Security Incidents mailing list archives
Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe
From: Nick FitzGerald <nick () virus-l demon co uk>
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 19:50:22 +1200
Jeremy Anderson to me:
Filenames are all but totally useless for diagnosing malware, spyware _AND_ the normal operation of a system.Actually, I'd say they're fairly useful, if you plug them into google. Sites like iamnotageek.com have pretty good information repositories on what is legitimate and what is not.
You are, of course, quite wrong, but as this is not uncommonly believed by those who should know better, I'll try to explain it for you. I mean, there are all manner of sites like the one you mentioned, so it is obviously a well-entrenched error to believe that such information alone is useful. It is quite simple -- filenames are purely arbitrary. Now think for a moment about what that means... Correct -- it means that if all you know is a filename, or even a filename and the file's full path, you still know nothing about what the thing in the file is no matter how many pages Google returns saying that this filename belongs to the FooBar backdoor, the Windows XP telnet client, or whatever. Such information _can_ be _VERY slightly_ useful to an informed, intelligent and resourceful investigator, but as I said, not much use -- in fact, "all but totally useless" because informed, intelligent and resourceful investigators will quickly discover many, and much more diagnostically useful, additional things about such "unknown" files. Sadly, the less informed, intelligent and resourceful investigators are left to the mercy of the accuracy (or otherwise) of any and all of the material Google will regurgitate in response to a filename search and the haphazard quality of their "best guesses" -- often the Google- returned material is apparently contradictory and at least the better sites always note that most any file can be renamed to most anything and still retain its original functionality... (If the better "name that file" sites carry such warnings, what real value can such sites have beyond generating the odd bit of click-thru revenue from their banner ads?????) Anyway, back to searching filenames as a diagnostic approach... The still less informed will even go so far as to waste the informed folks time by not only posting a "What does foobar.exe do?" type message to a mailing list, but then have them spend even more time explaining _why_ such questions are a waste of time.
a filename is no substitute for actual forensic analysis, ...
True, but that was not my point. Well, maybe it was a part of my point, but it was not the main thrust of my claim. Lest you still do not understand, I'll give you a teensy, weensy piece of clue to play with...
... but it can give you a good leg up on many, many pieces of spyware and malware.
That kind of inductive reasoning leaves one _VERY_ likely to commit the most unprofessional of errors, treating the wrong thing the wrong way. Maybe they don't take this approach where you went to school, but a true professional, starting from the position of "first do no further harm" will not jump into a "fix it" session (nor direct anyone via Email, etc to do the same) on the basis of such a shabby diagnosis as "That filename is known to have been used by the FooBar Trojan...". Maybe now you can see why posts such as the OP's, and worse, responses such as "sounds like FooBar", and even worse "it is BarFoo, just delete it" are truly worrying to folk who understand how shit happens??? If you can't, members of the latter group would suggest that you would be better off to just STFU and watch and listen for a while. -- Nick FitzGerald Computer Virus Consulting Ltd. Ph/FAX: +64 3 3267092
Current thread:
- strange software > winsupdater.exe SDA (Mar 15)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Nick FitzGerald (Mar 16)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Justin (Mar 16)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Jeremy Anderson (Mar 17)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Nick FitzGerald (Mar 28)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Paul Laudanski (Mar 28)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Justin (Mar 16)
- Pubstro rash David Gillett (Mar 17)
- Re: Pubstro rash Mark Coleman (Mar 17)
- RE: Pubstro rash Steve Drees (Mar 17)
- RE: Pubstro rash Alexandre Skyrme (Mar 17)
- Re: Pubstro rash Jeff Kell (Mar 18)
- RE: Pubstro rash David Gillett (Mar 18)
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Nick FitzGerald (Mar 16)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: strange software > winsupdater.exe Harlan Carvey (Mar 16)
- RE: strange software > winsupdater.exe Jim Harrison (ISA) (Mar 16)