First IA64 Windows Virus Released

NinjaPablo writes "W64.RugRat.3344 has been released as a proof of concept virus. It is the first virus which will only run on Windows on the IA64 platform, and uses APIs from 3 native DLLs to avoid crashing applications. It infects files that are in the same folder as the virus and in all subfolders. The author of the virus has also written other concept virii in the past."

A toast...

[BJZQ8]

Here's to a long and fruitful future for Win64 viruses...

somebody has to say it..

[hp46168]

I for one, welcome our new IA64 Win32 Script Kiddy overlords.

so...

[pb]

Now we hunt him down and execute him, right?

Critique of the virus

[prostoalex]

1) The virus uses native DLLs - it should've used .NET managed code to avoid common memory leaks and other mistakes
2) The virus does not run on 32-bit platform - so no chance of getting "Windows XP Compatible" logo.
3) The virus does not take advantage of the latest Longhorn, Avalon and Indigo features.

Overall, the work is impressive, but I am waiting for more robust and efficient viruses.

Re:Viruses, not virii!

[Waffle Iron]

I'm surprised that this tiresome topic wasn't raised before the third post.

I'mii soii gladii Iii runii Linuxii

[King of the Trolls]

Iii neverii getii anyii virii. Itii mustii beii painfulii toii runii windowii.

Does that mean

[gsfprez]

that 64 bit viruses are twice as powerful as 32-bit ones?

Virii/Viruses

[Anonymous Coward]

Argh.

To try to stall everyone's almost certain flamewars regarding the correct plural form of virus, let me propose a new word.

Virusesii.

There, now everyone can use it, okay?

It's the second, not the first.

[WillAJ]

IA64 Windows was the first. (Someone had to say it)

Doesn't this blow...

[Flashpot]

a hole in the "people write virii for it because it's the biggest target" argument for the proliferation of Windows virii?

So what?

[MrRuslan]

Whats the big deal? Now windows will get messed up in full 64 bin glory.And later you will see some 64 bit spyware and a tad of some 64 bit spam :P. Basicly Fucked above the 4GB limit.

ah, me

[abscondment]

A true 64 bit machine is not required for this virus, as it can be run on a 32 bit machine using 64 bit simulation software.

Yes! You're no longer limited to slowing your computer by simulating an architecture you don't have--you can run their viruses, too!

Wow, on the ball. Maybe MS should hire these guys.

[CarrionBird]

Then that 64 bit OS might actually get out the door sometime this decade.

New Virus?!?!

[twofidyKidd]

We should have him executed, and collect the $1million+ he's worth.

Re:Virii is not a word

[Anonymous Coward]

The plural of "radius" is "radii" only because an "i" follows the "d".

Indeed, I often tell people that you'd say "Look at the buses" instead of "Look at the bii".

In other news....

[mikael]

Virus researchers have just announced that they developed a proof-of-concept virus that can spread on an 256-bit operating system that has as yet to be designed.

According to spokesperson who didn't wish to be identified, he claimed that this had been the most infectious virus that he had seen in the twenty years of his career and had also proved to be worst to remove. He also recommended that all users should immediately buy the latest version of Anti-Virus-Sponge-Sentinel which would mop up all traces of the virus before it reached the system.

Re:so...

[MrRuslan]

No. We make him write a virus for a 286 and see if that will fly.

Virii

[NinjaPablo]

I apologize for my horrid use of the word 'virii', and accept the standard and proper word, 'viruses'.

Must not have had enough coffee when I submitted that...

Re:Does that mean

[moZer]

No, they are 4294967296 times better.

What's the point?

[Jugalator]

Showing that you can write viruses for 64-bit system?

Oh my god, I would never have thought that was possible! How can it be!? Mind boggling indeed! But it's great virus writers develop concept viruses to show us these amazing tasks that was previously thought impossible can actually be done!!

Re:W32/Shrug

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't say something like that. You're going to start an endless thread of "Back in my days we used [ancient technology] and liked it" ... "Yes, but when I was young, we used [even more ancient technology]!"

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm on a crusade. I intend to post a comment like this one whenever I see anybody use "virii." Please don't interpret this comment as either endorsement of or disagreement with the parent post. Moderators: with your help, we can wipe out "virii" in our lifetime!

The plural of "virus" isn't "virii." There is no such word. The plural of "virus" is "viruses."

