What is Digg?196 Comments
- bradleyjx, on 10/10/2007, -1/+68FTA: Personally, I'm worried about what Storm's creators are planning for Phase II.
...but is there any doubt that Phase III is "Profit"? - vondrak, on 10/10/2007, -16/+73Why do people always respond with "use Linux" or "get a mac"? If macs became super popular and accounted for 90% of the computers in the world*, then you can bet virus coders will begin targeting macs. Why write a virus that only targets 10% of the worlds computers. The ones on top will always be targeted more because there is more to gain.
*figures above are simply extrapolations of what I observe, they are not completely accurate. - jcarrion1976, on 10/10/2007, -0/+51"If it were a disease, it would be more like syphilis, whose symptoms may be mild or disappear altogether, but which will eventually come back years later and eat your brain."
Dugg for analogy. - KevenM, on 10/10/2007, -11/+53That could wipe out the entire Ron Paul campaign support base.
Dugg - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+40This scares the hell out of me. The biggest security problem isn't Windows, it is Windows users. I have warned my network users time after time not to open attachments or click on links in strange emails, but it does no good. If this worm goes in to a destructive mode in 'phase II' it could bring the entire Internet to it's knees. Then where will I get my porn?
- crzdmn, on 10/10/2007, -7/+44Interesting breakdown of how the worm works and why we can't effectively eliminate it. Sounds to me like the world needs to switch to Linux... or it's a conspiracy to destroy windows :)
- o0joshua0o, on 10/14/2007, -1/+38I'd love to see the source code for this thing. It sounds expertly done.
- 4degrees, on 10/10/2007, -4/+37everyone switching to Linux will only provide a small lul in virus production until many are written for linux and we are right back where we started. Linux rocks, by the way.
- brusty, on 10/10/2007, -0/+26How do I know if I have it?
- chrismgtis, on 10/10/2007, -2/+27No thanks.
- rkthoadan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+25Just because it can't infect you doesn't mean in can't affect you.
- picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21No doubt it's for profit. Probably controlled from Russia, or possibly Croatia, Greece... One of the things I've heard is that it actually CLEANS other viruses off of your computer- even ones that spyware software can't clean. I heard it sets your MTB to 1500 for you and sends distributed encrypted commands to multiple IRC channels. AND before it cripples any other viruses you have that are also "phoning home" to IRC channels it records their user names and passwords and logs in as a bot to their network and launches attacks to take over their botnet. It's ***** genius engineering is what it is, and there's no way in Hell anyone can shut it down. I just seriously hope the people running it don't decide to turn off the Net....
- Naruto28, on 10/10/2007, -1/+21If you're constantly dragging your butt on the carpet, you probably have the worm.
- tectonic, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20I didn't know there were any P2P botnets yet. Wow.
- frostyfrog, on 10/10/2007, -0/+17One day, Storm is gonna make one hell of a movie. I'm morbidly curious to what the coders plan on doing with the whole things, sounds like its something that could absolutely wreak havoc on the internet.
Do it, pull the trigger you crazy sons of bitches. I want to see net asplode. - picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -4/+21everybody always says that OS X doesn't suffer due to market share but that is at best speculation, and in my opinion total *****. Not saying UNIX virii couldn't be made but the way that OS works really doesn't lend itself very well to replication from machine to machine. Users would have to physically install it unless somehow it got packaged with an RPM- and even then it wouldn't last long.
- Azuroth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Wow, way to fail...
Phase 1 is clearly: Steal Underpants (Or in this case, write Storm Worm)
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit! - Azuroth, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16"Users would have to physically install it", pretty much the definition of how Trojans spread isn't it?
The whole point here is that people, all people, in large groups have a certain number who will open ***** willy nilly. If they have to type in their admin password to view a web page, they are gonna do it, OS be damned. Then, once stupid user B gets an email from stupid user A, they are gonna go right on and install it too. - picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -1/+14Dude they're never going to shut that thing down. Just think it's really close to the first self aware program out there. If it had some AI built in it could disable anything. -That ***** could be a movie!
- evillawngnome, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13Point! Counterpoint! Brilliant exhange, gentleman. Plus one for both of you.
- sexybobo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13and you think people that use windows have a higher knowledge of process names that people that use linux?
- craterburnsu, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13After reading this i felt like i read the description for the TOR(The Onion Router) network. Seems like they stemmed from that idea, and just turned it into a malicious system for keeping Storm alive.
- MattB123, on 10/10/2007, -6/+184degrees is right. The malware was written for Windows because that's the biggest target. If all the desktops connected to the Internet ran Linux, MacOS, or something else, the malware writers would just write for that platform instead.
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14Actually when actual money is put on the line to have someone care about hacking onto OSX, it gets hacked. When someone bothers to get annoyed with the iphone, it gets hacked. I cant imagine if OSX at 6% of the market were like MS at 91%, we'd all be in big trouble!
- evillawngnome, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13Wastedfluid, i don't know if it's possible for you to be any farther out of touch with reality. While it is true that windows dominates the desktop OS share, we see this argument brought out time and time again that if another operating system were #1, it would have the same problems windows does. This is an ignorant argument, and a quick google search should enlighten you.
Moving on, you can't have a botnet on one computer. Botnet refers to the "network" of "bots". You would have a "bot" on your computer, more commonly (and accurately) referred to as a trojan or virus, depending on the infection method.
