancient DOS-based, mono-tasking, single-user paradigms in the name of backward compatibility. Until Microsoft moves Windows to a completely different kernel, it will NEVER be immune to these kinds of attacks. Windows 7 delivers a lot of solutions, but still fails on this most important point.
With all of the money and talent at Microsoft, I'm surprised they didn't fix this years ago. In fact - it certainly means that there is ultimately more money in a non-secure OS than a secure one - and I'm sure Microsoft is keenly aware of this - they are not stupid, and certainly not above corruption. :) - qbthemc, on 07/11/2009, -6/+2Good thing i prerecorded Windows 7
- motters, on 07/11/2009, -6/+1Looks like this only applies to Windows users
- wallclimber, on 07/11/2009, -13/+8(sigh) It seems like we always have to fix these titles regarding botnets and trojans and worms (oh my). When will CNet ever learn?
Here's the corrected version: "Botnet worm in DOS attacks could wipe data out on infected *Windows* PCs"
:) - expatcatalyst, on 07/11/2009, -9/+2http://bit.ly/RyEOR
- inactive, on 07/10/2009, -12/+4Very interesting, thanks for posting this.
- inactive, on 07/11/2009, -13/+3Those that use other Oses don't matter enough for people to talk about anyway.
Seriously..at this point in your life you MUST realiz that you don't matter. And neitehr does Linux. And both will never matter.
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