Here's a good explanation from cdknow.com [cknow.com] [cknow.com], quoted here in its entirety because the people who most need to read this won't click on a link.

The correct English plural of virus is viruses. Please consult any good dictionary before making up words.

For the purists, in Latin, there is a rarely-used plural form:

virus, viri (neuter)

(Forms: almost always restricted to nominative and accusative singular; generally singular in Lucretius, ablative singular in Lucretius)

The point of this is that even in Latin the form "viri" is rarely used. The singular form is used in most every instance. (This is from the Oxford Latin Dictionary.)

So, when considering the Latin: "virii" is incorrect and "viri" was almost never used.

Despite the fact there was little use for the plural form, there is another reason why "viri" was rarely used. The most common Latin word for "man" is "vir" with "viri" being its plural in the form used as the subject of a sentence. Thus, since "men" as the subject of a sentence would be used far more often than "venoms" (virus means venom) the "viri" word was most commonly seen as the plural of "man."

Bottom line: Don't try to make up words using a false Latin plural form. Since the word virus in its English form is now used then the English plural (viruses) should be used.

More plural-of-virus resources:

perl.com [perl.com] [perl.com], the canonical and exhaustive source
Jonathan de Boyne Pollard's Frequently Given Answer [tesco.net] [tesco.net]
Merriam-Webster's "Word for the Wise [m-w.com] [m-w.com]," January 20, 2000.

Where is the Open Source Virus?

[BigFire]

I'm still waiting for the fabled Open Source Cross Platform Virus [bbspot.com] that can be deliever to all mail system. Sure it require the recipient to uncompress and compile the virus, but it can hit ALL platforms.

Re:Virii/Viruses

[Jugalator]

Hmm... You come from the KiB camp, right? ;-)

Re:Does that mean

[leerpm]

They are 4,294,967,296 times more powerful.

So by RIAA math logic, this means that the virus writers are really causing $429,496,729,600,000,000 worth of damage!

Re:W32/Shrug

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it is a Latin phrase which means "You are a fucking moron".

Re:W32/Shrug

[Rupert]

Nah, it's a historical critique of the military strategy of Richard the Third.

Re:Virii/Viruses

[Anonymous Coward]

How about virusiis?

Let me guess....

[teslatug]

The release is followed by a proof of concept jail sentence ;)

Re:Grr

[Jugalator]

But it's so cool to say virii and it makes you look wise and better than the people who just go for the simple "viruses"! :-P

At least that's why I think so many caught on with the term...

Those 5 people must be pissed!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course I'm referring to total amount of Itanium users out there.

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[yecrom2]

Sure. Next you'll tell me that the plural of box isn't boxen. It has to be. English is a totally consistent language and the plural of VAX is VAXen.

It is well known that the pluralizing of nouns in english is well defined:

ouse -> ice.
eg. house -> hice.
ata -> atabase.
eg. data -> database.
ink -> egnancy.
eg. drink -> pregnancy.
That one is a little tricky because it requires a change in the base word.

outer -> 0,000
cisco router -> $450,000
See previous example.

Just a thought.

Re:Boxen

[Profane MuthaFucka]

Boxen is annoying too. It's fucking boxii.

Ballmer allready responded to the news

[Anonymous Coward]

Virii, Virii, Virii Yes, monkeydance time again.

Re:W32/Shrug

[rokzy]

indeed. Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain.

presumably trying to fight for Windows' security is also in vain.

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[Profane MuthaFucka]

"radical" is what we call a nutjob

A nutjob might be radical to you and those who use the fake word 'virii'.

To those who use the word 'viruses', getting a nutjob is commonplace. Women really like a man who can speak English properly.

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[Vampo]

Evolution indeed. As Darwin would say, once there was a virus, then it started reproducing, evolving, mutating, whatever you want to call it. The result? A number of viruses here, a number of virii there...

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[Mournblade]

We need a "-1, Pedantic" moderation category.

Re:Boxen

[Anonymous Coward]

Q) What do boxen and virii have in common?

A) You're a fag.

You don't have to laugh, but if this gets modded as a troll, then you are obviously incorrect in your statements.

Re:Viruses, not virii!

[Celandine]

The plural of penis ought to be penes, if you were sticking to Latin plurals. Fortunately we aren't, and it isn't.

Re:so...

[Midnight Thunder]

Now we hunt him down and execute him, right?

