›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

GeekNights 070924 - Viruses, Trojans, and Worms: Oh My!

RymRym
edited September 2007 in Technology
Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss malware from a practical standpoint. In the news, Russia goes Linux, and NVidia goes affordable.
Scott's Thing - Rice Art

Rym's Thing - Don't Tase Me, Emperor!
«1

Comments

  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited September 2007
    Russia Adopting linux - I am now taking bets on the first windows/mac fanboy saying "Linux is the OS of communism." even though Russia is now capitalist.

    Virus + Warewolf = Lycanthrosoft
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • NeitoNeito
    Russia Adopting linux - I am now taking bets on the first windows/mac fanboy saying "Linux is the OS of communism." even though Russia is now capitalist.
    Speaking of idiotic misunderstanding of everything about Linux, this made me laugh
  • JasonJason

    Speaking of idiotic misunderstanding of everything about Linux,this made me laugh
    I don't even know what to say. The author apparently doesn't believe in market competition, is incredibly xenophobic, doesn't understand how computers work, doesn't know what open-source is, and thinks "computer" is a proper noun. Oh, and let's not forget -- if you use Linux, Osama wins. What a dousche.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    I think a post called "A final solution for the Muslim problem" tells me all I need to know about this website.
  • StarfoxStarfox
    Question: you say Jpegs and mp3s can't have nasty crap in them, how about a video file? And I liked the story about the metal concert. I'll have to go find that thread again some time today.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited September 2007
    I am now perversly fascinated with that shellytherepublican.com site and find myself in a state of confused mirth.
    It comes full circle:
    Dear Friends,
    If you are looking for a stable, secure and good looking operating system, there is no alternative to Windows Vista. Only Windows Vista includes the latest state-of-the-art security features like Windows Defender, the best optimization tools like the Defragmenter, the most advanced entertainment applications like the Windows Media Player and the leading word processing applications like Notepad.

    Linux. Boring, ugly, gray. And because it’s not based on the advanced “DOS-Technology” it’s unstable, too.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • AprecheApreche
    Question: you say Jpegs and mp3s can't have nasty crap in them, how about a video file? And I liked the story about the metal concert. I'll have to go find that thread again some time today.
    How would a video file be any different?

    Remember, the goal of the virus/worm/whatever is to execute instructions on your computer. It wants to make your CPU do its bidding, especially with root/administrator privileges. If they are going to do it by giving you evil files, there are only two ways. First, they can give you an executable file. Your operating system, when told to execute an executable file, looks in that file and does what it says to do. If you tell your computer to execute a file that contains malicious code, you're done. You're double done if that executable ran with full privileges.

    The other way is with non-executable files. Non-executable files are pretty much any file containing just data. That means documents, audio, video, pictures, text, zips, whatever. It's all the same. However, this doesn't mean you should completely trust non-executable files either. For example, let's say there is a vulnerability in Microsoft Word. I could theoretically create a doc file, and when you open it in Word, Word will start executing the code I want to. Rather than getting you to run my executable code, I trick another, poorly coded, executable program into running my code by feeding it bad data. This is why we tell you not to use Internet Explorer, especially not IE6. It is relatively easy to make a web page (data) that can trick Internet Explorer into doing bad things. Worms work in a similar manner. They send packets, which are just data, to an already executing program on your machine that is listening on the network. The program gets those packets and because it is poorly programmed will begin executing bad code.

    Trust nothing.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    To try and condense what Scott was saying: exes are more likely to get treated as code that can cause damage whereas something like a Jpeg gets treated differently depending on what it gets open with. With an exe you use a vulnerability with with an operating system (windows as it's an exe) whereas other files require a vulnerability when opened with a specific program. Most recently people found a way of getting code in a PDF to execute which is a weakness in Adobe acrobat reader.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    More awesome! Looking through this mad mans linux category and up pops my freindly neighbourhood Cthulhu
  • StarfoxStarfox
    How would a video file be any different?
    I didn't know, that's why I was asking. You specifically referred to jpegs and mp3s, and not media files in general, so I thought it might have been restricted to those file types. Thanks for the clarification.
  • ......
    My god... That entire blog is just, just. God there are no proper words for it, though "racism", "communism" and "nazism" I can use to describe the mere top of the iceberg there.

    They wish to tag Muslims as Nazi's did with Yews. They wish to believe that the bible, translated in their English and their measuring system to be easier to understand by the average American, has always used their system and thus it's holy and Europe and their metric system is liberal and driven by satan. They even think that web pages mentioning Windows fonts are thus run on Windows servers. And they even dare to use God's name! (I'm barely Christian, but that blog is just so horrible)

    Someone shoot the owners and article writers of that blog! Respect your fellow human being!

