Security Researcher Chases Virus Maker Off the Net 188
An anonymous reader writes "There is a great writeup over on CNET covering the pursuit of a virus writer who created a fake Grand Theft Auto game, crippling PCs by causing them to endlessly reboot. Despite the police apparently not being very interested, a security researcher pursued his man anyway, culminating in a teary eyed 'I'm leaving the internet' post from the virus writer himself. Awesome stuff, and one in the eye for the bad guys (for once)."
I prefer Apple's approach (Score:5, Funny)
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I'm serious. I think the act of writing a virus or piece of malware should result in the aquisition of a
Re:I prefer Apple's approach (Score:5, Funny)
Why not let the punishment fit the crime? They give you a data-scrambling virus, dose them up with mercury. They give you a virus that infects others, we give them herpes. Etc, etc...
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I'm not apposed to death, life in prison, a small but brutal beating by everyone effected, a lawsuit from everyone ever infected for the downtime, expense and aggravation their virus cause And then making them work at something that pays enough to keep him alive while at the same time paying everyone he infected. I don't know how you could do something tha
Re:I prefer Apple's approach (Score:5, Funny)
(Just doing my part to eliminate "Hackers are cool" from the dumbest ideas list [ranum.com]...).
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How about flesh eating bacteria? They could be put under isolation . . .
;-)
Re:I prefer Apple's approach (Score:4, Funny)
You are volunteering to give him herpes? That's a brave admission, man.
What about Bill Gates? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why not let the punishment fit the crime? They give you a data-scrambling virus, dose them up with mercury. They give you a virus that infects others, we give them herpes. Etc, etc...
So what does Bill Gates get? While some of his data scrambling has been accidental, much is intentional. The upgrade treadmill alone has cost more than any virus or trojan and it hits those who try hardest! Sabotage of other company's software has also cost millions of man hours. The problem with your method of punishmen
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That'll teach them not to do it!
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"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:4, Funny)
Now I have slashdot and I'm right back where I started, except there aren't a lot of easy slashdot girls... hmmm...
Re:"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:5, Informative)
It depends. There was a BBS I used to use in the mid-80s in my area. Every once in a while, the sysop's sister would jump on while I was logged in and we'd talk for a few minutes. I was always really careful because I figured it might just be the sysop pretending to be his sister. At any rate, I figured that if it really _was_ his sister, she was probably a real dog (yes, a somewhat chauvinistic thought, but few girls back then had any interest whatsoever in computers, and those that did were almost guaranteed to be as homely as they come). Some months after I started using the BBS, I had a reason to go visit the sysop at his house (I forget why -- sharing pd software or something). While I was there, I met his sister, and I thought I was going to lose consciousness. She was drop-dead gorgeous -- one of the most attractive girls I've ever seen. Just going on a single date with her would have granted bragging rights, but there was absolutely no chance for me; I couldn't even form a complete sentence in her presence.
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Re:"i'm leaving the internet" Yeah, right. (Score:4, Funny)
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What a whiner! (Score:1)
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I, for one, welcome our... (Score:1)
-WtC
Re:I, for one, welcome our... (Score:4, Funny)
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LAME? (Score:2)
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Re:LAME? (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess that's all it takes to be "l33t" these days...
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It's like breaking into someone's car and pouring superglue into their ignition lock. It may be lame, stupid and easy to do, but just the same the owner will come back and be unable to start his car...and unless he's a mechanic he'll have to get it towed, examined and fixed for a handsome fee. In the meantime he can't use his car.
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Kids have been doing this forever.. we don't put them in jail.
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If someone put sugar in my gas tank and it froze my car's engine, you're damn right I'd press charges. Sounds like vandalism and destruction of property to me. That kind of antisocial shit isn't acceptable regardless of the age of the people it's coming from.
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But going out and intentionally destroying other people's property is another thing entirely. That's not an accident, and I have very little tolerance for it.
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True. At least the first time around though, without any reason not to, I'm willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt. I can't find any plausible excuse for slashing someone's tires, putting sugar in their gas tank, or putting glue in their ignition, or some of the other things that were mentioned in this thread.
Bad analogy (Score:2)
This is exactly the right approach to dealing with nuisances. When someone behaves in a childish manner, the best way to change their behavior is to make them understand that their actions can cause them more grief than they are willing to accept. It isn't about the damage they do, it is about the nuisance they cause. That said, there seems to be some bad analogies being used here.
