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Computer-Virus Writer's:
A Few Bats In The Belfry?
by: Dean Phillips
"Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a
girlfriend. Aged 14 to 34. Capable of creating chaos
worldwide."
The above description is the profile of
the average computer-virus writer, according to Jan Hruska,
the chief executive of British-based Sophos PLC, the world's
fourth-largest anti-virus solutions provider.
"They have a chronic lack of girlfriends,
are usually socially inadequate and are drawn compulsively
to write self- replicating codes. It's a form of digital
graffiti to them," Hruska added.
To create and spread cyber infections,
virus writers explore known bugs in existing software, or
look for vulnerabilities in new versions.
With more and more new OS (operating
system) versions, there will be more new forms of viruses,
as every single software or OS will carry new features, and
new executables that can be carriers of the infection.
Executables are files that launch
applications in a computer's operating system, and feature
more prominently in new platforms like Microsoft's Windows
2000 and Windows XP than they did in the older DOS or
Windows 3.1.
Virus writers also share information to
create variants of the same infection, such as the Klez
worm, which has been among the world's most prolific
viruses.
The Klez, a mass-mailing worm that
originated in November 2001, propagates via e-mail using a
wide variety of messages and destroys files on local and
network drives.
But the news gets worse. Recent events
have uncovered what may be a new trend: spammers paying
virus writers to create worms that plant an open proxy,
which the spammer then can use to forward spam
automatically. Many suspect this occurred with the SoBig
virus.
The Sobig worms, began spreading in the
early part of 2003. The unusual thing about them was they
contained an expiration date and were given a short life
cycle to see how features worked in the wild.
Having an expiration date also makes the
virus more dangerous, because most people would have been
alerted to the new worm within a few weeks and anti-virus
definitions would have been updated.
A variant of Sobig, Sobig-F was so
efficient that just a few infected machines could send
thousands of messages. Sobig-F created a denial-of-service
effect on some networks, as e- mail servers became clogged
with copies of the worm.
According to Mikko Hypponen, manager of
anti-virus research for Finland-based F-Secure Corp, Sobig-F
sent an estimated 300 million copies of itself.
Computer Economics, Inc. states, "Nearly
63,000 viruses have rolled through the Internet, causing an
estimated $65 billion in damage." However criminal
prosecutions have been few, penalties light and just a
handful of people have gone to prison for spreading the
destructive bugs.
Why is so little being done? Antiquated
laws and, for many years, as crazy as it sounds, a "wink,
wink" or even admiring attitude toward virus creators.
One person has been sent to prison in the
United States and just two in Britain, authorities say. But
the low numbers are "not reflective of how seriously we take
these cases, but more reflective of the fact that these are
very hard cases to prosecute," said Chris Painter, the
deputy chief of computer crimes at the U.S. Department of
Justice.
So what can you do to protect yourself
against computer viruses?
Well, first and foremost, make sure you
have proven anti-virus protection like like Symantec's
Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee's ViruScan.
In addition, If you haven't already done
so, I highly recommend installing Microsoft's Service Pack
2. SP2 tightens your PC's security with a new Windows
Firewall, an improved Automatic Updates feature, and a
pop-up ad blocker for Internet Explorer. Plus, the newly
minted Security Center gives you one easy-to-use interface
for keeping tabs on your PC's security apps.
"Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a
girlfriend. Aged 14 to 34. Capable of creating chaos
worldwide."
Now, I'm no psychiatrist, but to me, the
above description sounds more like someone with a few "bats
in the belfry!"
About The Author
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing
expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions?
Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto:
dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at:
http://www.lets-make-money.net |
