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Trojan Deletes Your Porn, Music & Warez

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tue May 16, 2006 07:29 AM
from the someone-else-to-think-for-you dept.
Security IT
E. Vigilant writes "The new Trojan/Erazor-A has an interesting twist. In addition to deleting or disabling various security products and competing malware, it deletes any porn, warez and music in your P2P directories. While some opine that this trojan might have good intentions, remarkably few things infect the text files this trojan also deletes. No one yet knows who wrote this or why."
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  • Altruism? I have my doubts... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TripMaster Monkey (862126) * on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:30AM (#15341351)

    From TFA:
    The assumption is that because the Trojan is only deleting certain file types in specific download directories used by P2P programs -- one of the main sources of inadvertent malware infection -- it is attempting to protect those it manages to infect.
    Well, that's a remarkably stupid assumption.

    What's more likely?
    1. The Trojan was designed to protect users from malware by deleting contents of P2P directories,
        - or -
    2. The Trojan was designed to strike a blow against P2P file sharers deleting contents of P2P directories.


    Let's analyze who benefits from each scenario:
    1. No one benefits, since the 'benefits' of having files that might be infected with malware deleted is more than offset by the security problems introduced by the deactivation of antivirus software, as well as the inadvertent deletion of many innocent files. Also, the Trojan writer, (in this scenario, a "Robin Hood" type character), receives no benefit other than a warm fuzzy feeling.

    2. RIAA, MPAA, and various software companies all realize tangible financial benefits as illegal file sharing is dealt a serious blow. Also, the Trojan writer, (in this scenario, a mercenary for hire) takes home a nice fat paycheck for a job well done.


    I pick avarice over sloppily executed altruism any day. I find it intriguing that this alternate explanation apparently didn't even occur to PC World.

    • Re:Altruism? I have my doubts... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Joebert (946227) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:37AM (#15341384) Homepage
      What about the third scenario ?

      3) Virus writers stage this to make it look like the RIAA, MPAA, ect, are "pulling a Sony" in an attempt to pull a classic "Throw a rock at the bee hive the ranger is standing next to so BooBoo can grab the pic-a-nic basket".

      • Add option #4 (Score:5, Interesting)

        by WidescreenFreak (830043) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:54AM (#15341512) Homepage Journal
        Call me cynical, but add:

        4) Write a trojan to wipe out what people apparently consider to be important so that they are more aware of virus scanners.

        Hmmm... would the various anti-virus companies do something like this to advertise the need for their products on people who lose gigs and gigs of files to a trojan? Nahhh....

        • Re:Add option #4 (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Chelloveck (14643) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @08:23AM (#15341668) Homepage

          Even simpler:

          4) Write a trojan to wipe out what people apparently consider to be important just because the trojan writer is a prick.

          • Add option #5 (Score:5, Funny)

            by Sigg3.net (886486) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @09:13AM (#15342068) Homepage
            Not even that:

            5) Trojan not only sentient, but self-sustainable and conventionally biased. Will take over the world.

            Proof of Intelligent Design? You be the judge.

          • sorry ;) (Score:5, Funny)

            by miruku (642921) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @09:54AM (#15342407) Homepage
            6) profit!!
            • Huh? That doesn't make any sense, even in the way you're trying to use it.

              If I copy your file, you have a copy, I have a copy. Nobody has lost anything. Therefore, it can't possibly be called stealing by most people's definitions.

              If I copy your file and then delete the original, then I have it and you don't, that I think we can all agree, is stealing. Likewise, if it's on physical media which only one of us can possess at a time, and I take the physical media, then it's also stealing.

              If I delete something without taking a copy, then it's not stealing, it's just vandalism or destruction of your stuff.

              You are mis-stating the argument you're trying to make fun of (the "it's not physical so therefore not stealing") and so your parody falls flat. The fact that data isn't physical isn't the important part, it's the fact that nobody loses their copy in a typical "pirate" transaction. That's what differentiates it from "theft" in the minds of many people.

              Personally, I think that unauthorized copying is not theft, but might meet the qualifications for wrongful conversion of property, if you take a wide enough definition of 'property.' (So as not to limit it to real property and chattels, but include the value of data as well.) See this page [lectlaw.com]. Normally it applies only to physical goods. At any rate, there are existing sections of law which are more appropriately applied to the reduction-in-value that occurs when data is unlawfully copied than theft and larceny.

        • Add option #5 (Score:5, Funny)

          by Foobar of Borg (690622) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @08:52AM (#15341914)
          5) Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell want to wipe out pr0n from the internet, so they assemble a team of computer experts and tell them, "Pr0n is the 5ux0rs! We need 1337 h@x0r5 to pwn their warez, w00t, w00t!"

          Or, maybe not...

