New Botnet Is "Practically Indestructible"

[verindae]

Spoiler

This is a really creepy read if you just happen to randomly be listening to this while reading it.

Im scared. Somebody hold me!

Thank you for posting this and thereby indirectly notifying me that Volume 2 was out.

On Topic: It's piss easy to blow away and rebuild a hard drive's boot record, I keep a handy little utility for doing just that on my flash stick (infrequent issues with whole disk encryption software and imaging = need to blow that away sometimes so I can bring back a backup of an encrypted computer and get it to actually boot long enough to repair the encryption that it's looking for and not finding). Would your average user ever think to try that? Probably not, but that is not "practically indestructible", just really really annoying.

I think the "practically indestructible" description comes more from how far it has already spread and that normal AV measures aren't really enough. With that many infections and the fact that it's spreading without an easy way to spot it nor a way for standard users to remove it, bringing it down is going to be an enormous, almost insurmountable task.

Just thinking aloud here but all it will take, I reckon, is one clever bastard to craft a detection and removal for it that windows won't have a fit about, then incorporate that into all popular AV's. An easy enough concept but putting it in to practice might prove to be a headache.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

Thank you for posting this and thereby indirectly notifying me that Volume 2 was out.

Np It's been a few days, i like it more than volume 1. That song in particular, it's just so beautifully creepy.

 

[MasterSplinter]

So, it's a virus so badass it eats other viruses?

 

[GrimSheeper]

I for one welcome our new machine overlords.
psst, GLaDOS, don't kill me, I'm on your side, really!

 

[Necrofudge]

I'd be more scared if I wasn't busy being impressed.

That part where it actually gets rid of malware is pretty clever.

 

[internetzealot1]

Wait, so it gets rid of all my other malware? ...Shit, sign me up.

 

[brainslurper]

Ahhhh my mac has never smelled better. SUCK IT MICROSOFT!

Macs get malware too. The only reason viruses are unheard of is that no one stores anything worthwhile on a mac. However, its WELL known that the mac is hackable even to the biggest noob of hacking.

No shit, anything is hackable. "Macs get malware too" wtf? Of course people make malicious software for mac. The advantage of having a mac is the difficulty of creating a virus for it. I love how you are still defending windows on the comments section of a news article about an indestructible botnet for windows.. sad sad sad... I would try to point out how much important information is stored on macs... But I have explained this so much it is not even funny, and I don't think people like you will be ever truly convinced.

normally yes, but Macs are hackable without any hacking tools. Anyone with Safari could hack macs. You keep trying to say macs don't get viruses, but those are EASILY written. Macs are so few that most don't even bother making viruses for it. That is your only defense, not because viruses are hard to write. Once macs get more numerous, so do viruses. However, the viruses that do infect macs are worse than windows. Once your mac gets a virus, its more infected than a hooker.

The only reason macs are not targets is that they are too few, and more often than not have no data of actual use.

It depends what you define by virus. If you mean something where you go to a certain site, or open an email attachment, a virus that is invisible to the OS installs itself, and begins to infect other files which it hopes will make it to other computers, then no. Macs don't get those. What can happen, is that you download some infected or malicious software, and during the installation for that it does something bad. But it wont be able to spread via email, nor infect other files without the application open. So technically it's not actually a virus. Because 10% of computers made are manufactured by apple, you would think 10% of viruses are for mac computers, unfortunately for your argument, that is not the case.

 

[brainslurper]

Ahhhh my mac has never smelled better. SUCK IT MICROSOFT!

Um, y'see, it's Microsoft's customers getting the short end here. Not even "fans," we're talking companies that employ the use of Windows as a platform. And since it actually attacks the computer itself, and not Windows as an operating system, it's not even a Microsoft thing anyway. Anyone who owns a desktop PC connected to the internet is at risk here.

Your gloating is misdirected. And if it was directed correctly you'd come off as even more of an asshole.

Well, you would think that microsoft is getting screwed over if someone develops an indestructible botnet for their platform... While virtually any computer can get something like this, the ability for it to inject itself is much more difficult on OS X or GNU/Linux platforms.

 

[Jfswift]

I think i'm just going to stop using my computer now.

Good, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself ;3

I kid I kid, I wuv you

lies

 

[Sleekgiant]

I think i'm just going to stop using my computer now.

Good, wouldn't want you to hurt yourself ;3

I kid I kid, I wuv you

lies

Truths :3, miss you Swifty

 

[Cain_Zeros]

4.5 Million? That's a lot of zombies. And yes, the technical term for a computer that's part of a botnet is, in fact, zombie.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Well, you would think that microsoft is getting screwed over if someone develops an indestructible botnet for their platform... While virtually any computer can get something like this, the ability for it to inject itself is much more difficult on OS X or GNU/Linux platforms.

Well ookay I missed the bit where it was developed specifically for Windows, ehh...

