Re: Modern hw-killing virus feasible

[Matt Bell <matt.bell () LADARLING COM>]

Would it not be possible to cause the BIOS on a mobo to jack up the CPU core
voltage through the roof and burn up the processor? AFAIK, some of the
mobo's with a software settable BIOS will let you set it up as far as it
will go..
Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: Dom De Vitto [mailto:dom () DEVITTO COM]
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 6:21 AM
To: VULN-DEV () SECURITYFOCUS COM
Subject: Re: Modern hw-killing virus feasible


Feasible? Yes, depending on hardware that can be made to break itself.
Anyone else remember the BBC micro?
When they brought the first BBC masters, the circiutry had a software
switchable charger for the battery.  Guess what happened if you hit the
register to start the charger, then walk away.....boom. No more computer.

I heard that such a trojan/virus existed (possibly even to thwart
software pirates)...

Aren't there mobos out there that support 'software overclocking'...?
:-)
Dom
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  Dom De Vitto                              Secure Technologies Ltd.
  mailto:dom () devitto com                       Mob. +44 7971 589 201
  http://www.devitto.com                       Fax. +44 8700 548 750
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 | -----Original Message-----
 | From: VULN-DEV List [mailto:VULN-DEV () securityfocus com]On Behalf Of Bart
 | Sent: 06 March 2001 18:57
 | To: VULN-DEV () securityfocus com
 | Subject: Re: Modern hw-killing virus feasible
 |
 |
 | Hi,
 |
 | Doesn't seem anything really new. The CIH Virus
 |  http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=10300&; ) written in 1998 did
 | something like what you are describing. On a set date it tried
 | to flash the
 | bios with garbage, making the infected pc unable to boot.
 |
 | Alot of hardware can probably be killed this way, as a lot of
 | hardware these
 | days have flashable eeprom's. The only problem is is that they
 | have various
 | ways of flashing the eeprom, thus making it (virtually) impossible for a
 | virus to have a generic (flash-)payload for a lot of hardware.
 |
 | Kind Regards,
 |
 | Bart
 |
 | > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
 | > Van: VULN-DEV List [mailto:VULN-DEV () SECURITYFOCUS COM]Namens Pavel
 | > Machek
 | > Verzonden: maandag 5 maart 2001 23:34
 | > Aan: VULN-DEV () SECURITYFOCUS COM
 | > Onderwerp: Modern hw-killing virus feasible
 | >
 | >
 | >  Hi!
 | >
 | >  Current DVD-regioning system provides *very* easy possibility for
 | >  virus to render hardware unusable. Current DVD-roms allow setting
 | >  DVD region for limited number of times.
 | >
 | >  Imagine virus, that switches DVD between japan-region and asia-region
 | >  as many times as it can. It would leave DVD locked either to japan or
 | >  asia, effectively making it unusable for european/us citizen.
 | >
 | >  Long time ago, rumors went that it is possible to kill harddrive by
 | >  software. Then, old monitors could be damaged by software by
 | >  missprograming them (but damage would take lot of time). Now DVDs
 | >  provide effective way for software making them unusable. Pretty sad.
 | >
 | >                                                                Pavel
 | >
 | > --
 | > I'm pavel () ucw cz. "In my country we have almost anarchy and I
 | don't care."
 | > Panos Katsaloulis describing me w.r.t. patents at discuss () linmodems org
 | >
 |