Or maybe would could execute the virus. Hmm, on the other hand that's not want we want to do :-/

Re:Critique of the virus

[PetoskeyGuy]

2) The virus does not run on 32-bit platform - so no chance of getting "Windows XP Compatible" logo.

To bad about the logo, but it can work on 32bits...

From the Article

Note: A true 64 bit machine is not required for this virus, as it can be run on a 32 bit machine using 64 bit simulation software.

So just get your 64 bit emulator running and you too can enjoy tomorrows viruses today!

Re:There's no such word as "virii"

[Hythlodaeus]

Of course, languages never evolve over time.

so when will win64 be released?

[RelliK]

aha! So that's what delayed the release of windows for amd64: it was not compatible with old viruses. Now that this obstacle has been overcome, how long until the release?

Re:Boxen

[Fizzlewhiff]

Boxii is the gimp kid from BSG with the robot dog.

I am the walrus, we are the walrii

Re:In other news....

[rlafflick]

does it cost $699.00 ?

*goes for the funny**

[CdBee]

I would like to protest that although this is technically a 64-bit virus, it does not run on the more common and widely accepted Powermac G5, instead choosing to support only a badly cludged extended win32 API.
Does anyone know of a 64-bit version of Bochs or VirtualPC which ould let me run this new and interesting piece of code in emulation?

Re:Boxen

[Profane MuthaFucka]

A beowulf cluster of boxii is boxiiii. Maybe boxiv for short.

Re:Boxen

[Didion Sprague]

Um, no.

It's 'Boxi' -- second delclension plural as follows:

N: boxi
G: boxorum
D: boxis
Ac: boxum
Ab: boxis

Eunuch boxum Unix laudat.
("The eunuch praises Unix boxes.")

Something like that.

Re:W32/Shrug

[Anonymous Coward]

This presumably refers to the colours of the rainbow...

No, I'm pretty sure it's some other acronym... I just haven't figured it out yet.

/presumably?

Re:Grr

[rtaylor]

In order to continue using virii, I shall now spell virus as virius.

Damn windows virius.

Re:W32/Shrug

[fair_n_hite_451]

Nah, it's obviously a nod to Paranoia, the old RPG game...

"Of course the computer is my friend, why do you ask?"

Re:Where is the Open Source Virus?

[lpangelrob2]

And people say Macs are hard to get viruses onto...

bash-2.03$ tar -xf oscpv.tar
./configure
Remove home directory? (Y/N) Y
Enable spam zombie module? (Y/N) Y
Install keylogger? (Y/N) Y
Profit? (Y/N) N
bash-2.03$ make install
bash-2.03$ make

Must release this and take over the world!!! Latest version of make required.

Re:This may be knit picking...

[advance512]

Oh, and by the way...

[i]Nitpick[/i], the removal of lice eggs, came to mean detailed and precise criticism.

Not knit pick :)

technology?

[Anonymous Coward]

Technology? You had TECHNOLOGY? Why you kids got it easy, WE didn't have technology, no sir! Why, first we had to walk UP-hill, 83 miles, to the sacred valley, then we had to get naked, smear ourselves with cowdung and ashes, eat magic mushrooms and DREAM about technology! That's all WE Had, and we LIKED IT!

Re:Does that mean

[whovian]

Or 4,000,000,000 times more powerful, according to hard drive manufacturers.

You -ing well don't know what -ing means.

[crovira]

Unless you read The Truth" [harpercollins.com]

Re:It's the second, not the first.

[DrLZRDMN]

No, viruses (or virri, se argument above) are small nad effiecent

Pendantic

[Patrick]

You were using common slang in an informal forum, pendants seeking to impose their notion of linguistic orthodoxy notwithstanding.

A pendant is jewelry. You meant pedant, which is what I am being by responding. Like virii, your use of pendant is wrong. Not slang, just wrong.

If I referred to your sentence as "high-falutin'," that is slang. If I referred to it as "retartid," that is simply an incorrect spelling.

The English language isn't evolving new Latin-esque plurals. It's not slang. It's just ignorant pretension, which is the worst kind of pretension.

... as the actual poster admitted. Sheesh. Don't defend usage that the poster admitted was "horrid."

Re:somebody has to say it..

[MountainMan101]

It's a 64 bit emulation on a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit extension of an 8 bit OS written for a 4 bit processor by a 2 bit company that doesn't care 1 bit about quality software.

(This joke is of course also a poor 64 bit extension of an existing crap joke - and therefore has Windoze certification)