    And I've not been able to download the episode yet. But that's because my ISP is being a fuckwad. *grumble*
  • xenomousexenomouse
    Speaking of idiotic misunderstanding of everything about Linux,this made me laughI'm not familiar with that site at all, but I'm going to venture that it's satire, straight up. The entry quotes Steve Balmer as an "leading computer expert." It notes that Osama bin Laden uses Linux to "defraud companies like Disney." Also, it exhorts people to notify the BSA of companies suspected of using Linux because they have the right "to inspect any company’s computers for illegal programs like Linux."



    If none of that is convincing, check out the poll on the side of that page:
    "Domestic abuse" is ...nobody's business but their own.God's way of getting women into line.a liberal, political scarecrow.I mean, come on! :)



    (If it's not satire, I'm super scared right now.)
  • xenomousexenomouse
    More awesome! Looking through this mad mans linux category and up pops myfreindly neighbourhood CthulhuNow I know it's satire!
  • NeitoNeito
    I, personally, am entirely unsure. I've seen some very, VERY stupid arguments come from people who truely believed what they were saying. I cite Poe's Law in this case. "Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing."
    So it's either a very smart satirist, or a very dumb Republican.
  • ......
    edited September 2007
    I say a group of very dumb republicans. And I'm not entirely sure if it's really satire. I mean, Einstein said there were two infinite things, the universe, and human stupidity. And he was not sure about the universe.

    Also, the Cthulhu picture is called "cthulu.jpg", giving them a few extra points in being labeled "Dumb joke/satire".
    Post edited by ... on
  • xenomousexenomouse
    So it's either a very smart satirist, or a very dumb Republican.Here's some more proof for the satire column: STR knows how to use IRC. Moreover, in the "Mozilla Firefox Exposed" entry, STR signs into IRC, goes to the #firefox channel, and starts off with...TristanShuddery: Where can I find a copy of the "Book of Mozilla"? I’m a homosexual anti-American computer hacker just like you, so I need this book.Also, there is STR's undying support of Billy Bob Neck (possibly NSFW). If you go to his presidential campaign page, you'll notice that he has posted a rather salacious image which he censored by using images of Jesus. I started frantically hitting the back button, so there might be other stuff on that page that I didn't mention here.
  • EsonLinjiEsonLinji
    I think the line between satire and going to far has been crossed in these posts. At least, I really hope it has. To think there are people who might seriously take these positions is inconceivable.
  • sK0pesK0pe
    A software firewall makes all the difference, I still got a worm on my computer with the initial push of  spyware.  I've only had to deal with malware twice however I still run a very tight software firewall, port forward very specifically, use Opera or Mozilla Firefox and use an antivirus which has the smallest footprint and is still awesome - Nod32.
    The majority of all other antivirus program suck it, when I've tried them in the past they hogged so much of my computer's resources, that it affected my ping during online gaming - not cool.
    Both Rym and Scott reminded me of X-files today, hammering home the "trust no one" message!
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    Side note:  I made with this before even hearing about "Don't tase me, emperor!"
  • AprecheApreche
    You know how many video games out there have some sort of dangerous electricity in them? A zillion, that's how many. Do we have to make taser mashups of all of them?
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited September 2007
    image

    I have not found a better image to use yet...
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • sK0pesK0pe
    You know how many video games out there have some sort of dangerous electricity in them? A zillion, that's how many. Do we have to make taser mashups of all of them?


    Still.. that's was a pretty funny picture when I first saw it!
  • NeitoNeito
    You know how many video games out there have some sort of dangerous electricity in them? A zillion, that's how many. Do we have to make taser mashups of all of them?
    We all know there's no original humor on the internet.
  • IlmarinenIlmarinen
    I think the line between satire and going to far has been crossed inthese posts. At least, I really hope it has. To think there are people who might seriously take these positions is inconceivable.
    That seems like satire to me. Where does it "go too far"?
  • EsonLinjiEsonLinji
    This is just me, but condoning pedophile incest is a bit too much, even as a joke.
  • snookernetsnookernet
    It is satire.
  • ......
    It is satire.
    Thank God. Though it's very sick satire.
  • bunnikunbunnikun
    Bahahaha.

    Shelly the Republican is blocked under "Hate Speech" on our schools computers.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Shelly the Republican is blocked under "Hate Speech" on our schools computers.
    I can't imagine why. Though it is a relief.
  • xenomousexenomouse
    This is just me, butcondoning pedophile incestis a bit too much, even as a joke.I think there could be an interesting Thursday Geeknights episode in this. On the Fast Karate forums a while back, there was a discussion/argument about what is fair game for satire. There are certain topics (specifically, rape) that some people didn't believe should ever be targets of satire. I can kind of see why they would feel that way; for one, it makes light of something that is horrifically traumatic for its victims. However, I personally would rather err on the side of free speech.



    /me puts on fire-resistant jacket.
Sign In or Register to comment.