...my point remains. Microsoft may have a stake in it, but it's minimal compared to those who chose Windows as a platform for price or functionality. Pointing and laughing at, say, schools, or other such businesses, that pick up Windows PCs because of the package deals and such Microsoft offers. Or people that choose Windows because they're gamers who crave DirectX functionality. Or just... regular joes who pick Windows cos the advertising for it worked on 'em.

Pointing and laughing at those people because now their computers are theoretically screwed without solution, is a dick move. Nevermind Microsoft, it's their customers who are getting the short end of the stick here. Like when Sony got hacked and everyone was all, "yeah, fuck you Sony!" ...yeah, umm, the people who's credit card information is being stolen are a little more on the receiving end of this attack than Sony are, lads.

 

[Zacharious-khan]

i don't mind donating to the cause.

 

[brainslurper]

Well, you would think that microsoft is getting screwed over if someone develops an indestructible botnet for their platform... While virtually any computer can get something like this, the ability for it to inject itself is much more difficult on OS X or GNU/Linux platforms.

Well ookay I missed the bit where it was developed specifically for Windows, ehh...

...my point remains. Microsoft may have a stake in it, but it's minimal compared to those who chose Windows as a platform for price or functionality. Pointing and laughing at, say, schools, or other such businesses, that pick up Windows PCs because of the package deals and such Microsoft offers. Or people that choose Windows because they're gamers who crave DirectX functionality. Or just... regular joes who pick Windows cos the advertising for it worked on 'em.

Pointing and laughing at those people because now their computers are theoretically screwed without solution, is a dick move. Nevermind Microsoft, it's their customers who are getting the short end of the stick here. Like when Sony got hacked and everyone was all, "yeah, fuck you Sony!" ...yeah, umm, the people who's credit card information is being stolen are a little more on the receiving end of this attack than Sony are, lads.

First on the topic of price. OS X Lion costs 30 bucks for five licenses. To achieve the same RAM cap and out of the box features out of a windows OS, you will have to get windows 7 professional, which will run you 150 bucks for one license. So if you want to get the same value out of a windows os, you will have to pay 750 bucks. There are other factors like getting OS X to run on your machine, but still, 720 buck difference. And you can always go Ubuntu which will cost you a whopping 0 dollars for as many licenses as you want. Also, these things happen every week. They either never become anything, or are easily cracked, and the media always likes to overhype these things. Also, I think that windows is so popular is that it is very hard to buy consumer level computers with no operating system. There are very few mainstream manufacturers that ship computers with pre-formated/ubuntu installed hard drives, and the ones that do have a very limited selection available. I use OS X for graphic design/apache servers/minecraft servers and I have a windows machine with steam on it. And thats it.

 

[brainslurper]

Ahhhh my mac has never smelled better. SUCK IT MICROSOFT!

Macs get malware too. The only reason viruses are unheard of is that no one stores anything worthwhile on a mac. However, its WELL known that the mac is hackable even to the biggest noob of hacking.

No shit, anything is hackable. "Macs get malware too" wtf? Of course people make malicious software for mac. The advantage of having a mac is the difficulty of creating a virus for it. I love how you are still defending windows on the comments section of a news article about an indestructible botnet for windows.. sad sad sad... I would try to point out how much important information is stored on macs... But I have explained this so much it is not even funny, and I don't think people like you will be ever truly convinced.

normally yes, but Macs are hackable without any hacking tools. Anyone with Safari could hack macs. You keep trying to say macs don't get viruses, but those are EASILY written. Macs are so few that most don't even bother making viruses for it. That is your only defense, not because viruses are hard to write. Once macs get more numerous, so do viruses. However, the viruses that do infect macs are worse than windows. Once your mac gets a virus, its more infected than a hooker.

The only reason macs are not targets is that they are too few, and more often than not have no data of actual use.

It depends what you define by virus. If you mean something where you go to a certain site, or open an email attachment, a virus that is invisible to the OS installs itself, and begins to infect other files which it hopes will make it to other computers, then no. Macs don't get those. What can happen, is that you download some infected or malicious software, and during the installation for that it does something bad. But it wont be able to spread via email, nor infect other files without the application open. So technically it's not actually a virus. Because 10% of computers made are manufactured by apple, you would think 10% of viruses are for mac computers, unfortunately for your argument, that is not the case.

People make viruses for windows because its 95% of the total PC population. They rather make a virus that infects more people, not less. A mac botnet is useless, because 1,000 people is less desirable than 1,000,000.

