Mac Worm Author Gets Death Threats 244
StonyandCher write(s) to spread news about the strange story of the reported Apple OS X worm, which is growing stranger by the day. The blog of the researcher who claimed to have created the malware reportedly received death threats. The blog was then hijacked, according to the researcher, who calls him/herself InfoSec Sellout. InfoSec blamed David Maynor for hacking the blog. For his part, Maynor apparently unmasked himself as "LMH" and InfoSec as Jon Ramsey. The post to the Fuzzing mailing list has not been independently confirmed.
Update: 07/19 13:48 GMT by KD : David Maynor wrote in and denies that he is LMH.
Update: 07/19 13:48 GMT by KD : David Maynor wrote in and denies that he is LMH.
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Allow me to say: WTF? (Score:2, Interesting)
I would take everything this man says with a large grain of salt.
Re:Allow me to say: WTF? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:More likely it is another publicity stunt (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Now we know (Score:3, Interesting)
*) standard disclaimers apply; for entertainment purposes only; your results may vary.
Re:More likely it is another publicity stunt (Score:3, Interesting)
I am speaking about MOAB and their lame attacks even including a jp2 DOS attack to OS X default browser Safari. That is the lowest level you can get, attack a tabbed browser which may include unsaved data and do it to average user who tricked (by stupid media) to visit your site to "pay" for using Apple software.
BTW- as a guy who uses Mac exclusively , I had to follow MOAB project. No, LMH is not Maynor of course. Everyone who he attacked (read: Popular software vendors) must have a good clue who he is and where he is from. Maynor must be enjoying the publicity though.
Re:Wait... (Score:3, Interesting)
We'd all like to think we're beyond being so easily fooled. There are always examples that should prove as object lessons to the contrary.
Re:Note to self (Score:0, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Should have picked a softer target (Score:3, Interesting)
Life as a Loadmaster was a mixed blessing. On good days, it's the best job in the world. On bad days, it really, really sucks. Luckily, though, good days far outnumbered bad days.
A Loadmaster is responsible for the weight and balance of an aircraft. He (or she) is part of the crew, and flies with the aircraft. On standard cargo runs, in-flight duties consist mostly of checking hydraulic fluid levels every hour or so (it takes ten seconds, and I never saw a level be wrong), keeping the pilot in coffee, and trying to keep one's self occupied without pissing off the rest of the crew. Napping is a favorite past time, but then you're subject to the whims of the rest of the crew.
The exciting in-flight business is airdrops. Cargo is rigged on the ground for airdrop, but it's the Loadmaster that's responsible to see that a) it gets rigged right, and b) the drop gets executed. When you're standing at the front of a full cargo compartment, and you open a 10x10 foot (3m x 3m for you non-Imperial unit people) hole in the back of your aircraft at 1500 feet altitude and 225 knots, push a button and watch your entire load of cargo exit the aircraft, well, that's exciting. Unfortunately, it's really hard to describe in text.
On the ground, you and the crew chiefs (mechanics) are the first ones to arrive at the aircraft before a mission and the last ones to leave afterward. You learn to take an aircraft from bare cargo hauler to fully rigged for 92 passengers in about 90 minutes (that's an hour and a half for you non-Imperial unit people). You spend a lot of time crawling around dirty cargo, dealing with sick passengers (Herky's are notoriously noisy, bumpy rides), and filling out customs forms if you're going between countries (we did a lot of that in Europe).
Due to the requirements for crews to get day and night airdrop experience, hours vary widely. You often find yourself going to work when everyone else is going out to party, or dragging in, dog tired, about the time everyone else is getting out of bed. On the upside, we spend most summers only working three days a week because of scheduling. Normally we'd fly Tues-Thurs days one week, then Tues-Thurs nights the next. If the scheduler liked you, you got days for a month, then nights for a month. If he hated you, you got days and nights both in one week.
I wouldn't trade my experience as a Loadmaster for much of anything. For better or worse, it shaped a lot of who I am. If you want to see some nifty videos on the subject, look to these: http://www.digitalfog.com/gallery/airdrop.htm [digitalfog.com] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-466411340 3926414433 [google.com]
Re: Death Threats are for Kids! (Score:3, Interesting)
IMO, the "voice" behind the worm threat sounds exactly the same as that behind the infamous WiFi exploit/hoax to me. The same juvenile phrasing, the same outrageous claims, poor logic and blindness to the facts. The same sense of humor and the same death-threats.
There is also a psychological truism about hoaxes that's often the cause of their downfall. The hoaxer usually finds it almost irresistible not to associate their name or their identity with the hoax in some way, even if it's obscure or disguised in some way.
What is the very last statement from the "creator" of rapeosx before he signed off for good?
"I am not David Maynor."
Add to this, the fact that this slashdot thread is unusually full of "humorous" one-line anti-Apple jokes made by innumerable slash-dotters that never seem to post on other threads and are primarily new accounts, and I think you have a picture of an egomaniac stirring his own pot and trying to grab at yet another 15 minutes of fame.
Gee... who is it that fits this profile of a juvenile, paranoid, dishonest, black-hat hacker with a certain amount of skill, but not very smart, hates Apple with an unreasoning passion, has a history of outrageous claims that turn out to be untrue, and often tries to manipulate the media and online communities to their ends?
Hmmm....
That's a puzzler for sure.