Lastly, the majority of linux users are techies, people interested in the robustness and tweakability of the operating system. Listing processes is one of the foundational skills for maintaining and troubleshooting a linux installation - server OR desktop. We are only recently seeing linux installations for mom and pop as general desktops. Your assertion that "the average linux user doesn't even know how to list processes - much less, look for them." shows how truly ignorant you are. - trogdoor, on 10/10/2007, -6/+18Wow, lots of ignorant comments so far. First of all, *NIX is mostly immune to viruses because it is more securely designed, and the market share myth is just that. Although joe six pack may not be as likely to run Linux, a lot of fortune 500 companies do. Saying that there is nobody who would benefit from a true Linux *virus* is idiotic. That said, *this is not a virus*
Storm is a trojan, and right now almost all Linux distributions are just as vulnerable to trojans as Windows or OS X, it's just that instead of sending ThisIsNotaVirus.exe in an attatchment you would send ThisIsNotaVirus.rpm or .deb. And it gets installed the same exact way, the user double clicks the file. The ignorant user is what is attacket by a trojan, not the OS.
That said, distributions do have the option of only letting users easily ( ie with a double click ) install signed packages ( this is in fact already the case with repositories which is why you need to add a gpg key in most distros when you add a repository ), which would make them literally invulnerable to trojans. The problem is that making it purposely hard to install unsigned .debs is not a popular idea, see:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Ubuntu_Plot_To_Control_ ... - sexybobo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+13if you have wine posibly.
- Kitsune818, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Our machines may not be part of the problem (yet), but we'll have to wade through all the bot traffic just like everyone else if these thing start "chatting more".
- vagarach, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12The saving grace of this worm is that you must let it into your system, it doesn't spread automatically due to some obscure security problem.
- tofuoni, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11So, the *only* way to get this is by clicking a link in an email?? I mean, they aren't making use of open ports or buffer overflows or anything like that?? They aren't putting this thing on websites and taking advantage of browser bugs? It's just an email trojan?
And 50 million people have been dumb enough to click on it? That's amazing. - iceschade, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Thank GOD there's someone else. I was afraid that I would be the only one rooting for the "bad guys."
I'm seriously on the edge of my seat with excitement about this... I can't wait to see what happens! But I figure we'll have to be just as patient as the hackers that are working on it, because their plans are probably far from complete... What they're doing right now is pouring the foundation, working out the kinks and cracks, and preparing for something big.
I sure hope they live up to my expectations. - GreenConcern, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10Wasn't there an all-invading virus just like that in Terminator 3 ?
- 10001110101, on 10/10/2007, -2/+12I say go with the superworm idea. When winter rolls around, it will simply freeze to death.
- Aharoni, on 10/10/2007, -1/+11I'd suggest you'd keep your porn on CD, but then again...
http://www.digg.com/offbeat_news/Woman_Finds_Boyfr ...
(DISCLAIMER: This is a front page story which wasn't posted by me) - picsectionpleez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10you can get parts of it from astalavista and actually also from CERT
- heavyal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9If thats true, its the single most awesome thing i've heard in a month! What an incredibly clever piece of software engineering!
- SpyDerMann, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9Phase II is most probably turning storm into a massive DDOS attacker available for the highest bidder. Current clients can be spammers, phishers, or whatever comes to mind, and current victims can be spamhaus (it's happened). I mean, if you had enough money, what WOULDN'T you do with a network of millions of computers at your disposal?
Be afraid. Be VERY afraid. - iceschade, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9***** being afraid, I'm EXCITED!!! I mean, I know it's terrible of me, but I LOVE this stuff. I might end up homeless after someone steals my ID or whatever, but dammit, this is exciting. I can't wait to see what happens next.
- tradwolley, on 10/10/2007, -4/+13Clearly you don't mean ALL windows users. You must just mean computer illiterate people, single moms, grandmas, and dead people; for a complete list of these who qualify find out who the RIAA is suing this week.
- kholburn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+10Yeah, that's why linux/apache servers have more malware than windows/IIS servers, sure.
- sputza, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Is this going to clog my tubes?
- evillawngnome, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9"the way that OS works really doesn't lend itself very well to replication from machine to machine"
EXACTLY. +1 for hitting the nail on the head. - bradleyland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8The benefit is that only stupid users would be hit.
- hmmdar, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Governments are not smart enough to do this, profit rules all, this is most likely driven by private greed.
- MiDri, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8I've been stockpiling my porn for the last 2 years, when the winter comes -- I'll be ready...
- bradleyland, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7In recent years, IIS6 has actually surpassed Apache 2 in terms of security vulnerabilities.
- Phocion55, on 10/10/2007, -1/+8"as it's easier to find processes(task manager, or services) in Windows"
Wow. Really?
I mean......REALLY? - heavyal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7You, sir, are completely full of crap!
- blueZhift, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7while it is true that the majority of worms and viruses are aimed at windows, linux users generally do not run as root. so at best you may hose your user space, but bringing down or commandeering the whole system is a harder task for the virus writer. not impossible, but not the relatively easy pickings of a windows box.
- Mohdoo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+8Wow, simply amazing. Does anyone happen to know why so much hacking activity seems to come out of Russia? I don't get it, they are just so good at it. It's like Korea with Starcraft.
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