    • I agree with you very infrequently, but this is one of those infrequent times. Either someone who is good at coding is on a major "hoiler-than-thou", ethics spree or this is the result of a bigger source hiring this person. I completely agree with you on the latter.

      But on the other hand, this is not necessarily a bad thing for the rest of us. Most of the people who would be come infected by this - and consequently lose all of their P2P data - are probably Joe User types who don't know any better. So

      • Virtual machines (Score:5, Interesting)

        by macdaddy (38372) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @10:22AM (#15342652) Homepage Journal
        This also emphasizes why all P2P users should quarantine their P2P software inside a virtual machine. VMWare's recently renamed VMWare Server" [vmware.com] product is free and is a perfect way to isolate your P2P software from the rest of your machine. I actually employ this method myself. Much of the documentation I download is infected and this method prevents that infection from getting back to the host server. Plus it's quite easy to rollback changes to a time before the infection and start over.

    • Re:Altruism? I have my doubts... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by phyrebyrd (631520) * on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:49AM (#15341464) Homepage
      I see an option 3 here.

      3) A strike against the MPAA, RIAA and any other "law abiding" corporation (who manages to be capable of CREATING those very laws) by targeting the computers that seed the incomplete, misnamed and intentionally infected files and the files on computers that have downloaded from them by users stupid enough to download things under 1kb.

      Any smart P2P user changes the default directories to customize their own bitspace so it's easier for the person using the software to find what they've downloaded, not to mention archive on another device or media those files they truly wish to retain.

      Do note that I did say *smart*.
    • Yea, like the RIAA and the MPAA are going to release a virus on the public, which could cost them billions, look how well that turned out for Sony...

      In actuality it was probably just some stupid kid who, and probably rightfully so, thought the only thing of any value to anyone on their computers are either text files, or have downloaded from some p2p or similar site.

      Honestly if you were looking to cause the most damage to anyones computer, it would be to strike at their heart, their downloaded music.

    • Avarice (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Mark_MF-WN (678030) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:51AM (#15341487)
      Avarice isn't too bad a theory, but I have trouble believing that the RIAA/MPAA could be so dumb. Sony is still in hot water over a badly designed piece of supposedly legitimate software. This is the kind of thing that could land people in JAIL. Suppose the virus gets onto a government computer and erases some legitimate files? What about a military computer? The US military has demonstratibly poor computer security. This could cause them huge problems if it got loose.

      My theory is that this was made by someone who WANTS people to think that the RIAA made it, so that even more people will turn against them and take some heat off of P2P.

    • Re:Altruism? I have my doubts... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Bogtha (906264) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:53AM (#15341508)

      The first thing I thought was that it was well intentioned - in the long run.

      The general public have demonstrated time and time again that they really don't care about security. They'll put up with their computer slowing down and crashing, they'll put up with random popup ads, they'll put up with their computer being used to spam people...

      ...but take away their porn and music? The virus seems to be designed to piss the computer user off as much as possible without actually causing any real damage or impairing the computer's operation. It seems to me that the virus writer did it to get people to take notice of viruses in future.

      Removing virus vectors doesn't solve the problem in the long run. Ultimately, only education will do that. This is a form of education, a lesson that will actually sink in.

        • Re:Altruism? I have my doubts... (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Jeremi (14640) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @09:50AM (#15342361) Homepage
          Then a day or so later, they're like, "WTF? You deleted weatherbug" and I find they've
          reinstalled it. People just don't care, and I don't expect to ever understand why


          People assume that anything that happens on their computer is visible in the GUI. Therefore if weatherbug doesn't pop up a requester saying "I'm spying on you now, please type something interesting", naive people will assume it's not doing that.


          I suspect this misapprehension will change only through hard experience.

    • I can only conclude that people at PC World ain't got a clue about PC's. Since when can .avi .mp3 etc etc contain virusses or malware?

      If it only deleted .exe .bat .com etc etc then I could understand the logic BUT deleting media files does not protect anyone.

      They almost touch on the simplest explenation. Vigilante. Believe it or not but there are some individuals who feel they have a need to stop others from downloading via p2p.

      They would be intrested in deleting any media files you downloaded via p2p. They would not be protecting you but making your (in their eyes illegal) activity worthless. So that explains why they delete harmless files.

      It also explains why they try to disable security programs, yet another punishment. That way you are far more at risk from using P2P by being infected. The logic being that pirates do not deserve to be safe.

      Vigilante seeking to punish p2p users. Not the RIAA and not some guardian angel. The RIAA would have to have some extremly bad lawyers to have allowed this and a guardian angel would only destroy files wich put you at risk and not disable security software.

      Vigilantes have done stuff like this before. It falls in the same field as those "jezus loves you" posts in porn usenet groups. Or so I been told. Not that I would know anything about that offcourse.

      • Since when can .avi .mp3 etc etc contain virusses or malware?