Wow, you have ALREADY flopped from the argument of it is equally easy to make OS X viruses to the argument of there are no OS X viruses because of a small market. I think you have your percentages wrong. Much like how 95% of planned parenthood's duties are abortion, windows being 95% of the PC market is also not intended to be a factual statement. 10% of computers manufactured are macs, apple being the fourth largest PC manufacturer in the world. However, OS X as an os has roughly 7-8% of the OS market, GNU/Linux has 4-5% and 1% is "other". I have tried to make a mac virus. Essentially, you would have to hide it in an application, because the victim would have to enter their password 2 times to even start the application, and an additional time for every drive you want to check, and another if you want to get into keychain access to get at saved passwords. For something like this to work practically it would have to be hidden within an application, because nobody is going to enter their password 4+ times because a random program on their computer tells them too. At that point it's just malware dude.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

First on the topic of price. OS X Lion costs 30 bucks for five licenses. To achieve the same RAM cap and out of the box features out of a windows OS, you will have to get windows 7 professional, which will run you 150 bucks for one license. So if you want to get the same value out of a windows os, you will have to pay 750 bucks. There are other factors like getting OS X to run on your machine, but still, 720 buck difference. And you can always go Ubuntu which will cost you a whopping 0 dollars for as many licenses as you want. Also, these things happen every week. They either never become anything, or are easily cracked, and the media always likes to overhype these things. Also, I think that windows is so popular is that it is very hard to buy consumer level computers with no operating system. There are very few mainstream manufacturers that ship computers with pre-formated/ubuntu installed hard drives, and the ones that do have a very limited selection available. I use OS X for graphic design/apache servers/minecraft servers and I have a windows machine with steam on it. And thats it.

We're not arguing whether or not Mac is better than Windows or whatever, I'm telling you that mocking people who happen to choose Windows for whatever reason, be it a monetary thing or personal disposition, is a dick move. Many many schools and businesses use Windows XP, which is fucktons cheap, and it goes well with the cheap machines they usually have to build that often can't run Windows Vista or 7.

And whatever their reasoning is, that still doesn't make it anymore of an asshole thing to laugh at them because your machine is "better". If you were laughing at them because you had better day-to-day features, sure, fine, go ahead. But you're not. You're laughing at them because they have more chance of getting their machines PERMANENTLY BROKEN. I don't care how much better OS X is than Windows. I care that you have the tenacity to rank yourself higher than those people based on those perceived advantages.

 

[Freeze_L]

Do people really have nothing better to do with their time than come up with this kind of shit?

Look outside... There is daylight, there are girls too, nice things to eat and drink, fun things to explore and do. Much better than sitting in your cave and coming up with better ways to spoil someone elses computer.

Do you think they do this just for the hell of it? If a hacker is not bragging than he is doing something to make money, generally a nice sum of money. They are using this in other attacks to steal information to steal money. In addition this gives them a large amount of power as well (in addition to all the power from the information they stole). They are doing it to meet a certain goal and i can guarantee for most of them the goal is not "mess up a bunch of computers."

That attitude ticks me off, it shows a lack of appreciation for what is really going on and what can be stolen digitally. The info that can be taken silently from a company and used selectively for profit can be more extreme and damaging then a bank robbery, hell a bank robbery can be all digital now especially backed by enough processing power and skill.

Also whats wrong with basements, huh?

 

[sharptoast]

Some days I wonder if people just do this to make my job difficult, f*** that s***.

 

[Liudeius]

On the bright side, in exchange for a bit of your processing power you get protection from some malware. That's just about what any anti-virus does.

I always hear about Kapersky when I hear Anti-virus, are they the best or something?

An anti-virus company spending time making viruses? Feel shameful Kapersky Labs.

What? If you aren't going to read the whole article at least do more than skim the first paragraph.
"Discover" is not the word used when creating new viruses. They "discovered" it already on a computer, hidden in the files. Someone else made it and they just found out that it had been made.

 

[OldRat]

These things are... intresting. See, these are not your small-timers that are after your bank account or email adresses. These aren't some petty hacker's sunday fun. These botnets are really something else. They're actually, to put it bluntly, really fucking dangerous in the wrong hands.
At the moment, most of these things (oh yes, there are many. Most are less elaborate, but zombie computer armies do exist), are used pretty harmlessly. Spam and whatnot, that's not the problem here. The problem is potential. And the potential of millions and millions of infected computers is that there's someone behind it, someone who could very easily decide to actually do something with that potential. Without any hyperbole or exaggeration, that many computers could feasibly commit nation-crippling cyberterrorism. That's not a joke, that could actually happen.

Take, for example, Leo Kuvayev, believed to be the (hiding, completely unpunished) owner of the Storm Botnet, the largest botnet containing a rough estimate of tens of millions of computers. About 20% of all spam (as in, in all of internet) is attributed to Kuvayev's botnet - and you better be happy it's doing just that. If so desired, it could do worse. Experts suggest, in completely serious tones, that Kuvayev could blast whole countries off the internet if he wanted to. Just like that. And instead he just enjoys his spam money.
So let's all be happy that people tend to be greedy fuckers instead of destructive fuckers. And hope it doesn't change.