My daily virus

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Elyn Wollensky <elyn () consect com>

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/24762.html

By George Smith, SecurityFocus Online
Posted: 08/04/2002 at 20:02 GMT

"I regarded viruses as only good for entertainment," said Guido
Sanchez about ten years ago. Sanchez ran Nun Beaters Anonymous, an
underground bulletin board system notable for its free viruses and dry
wit, the latter a scarce commodity in the world of hacker outlawry.

For the record, he also said: "I have nothing against nuns, nuns are
great people. I love nuns!"

However, nuns notwithstanding and with regard to viruses, Sanchez's
words are still right on. If you're going to hang around in the
business for any length of time, it helps to develop a sense of humor
towards everything.

How else to regard the recent carnival of the absurd in which the poor
sod who administers the WildList [Shane Coursen, a former
SecurityFocus Online columnist -ed] let out an electronic screech of
pain over lack of funds and job prospects?

In case you're just checking in, the function of the WildList is to
compile and publish the names of those viruses reported to be in
varying degrees of circulation, from high to low, around the world.  
The received wisdom on this is that it's a valuable service to
developers and users because (1) vendors can or do calibrate their
software to it, and (2) everyone else can get a gross sense of what's
going on in the world, virus-wise.

Well, if it was so valuable why did the AV industry kind of forget to
ply it with cash? Here's the dirty little secret, the real skinny on
the subject. Stage whisper: No one cares.

While the WildList outburst did apparently succeed in momentarily
shaming someone into opening their wallet, no AV vendors act like they
need it. They publish their own lists of virus frequency; citation of
the WildList, or even reading it, is irrelevant to the process.

And for everyone else, if your e-mail address is distributed around
the world in enough Microsoft Outlook address books, you can compile
your own WildList every week, a list that will generally mirror, to
some degree, what vendors are reporting. Chalk the WildList's misery
up to unintended consequences stemming from Microsoft's half-decade
long horn-of-virus-plenty approach to electronic mail handling.

Old coot's voice: "Yep, I remember, Sonny, when we didn't actually get
mailed the Top Ten viruses each week! But now those days are gone --
eh-eh. I think we're just gonna have to take Old Blue The Virus
Epidemiologist out to the pasture and put 'im down. It's the merciful
thing."

By now you may be thinking that I get quite a few viruses in the mail,
and that I think they're funny. This is only partially true. Style and
elegance are no longer twin fortes of virus-writing mountebanks. Time
was when the Casino virus jumped out of the blackness of the screen
and actually played a game of roulette with you before trashing your
data. That fired the imagination! Now the day begins with a dull file
in the mailbox with the name "You are FAT!" Yes, I'll be sure to
double-click on that right away, sir.

I am constantly reminded that many people, apparently every bit as
thick and intellectually inelastic as malicious code writers, do bite
on these doltish come-ons. However, they don't work for me. Without
automatic execution, there's no chance things like "Look,my beautiful
girl friend [sic]," "Let's be friends," and, my favorite,
"introduction on ADSL" are going anywhere not defined by the delete
key.

In fact, I can't think of a single acquaintance, professional or
social -- PC expert or illiterate -- that I know well, who has ever
been sucked in by virus-writer subject lines. Superficially, I can
picture only saps or children falling prey. But if a sap's PC is
hijacked by a virus, how much does it matter?

The party line on the subject is that it matters a great deal because
too many hijacked sap PCs can flood the system into dysfunction.  
However, as far as practical matters go, I already get, and have for
some time, many viruses from total strangers and saps. A few more or
less isn't a difference, just more junk in the inbox to delete.

And I think that it is this way for many. Call them a silent majority,
a mass which employs its own rules-based anti-virus measures, deleting
anything and everything that smells even faintly stupid or
time-wasting. To survive the daily flood of electronic crap --
viruses, spam or foolish messages from certified ninnies and
professional annoyances -- everyone builds up personal armor that
includes a strong bull-detector and a joy in giving the waste can a
workout. Once installed, this never needs updating.

Which leaves me with one question, rhetorical if you like, for the
virus trackers. What's the ratio of unreported viruses deleted by hand
by the skeptical to the number of those reported to lists?



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