        Since the people making the media players haven't figured out how to properly code. It is definetly possible to get infected or compromized via a media file. Look at the whole Microsoft image rendering problem a few months ago. One look at a specially crafted image on a website and you're compromized.

  • Slashspin (Score:5, Insightful)

    by eldavojohn (898314) * <my/.username@@@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:32AM (#15341356) Homepage Journal
    First off, this article is pure bullshit spin. They mention several points about a virus and the whole time they attempt to spin it the reader as a "good intentions" virus--even comparing it to Charles Bronson. The Slashdot title reads "Trojan Deletes Your Porn, Music & Warez" but it doesnt, if you RTFA:
    The Windows Trojan/Erazer-A Trojan looks at default folders for downloading MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files, and wipes anything it finds with these extensions in the target locations.
    Gosh, I have plenty of MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files ... that aren't porn, illegal music & warez.

    What they fail to mention is that people who use P2P networks often want those files that they've collected. So this virus is destroying something they want.

    I mean, who installs eMule or Bit Torrent and then wishes that one day someone would come and save them from the files they've downloaded? The very idea is ludicrous.

    I use Bit Torrent. If a virus were to come and delete everything I've gotten from it (trailors, WoW patches, an odd assortment of legal videos and mp3s, etc), I don't know about you, but I would be right pissed. This isn't protection and it doesn't seem to discriminate from virile files and good files so it's pure and utter destruction.

    The only thing "beneficial" is seen from the eyes of the RIAA or MPAA.

    "I don't think this was written with good intentions because it attempts to turn off security," said Cluley. There would be nothing more dangerous than for people to become accustomed to the idea of "beneficial malware" because that might create a false sense of security.
    You "don't think" this was written with good intentions? A virus comes onto your machine, disables security & starts to delete files in directories with a certain naming convention. What more to do you need to say, "holy hell, I've got a freaking virus!"?

    • Re:Slashspin (Score:5, Funny)

      by Gumph (706694) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:47AM (#15341452)
      Gosh, I have plenty of MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files ... that aren't porn, illegal music & warez.

      Excuse me Sir, we've had some complaints from the other clientele, could you hand in your /. ID on your way out.

  • Finally! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289) * <whineymacfanboy@gmail.com> on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:33AM (#15341365) Homepage Journal
    *Applauds*

    Finally a threat that will make the average joe start to take computer security seriously! I look forward to a safe internet for everyone (I mean as soon as a few botnet node owner's loose their porn, peole will actually clean up their boxes!)

    On a more serious note, quoting the pcworld article:
    The Windows Trojan/Erazer-A Trojan looks at default folders for downloading MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files, and wipes anything it finds with these extensions in the target locations.

    The assumption is that because the Trojan is only deleting certain file types in specific download directories used by P2P programs -- one of the main sources of inadvertent malware infection -- it is attempting to protect those it manages to infect. [emph mine]
    WTF? How could anyone think that it's to attempt to protect users when it doesn't delete executables from p2p folders? (for an interesting overview of real "white hat worms" see this vnunet article [vnunet.com] and the slashdot discussion on the blaster removal worm) [slashdot.org]

    This worm is clearly to scare people away from p2p - not protect them from other p2p malware.

    What's the bet that one of [riaa.com] the companies [mpaa.org] that make oodles of money [apple.com] from content [bpi.co.uk] are behind this?

    • Re:Finally! (Score:5, Funny)

      by hal2814 (725639) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:55AM (#15341516)
      "Finally a threat that will make the average joe start to take computer security seriously!" Until a computer virus or trojan can come into your house, shave your eyebrows off while you're asleep, drink all your beer, and leave you with no toilet paper, the average joe will never take computer security seriously.

      • Re:Finally! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Mayhem178 (920970) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @08:08AM (#15341590)
        We can change that. All we need to do is modify this virus to delete *.doc, *.xls, and everything in the My Documents folder. Also, it should hijack IE, set his/her clock to January 1, 1900 (Y2K, anyone?), replace his/her desktop wallpaper with Goatse, and delete every link off his/her desktop and start menu.

        That should hit Average Joe User hard enough to make them feel like they got raped by a train.

        • Re:Finally! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by ajs318 (655362) <sd_resp2@earthsh ... o.uk minus punct> on Tuesday May 16 2006, @09:10AM (#15342048)
          No. Your "Average Joe User", confronted with that scenario, will simply throw away his old, broken computer, go out and buy a new one, and then start filling that up with crap. And when that is thoroughly full of crap too, and slowing down and going to the wrong web site and crashing and files are going missing ..... rinse and repeat. Because going wrong is just something that computers do.

          Mind you, smart skip-divers probably will benefit from this.

  • Geeks unite! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:34AM (#15341371)
    All I know is that this is a very important problem we have to fix!! Destroying our financial records and stealing our identity is one thing. But touch a geek's pr0n collection ------- this means WAR!