This isn't like a kid slashing tires, this is like a kid who convinced you to slash your own tires. Even if he hands you his po
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So if I come fuck up your car, that's harmless fun. Right? A couple of hundred dollars of damage is no big deal as long as it's in fun... What if take you wallet in the name of fun? I don't do anything with you credit cards or ID, just burn the whole thing. But hey, it's just harmless fun. Every bully in every school yard uses the lie "I was just playing." and that is exactly what this kid is, a bully. He sees his advantage over others and exploits it for his own pleasure and br
Re:LAME? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a prank. Not a terribly amusing one, but they can't all be gold.
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You're an idiot.
I would argue that a guy walking around in gold chains in a bad neighbourhood (or a woman walking around in a skimpy outfit) may contribute to being beaten up, raped, robbed or even killed but I'd never argue the murders, rapists, or robbers should therefore go free because they should have known better. That kind of logic makes slums and moves us towards the law of the jungl
Re:LAME? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think kids, or anyone, should be jailed for causing a couple of idiots to lose a few hours work or have to pay to have someone fix their computer after doing something stupid.
Your society is fucked up not because people tolerate crime.. it's fucked up because you've made everything a crime, and you've made even a minor infraction of the law a black mark that follows people for the rest of their lives.
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You had a look at what some of the latest "pranks" have been. Ever heard of "happy slapping"? Where you video tape yourself walking up to a complete stranger and walloping them? Where I come from it's called assault. People have lost the ability to pull a harmless prank. Instead any fucking dangerous or stupid behaviour is being passed off as a childish prank. Even children have to act within the tolerances of society. They get a black mark against their name if they kill someo
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IANAL but...
It's not an attempted assault if you hit someone, it's assault. There's no set standard for the amount of damage you have to do before it's termed an assault. Attempted assault would be where you try to hit someone and miss.
You should be warned that trying to step beyond the boundaries of your knowledge and getting things wrong makes you look like a complete and utter twit to anyone with solid knowledge on the matter.
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Fuckin' hell.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault [wikipedia.org]
"Assault is a crime of violence against another person. In some jurisdictions, including Australia and New Zealand assault refers to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, while in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, assault refers only to the threat of violence caused by an immediate show of force."
You are talking out of your backside.
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You're looking more and more foolish by the second.
You were the one trying to correct my usage of the word, so why should I give a shit where you live?
Do you even know the meaning of the word apprehend?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/apprehend%2 0 [reference.com]
3. to expect with anxiety, suspicion, or fear; anticipate: apprehending violence.
Note the words "anticipate", and "expect". You don't have to cause harm.
You can't simply admit you were
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Thanks for clearing that up. Have a lovely day.
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If an individual intentionally vandalizes something, then he should face penalties for it.
Ok, my head is nodding, well done.
'I was just having some fun' is not an excuse.
Damn, you're right!!
If someone gets their jollies off of making themselves a nuisance then they deserve a criminal record that makes it tough for them to find a job.
WTF? Wow, you almost had me there. You should be a politician.
Make a real argument.
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Go fuck yourself.
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The willingness of fools to engage in vandalism in the computer world is only matched by the utter incompetence and unwillingness of law enforcement to pursue them. Unless it's absolutely massive, there's simply no interest by law enforcement in investigating or convicting crackers and other computer vandals. If you don't believe me, I strongly recommend you
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Go away.
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Stop wasting our time.
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I'm not proud of most of them, but was never punished for those acts of vandalism. (The underwear up the flagpole was called for, trust me o
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Politicians cause far more harm daily and get away with reelection. How many people have _died_ because of the lies/half-truths they spout? And Diebold practically "trashed" the elections IMO. Sure, maybe the results were legit, but they're now tainted because of Diebold and that makes the elections worth a lot less.
Best to work on fixing that properly first.
In my opinion in modern times, physical imprisonment should be _mainly_ for people who
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Someone who writes virii and releases them into the wild is dangerous. If physical imprisonment is the only way to guarantee keeping them doing so is to physically jail them that's actually called for. If you can have a reasonable level of confidence that you can keep them from doing so, sure put them on probation and punish them financially
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To me someone who writes _computer_ viruses is not physically dangerous, but if physical imprisonment is the only way to stop that person, then sure.
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If law enforcement can't tell an innocent package not intentionally planted to fool them from a bomb, there's nothing to punish.
