Re: Windows Dcom Worm planned DDoS

[Nick FitzGerald <nick () virus-l demon co uk>]

Sebastian Niehaus <killedbythoughts () mindcrime net> to me:

> > And, of course, if MS started messing with the DNS entries for 
> > windowsupdate.com, it would be cutting an awful lot of users off from 
> > much needed updates. which could be as disturbing as the rest of the 
> > worm's effects...
>
> Could be a nice feature of a worm to modify the "hosts" file and
> prevent infected maschines to do DNS lookups.
>
> Users typing "www.microsoft.com" into their browsers could be tricked
> into downloading stuff from hostile servers and the "windows update"
> could be disabeled easily.
>
> This probably istn't a new concept, eh?

Correct about messing with the hosts file -- has been used by various 
adware, spyware and browser hijackers for various purposes and 
occasionally by other malware to, for example, block access to AV 
and/or other security sites (pointing www.<company>.com to 127.0.0.1 
for example).  Offhand I don't recall it being used specifically to 
target Windows Update or other MS sites with the intention of causing 
the user to unwittingly d/l something malicious (in general, if a piece 
of malware has this level of access to the victim's machine it probably 
can do much, if not all, it needs without engaging in network address 
subterfuges...).


-- 
Nick FitzGerald
Computer Virus Consulting Ltd.
Ph/FAX: +64 3 3529854

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