Re: mac trojan in-the-wild

[Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu>]

--On November 1, 2007 10:14:50 PM -0400 Jay Sulzberger <jays () panix com> 
wrote:
> On Thu, 1 Nov 2007, Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu> wrote:
>
> > --On November 1, 2007 6:31:39 PM -0400 "Adam St. Onge"
> > <adamst.onge () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> > > So if i put a picture of a naked girl on a website and said to see more
> > > you must open a terminal and enter "rm -rf".
> > >
> > >
> > > Would we consider this a trojan...or just stupidity?
> > I would consider it stupidity to think that that is comparable to a
> > trojan.
> >
> > Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
>
> I think, under the standard Unix system of permissions, this is a
> Trojan.  Under the standard Unix system of permissions, every
> application running in my home directory can issue an
> 'rm -rf /home/me' and, without proper near in time backup, cause
> me much annoyance.  The defect lies in the system of permissions.
> There exist systems of rolling off-machine backups and minimum
> privilege permissions systems, but they are not yet standard.
Perhaps you don't understand what a trojan is.  Its purpose is to take 
control of a machine to use it for purposes other than those to which its 
owner would put it and without the owners knowledge or permission. 
Destroying the machine is contrary to the design and purpose of a trojan.

Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
Senior Information Security Analyst
The University of Texas at Dallas
http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/

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