  • Seems obvious to me. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jerk City Troll (661616) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:35AM (#15341379) Homepage

    Of course it would delete your porn! Trojan [trojancondoms.com] wants you to go out and have real sex.

  • It... deletes PR0N??!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Noryungi (70322) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:36AM (#15341381) Homepage Journal
    I feel a great disturbance in the Force... As if a millions Slashdot posters all cried out in anguish...

  • 0h n03z my pr0n h4s b33n st0l3d!!!11! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:39AM (#15341398)
    The new Trojan/Erazor-A has an interesting twist. In addition to deleting or disabling various security products and competing malware, it deletes any porn, warez and music.


    This thing could delete the Internet

    As for the Who and the Why. I blame the RI/MP Ass's. of America.

  • Apple needs to jump on this quickly! (Score:5, Funny)

    by dimer0 (461593) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:40AM (#15341399)
    ... and make a new commercial!

    [old guy is coughing, wheezing, ...]

    [young guy] On a mac, you don't have to worry about losing your pr0n and warez!

    [young asian chic to young guys right seductively takes leg and wraps it around young guys waist]

    [cut to pic of imac]

  • The next headline on slashdot.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheOldSchooler (850678) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:43AM (#15341418)
    Storage Space Mysteriously Triples on File Servers around the World.

  • Nice to see a destructive payload for once (Score:4, Interesting)

    by fatphil (181876) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:44AM (#15341433) Homepage
    Without the pain of personal loss, lusers will not be so inclined to tighten up their system. So what if I'm part of a botnet? I'm not using the machine overnight anyway...

    Happy LARTing,
    FatPhil

  • THIS IS WAR! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Progman3K (515744) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:46AM (#15341445)
    First they came for my credit card data, since I did not have Visa, I said nothing.
    Then they came phishing for my bank account info, since I did not have a bank account, I said nothing.
    Then they came for my porn...

  • Aiming poorly? (Score:4, Funny)

    by iogan (943605) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:48AM (#15341461) Homepage
    The Windows Trojan/Erazer-A Trojan looks at default folders for downloading MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files, and wipes anything it finds with these extensions in the target locations.
    (...)
    "The Erazer Trojan is a vigilante worthy of a Charles Bronson movie, taking the law into its own hands. However, it's perfectly possible for the Trojan to aim poorly and wipe out innocent files too," commented Graham Cluley of Sophos.

    Aiming poorly? Yeah, if carpet bombing a country to hit a dart board is what you mean by aiming poorly...

    • Re:Aiming poorly? (Score:4, Funny)

      by meringuoid (568297) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:56AM (#15341525)
      Aiming poorly? Yeah, if carpet bombing a country to hit a dart board is what you mean by aiming poorly...

      Careful with such analogies. There'll be a bunch of loyal American patriots along in a minute to tell you how wrong you are, and that it's not aiming poorly, it's an enlightened foreign policy.

  • Ain't the first trojan to act like this (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Opportunist (166417) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:48AM (#15341462)
    The only "real" news is that it deletes the content of P2P folders (ok, not really "new" either but at least far from usual).

    That a trojan kills other trojans is hardly news. About a year ago two groups actually led a battle where one group tried to stab the other group's trojans (and vice versa) with their updates. Some trojans also use the names other trojans use to ensure those trojans can't install after they're already in. Makes detecting them correctly (i.e. as a different beast, not a new version) not really easier.

    Almost every trojan today has some anti-anti-trojan functions. Killing Kaspersky, McAfee and Norton AV is more or less a standard feature of most current Trojans, so I wouldn't really call that news either.

    The only outstanding feature that's hardly common is the deletion of incoming P2P objects. Which makes one wonder who ... well, cui bono?

  • Translation please.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JamesTRexx (675890) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @07:49AM (#15341471) Homepage Journal
    remarkably few things infect the text files this trojan also deletes.

    Ehmm... What?
  • The article on the Sophos website actually puts things as they are.
    The PC World rehash just (deliberately?) misinterprets it.

    Let's have a wee comparison:

    Sophos: - "The Erazer Trojan targets internet users it believes are involved in piracy, but fails to discriminate between the true criminals and those who may have MP3 music files or home movies that they have created themselves. Malware is not the way to fight internet piracy."

    PC World: - "A "vigilante" Trojan, that attempts to protect infected PCs from the effects of malware caught while using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, has been discovered."

    Now how they came up with that from the Sophos article is beyond my understanding.

  • New Service (Score:5, Funny)

    by MobileTatsu-NJG (946591) on Tuesday May 16 2006, @08:18AM (#15341647)
    Greetings, all.

    I just wanted to offer my new backup service for all who of you who fear this trojan. Just contact me so we can arrange transfers. Please do not be wary of my generosity, for helping is its own reward.

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