Reductio ad absurdum is the idiot's straw man.
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For the umpteenth time, if you haven't got a lot of tech knowledge a reboot script is not a trivial thing to remove. Or are you proposing that to use a computer you should have to be a proficient coder.
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The fact that you installed software doesn't mean you've agreed to give the software writer unlimited access to your machine. Choosing the right software to trust isn't even straight forward these days.
You don't seem to realize any of this...and I'm the idiot? Have a nice day burying your head in the sand.
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Bullshit. Anyone who's not a computing professional and is hit with this has to pay good money to get the damned thing fixed. Money that might otherwise go towards something worthwhile - anything from feeding your family to taking them on holiday.
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How about next time little Johnny steals a candy bar he's forced to apologise to the ower, pay him back in full and perhaps do some punishment like a few hours of community service learning that others aren't as fortunate as himself. Beats the hell out of just rustling his head and saying "off you go you young whipper snapper". Most crims start small.
As for your bullshit about using Linux, I simply wouldn't tell anyone to use Linux unless I first let them know what they could an
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Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you don't know, just say, "I don't know, but I can find out". These two phrases have helped me immen
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Sequel (Score:1)
Stupid, I hate vigilante's (Score:5, Insightful)
So some blowhard self-important jackass "security researcher" harassed a little kid and made him cry.
What a fucking loser.
The REAL virus writers/blackhats, the ones infiltrating multi-billion dollar corps, are working for the russian mob.
Go after them, I double dog dare you.
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What a fucking loser.
Who, the researcher or the kid? Actions have consequences, and maybe this seems a bit harsh but the kid set himself up for it.
The simple moral is if you don't want people getting mad at you, don't be a jerk. Is that really so unreasonable?
The REAL virus writers/blackhats, the ones infiltrating multi-billion dollar corps, are working for the russian mob.
And how many of them would be doing
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Translation: I'd be upset at other people if, by my own actions, I installed apparently pirated software of dubious origin.
Not a virus (Score:4, Insightful)
From the articles linked, it appears to be nothing more than a GameMaker "game" which adds registry entries which cause shutdown.exe and logoff.exe to be called when you log in. [gamemaker.nl]
In fact, if this was considered malware... perhaps marginally, although it has no serious effects... it isn't a virus because it doesn't replicate itself and spread. The guy who wrote it is obviously a wannabe hacker... you know, the kind who use pre-built tools without a clue how they work. Except this guy couldn't even find tools so he used a game creation system. Lame.
Re:Not a virus (Score:4, Funny)
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Lame? Perhaps. But as much as you discount the toolz and skillz of this wanna-be "hacker", it was still an effective malware approach, wa
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And if you believe this.. (Score:3)
"wahhh you are mean, im leaving" , ya right.
Yeah...uh huh...what ever you say. (Score:5, Insightful)
It sounds to me like the story is about *two* wannabes, not just one.
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Never again (Score:3, Funny)
Oh my head! I'll never drink again.
Holy crap I think I know that kid (Score:2)
Who Cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm glad that there is a minimum damage level before law enforcement gets involved because this would be a tremendous waste of tax payer dollars to go after and then, given how totally out of whack the laws are in regards to this kind of thing because of Luddite terror of people with technical ability, we'd probably have to end up paying this moron's housing for five years and create another person with a criminal record who cannot get employed and thus gets even more benefits at our expense.
And at the end of the day, it proves nothing. From a technical standpoint, someone could easily create an false identity like this, even the sign off part. The whole investigation trail is based off string comparisons. Whether it is "John" in Philadelphia or a really smart dog in Detroit, who knows?
Lame Lame Lame (Score:2)
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I have to say... (Score:2)
Shoulda open-sourced it. Prick.
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Drop the inflated sense of entitlement. He wrote it, it's his decision what he does with it. If he gives out the source code, it's his call. If he doesn't, it's ALSO his call.
He's less of a prick than you are.
Gibson is an idiot. (Score:2)
Then he goes on to bitch about raw sockets in Windows and why ISPs should be responsible for their user's actions. What fucking planet does this guy live on?
In short, eat a dick.
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No. Spinright was a lifesaver, the couple of times I needed it, back in FAT32 days. Supposedly it does NTFS, and some Linux filesystems now. At some point he seems to have gotten slammed in the head or something. Whatever went wrong, it's a shame. Although the raw sockets nonsense did at least provide us with some entertainment.