BoCo

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Bulk of year's PC infections pinned to one man
Published: July 28, 2004, 2:08 PM PDT
By Munir Kotadia
Special to CNET News.com


Sven Jaschan, self-confessed author of the Netsky and Sasser viruses, is responsible for 70 percent of virus infections in 2004, according to a six-month virus roundup published Wednesday by antivirus company Sophos.

The 18-year-old Jaschan was taken into custody in Germany in May by police who said he had admitted to programming both the Netsky and Sasser worms, something experts at Microsoft confirmed. (A Microsoft antivirus reward program led to the teenager's arrest.) During the five months preceding Jaschan's capture, there were at least 25 variants of Netsky and one of the port-scanning network worm Sasser.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said it was staggering that one person could be responsible for so many infections. Richard Starnes, president of security industry group ISSA UK, was also impressed: "Is he going to put this on his CV?" he asked.

Cluley said there is still a chance that others may be implicated in the Netsky virus, although so far no one else has been arrested.

"The full story of the Netsky gang isn't known yet. We know some of his fellow students have been questioned, but the real motives are not fully known," said Cluley.

According to Sophos, the Sasser worm came out on top with 26.1 percent of infections, while Netsky.p, Netsky.b and Netsky.d take second, third and fourth places respectively. The only non-Jaschan viruses in the top 10 are MyDoom.a (fifth place), Zafi.b (sixth place), Sober.c (ninth place) and Bagle.a (tenth place).

"Sasser may have taken top spot, but six of the biggest viruses of the last six months were Netsky and Bagle variants--these caused a continued nuisance for PC users the world over as their authors entered into a very public game of virus writing one-upmanship," said Cluley.

Starnes said that although Jaschan has been arrested, there are always other people willing to step into his shoes.

"Virus writers tend to grow out of the hobby, but hackers do not tend to stop. There is a high turnover rate in the virus-writing community. There will always be somebody there to step in to fill the gap," he said.

Cluley agreed, but pointed out that organized criminals are increasingly getting involved in virus writing and are less likely to be caught because they tend to be more careful.

"There is a greater criminal element in virus writing than ever before. If you are an organized gang making money out of viruses and hacking, you don't go around bragging or having a playground scuffle that results in one of your number grassing you up to Microsoft," said Cluley.
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http://news.com.com/Bulk+of+year's+PC+infections+pinned+to+one+man/2100-7349_3-5287664.html

Feed him to a large mammal, I say.

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mikec

although this man helped me to make $$ fixing other people's computers, I must agree that he needs a long and painful torturing.

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the_marq

So now what happens, if convited does he get a slap on the wrist? Or is it off to Federal Pound-me-in-the-Ass Prison?

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#3 in a series

rubicon

Perhaps the single person responsible for the damages is Mr. Gates himself. As the head technology guy, he's had the chance to make a more secure OS.

This topic is right up there with who's responsible for shooting deaths - the NRA, Smith & Wesson, or the killer himself.

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Kadath

Saying Gates is at fault is like saying God is at fault for not making humans bulletproof. Someone will always find the flaws in a design and exploit them. Blaming the maker for not anticipating every possible attempt is not really fair.
I think deliberate hackery of this sort is deserving of pound me in the ass prison.

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mikec

I agree 100% Kadath!

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God of Thunder

Wow, so do I.

I just agreed that Gates isn't responsible for something...There's a first.

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Church

Damn, that's not cool. It seems all these people that get caught for writing viruses are just teenagers or early 20's. Youth these days, they just aren't careful enough.

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bltzkriegmcanon

Kadath makes an excellent point, and I have to concur.

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Redlemon

I'm going to disagree with Kadath. I agree Bill Gates isn't entirely to blame; however, whenever Microsoft has had to make a choice between security and power features, they have chosen the features. During the public beta periods, people pointed out the security holes inherent in the power features, and Microsoft ignored them. For that, I find Microsoft partially responsible for the security issues. (I'm specifically thinking of the macros in Office, back around Office 95; sure enough, macro viruses followed.)

We'll see if their new focus on security turns this around.

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Fallon

I was just going to write that had Microsoft gone for a push in security, then these virii may not have been so painful to us all, so I also find MS partially responsible along with the virus writers.

Mephisto2

By the same token, George W Bush is personally to blame for 9/11. And so is Reagan.

During periods of aggressive US foreign policy, people pointed out that this was unpopular with the rest of the world. People also pointed out that funding extremists in the Afghan war was perhaps not a good idea. And siding with Israel throughout the Palestinian issue.

Sure enough, anti-US terrorism followed.

Wierd, eh?


Mr Mephisto

Bill O'Rights

Neither. He'll get a nice consulting job, with a fat paycheck.

Doubt me? Watch.

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Confederate

yea it's like the end of Catch Me if You Can where the criminal is now paid for consulting with companies on how he commited paycheck fraud, and got paid better than the money he was stealing.
This new guy will be a consultant with any kind of computer company telling them how he did everything and help them prevent it. As long as he is getting paid he won't care about working for "The Man"

kutulu

If there is good enough proof that MS knew about potential security hazards and chose to do nothing about it until it became an issue they can at least be partly held to blame. There are cases like that in just about every industry. I don't see how the computer industry should be cleared of it if we can show that people thought it would be a significant risk.

Who knows, maybe there could be a class action lawsuit because of it.

panbert

I am not a fan of MS or Mr Gates and I choose to use non-MS products when I can. I think the vulnerabilities inherited in Windows and IE is due partly to their oversight. However, it would be unfair to blame MS for the viruses.
It's like if I installed a relatively weak lock in my house rather than Fort Knox grade bolts - I may have been stupid but the burglar is still guilty of the crime if he breaks in.

I think a "just" punishment for this guy would be to give him a few light cuts around the body and then dump him into a vat of liquid contaminated with various biological viruses. It would be poetic justiice.