Article

2006-10-22 Science & Technology

Computer virus downloads a virus checker to remove other viruses

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Posted by 3dc 2006-10-22 01:58|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 we need a new internet

Posted by anon1 2006-10-22 02:09|| 2006-10-22 02:09|| Front Page Top

#2 No, anon1, we need to implement IPv6 and devise a new email SMTP protocol.

However, this specific case is related to inherent wulnerabilities in windoze MS apps' spagetti code and open raw sockets that enable spam trojans to create armies of zombie machines.

Posted by twobyfour 2006-10-22 03:00|| 2006-10-22 03:00|| Front Page Top

#3 Why do they hate us?

Posted by Dunno 2006-10-22 05:08|| 2006-10-22 05:08|| Front Page Top

#4 devise a new email SMTP protocol.

Why? WTF does SMTP have to do with a POS mail reader that executes every damned piece of scripting it comes across? SMTP doesn't just work fine, it works brilliantly. Stop using crap mail readers, or at least stop using them like brainless dinks, and 99.99999% of the trojans go away.

You want to end spam? Yeah, who doesn't. It's not a technology problem, though. SMTP didn't create the problem; human scum created the problem. Get rid of the scum, and the problem goes away.

Prosecute spammers for theft of service. Prosecute them for illegal access to computer systems. Prosecute them for the fraud or obscenity INVARIABLY involved in what they're spamming.

Hell, prosecute people who respond to spam; if you can charge someone for soliciting a prostitute, why not charge someone for responding to a stock fraud, a pyramid scheme, or child pron. If you're stupid enough to believe a Nigerian scammer, you're too stupid to be accorded the full rights of an adult citizen -- we'd all be better off if you were in prison or at least banned from the 'net.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-10-22 09:52|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-10-22 09:52|| Front Page Top

#5 Prosecute spammers for theft of service. Prosecute them for illegal access to computer systems. Prosecute them for the fraud or obscenity INVARIABLY involved in what they're spamming.

Also need to nail those ISPs that sell service to spammers.

Posted by Pappy 2006-10-22 11:45|| 2006-10-22 11:45|| Front Page Top

#6 One of my sons worked at a computer repair shop for a couple of years. I'll tell you what we need based on his experience:

We need computer owners to install anti-virus software and keep it updated. There are far too many computers out there that have either (1) never had anti-virus software or (2) have it pre-installed but not actuated or (3) have it actuated but never updated.

The driving analogy would be if there were far too many drivers on the road who never bothered to turn on their headlights -- even at night. They would inconvenience all of us by forcing us to drive slower, causing accidents, forcing detours around accidents, and cloging up our police and legal systems.

If you are reading this and you do not know for a fact that you have operating, up-to-date anti-virus software, then kill your computer power right now, unplug you computer, haul it out to the dumpster, and never access the internet again. You are unworthy.

Posted by Darrell 2006-10-22 15:10|| 2006-10-22 15:10|| Front Page Top

#7 Veteran malware researcher Joe Stewart was fairly sure he'd seen it all until he started poking at the SpamThru Trojana piece of malware designed to send spam from an infected computer.

The Trojan, which uses peer-to-peer technology to send commands to hijacked computers, has been fitted with its own anti-virus scannera level of complexity and sophistication that rivals some commercial software.

"This the first time I've seen this done. [It] gets points for originality," says Stewart, senior security researcher at SecureWorks, in Atlanta, Ga.

Think of it as evolution in action.

Posted by Jonathan">Jonathan 2006-10-22 17:09|| 2006-10-22 17:09|| Front Page Top

#8 Microsoft is the virus.

Posted by Iblis">Iblis 2006-10-22 20:59|| 2006-10-22 20:59|| Front Page Top

#9 My Z-80 CP/M machine in the corner never gets viruses or spam.

Seriously, there is a simply answer to 90% of spam.

Charge $0.01 for each copy of an eMail you send out, and reduce fixed monthly or hourly charges appropriately.

Of course, you would have to get everyone, in every country, to agree to this; any one hold-out would become the spam-haven.

Oh, well, as Winston Churchill said: "They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong. There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers." (I see that RR has been credited with this, also.)

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2006-10-22 22:02|| http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2006-10-22 22:02|| Front Page Top

#10 Nothing's new under the sun!

In 90 or 91 I'm not sure, my computer, with MS-DOS only, was infected by a virus called Stoned from a floppy with an anti-virus scan package on it.

Posted by SwissTex 2006-10-22 23:31|| 2006-10-22 23:31|| Front Page Top

23:56 Zenster
23:56 djh_usmc
23:54 trailing wife
23:53 Zenster
23:51 gromky
23:50 Slutch Thraviper4354
23:46 Zenster
23:45 anon
23:44 facta non verba
23:44 anonymous2u
23:42 anon
23:41 JohnQC
23:37 Hyper
23:34 Zenster
23:32 anon
23:31 SwissTex
23:31 facta non verba
23:30 gorb
23:24 Zenster
23:24 facta non verba
23:20 JohnQC
23:17 trailing wife
23:14 anon
23:09 facta non verba