5 ms·

Lucky enough for the guy who wrote this. He didn't try it long enough to know that there's this thing on Windows OS called "Virus/Worm/Trojan" that eats up ever

Lucky enough for the guy who wrote this. He didn't try it long enough to know that there's this thing on Windows OS called "Virus/Worm/Trojan" that eats up everything on his PC. ROFL.

aw3c2 14y ago
I dread the time when Linux is popular enough for malware. it will be a massacre.
- voidlogic 14y ago
  People often say this, there are a lot of complicated technical reasons this is not true, leaving those aside, here are two very simple ones: 1. You download virusBin in Linux, you cannot run it- it does not have execute permission by default. 2. OK so either graphically or at the terminal (chmod u+x) you make virusBin executable.... (I'm not sure why you did this...) If you run it, all of its access outside of /home/$USER is read-only, the system and other users are safe, maybe your data is not. So if you really want to mess up your machine 1. Download virusBin 2. Give virus Bin execute permission 3. Assuming you are the systems admin, you can now run it as root... sudo ./virusBin.. To get a user to do all that it is going to take a LOT of social engineering.
  - TheAnimus 14y ago
    1) Ever since XP SP2, anything that has been downloaded does not have execute flags. The downside is the user is prompted in a manner that allows them to override this. The question is, how did the executable get there in the first place? Most of the explots that really hit windows are bugs in browsers / addins. A lot are also spread via 'naughty things', to view this really degrading porn of some celebrety you must first do this survey and execute this code. Or even bundled in with pirate versions, over a few beers a buddy who works for a small design software firm was laughing at how many people had become infected by a virus which was spread by just one torrent of their product (not by him!). Or like 419 scam emails, really obvious things, that weed out the people with an ounce of sense to leave only those dumb enough to run it. People like my Dad, who typed in the admin password because he was running as regular user :( Then threw a hissy fit when I suggest he not know the admin password in future. Sure administrator as default is dumb, really dumb. But most of these attack vectors would still be open on linux, in fact we've seen some for the bsd based OSX last year.
    - voidlogic 14y ago
      In recent versions of Windows you are right about the exec perm and run as admin prompt existing. "The downside is the user is prompted in a manner that allows them to override this." Exactly right. Since both of those prompts are "click OK to continue" types it makes the barrier they present is much lower than Linux where you have to change a file permission, then type your password again (and probably from a terminal to use sudo). I would say the barrier is so low they seldom work from what I have seen. My family members who run Linux don't even know how to use sudo... they just use the Ubuntu software center/synaptic. "in fact we've seen some for the bsd based OSX last year" I have not used OSX in 4 years so I can't comment meaningfully on this. My gut tells me Apple probably takes a lower barrier approach like MS, but I don't know.
      - TheAnimus 14y ago
        Actually, being very un-scientific and subjective. I've not seen that. Most things I've seen spreading are already infected executables of pirate code. Or exploits. Now we can talk about the fact running as Admin is stupid, and UAC is just a way to allow bad habbits to continue. But, just look how complex (and sometimes elegant) the average entry in pwn2own web browsers are. Side stepping ASLR, breaking the sandbox, privlidge escalation. All of those things can and are possible on any operating system, this includes linux.
      - xymostech 14y ago
        Commenting on the state of OS X right now: There's this 'Gatekeeper' feature (which can be disabled, but starts enabled) that makes it so a developer has to have a signed certificate from apple in order to run on OS X. If someone starts releasing malware with a previously obtained certificate, Apple will send an update that disables that certificate. I think that, once smaller developers start getting their apps signed (I'm not sure how hard it is to do this) then this will be a wonderful tool, and already probably is nice for non-power users. I currently leave it disabled because enough of the stuff I use isn't signed, but in the future it might be a nice step forwards for security.
        14y ago
  - webreac 14y ago
    Tell him to type source < wget ... Then to type your password when the usual dialog appears.
  - singular 14y ago
    Surely you could get them to execute something via an e.g. .deb package? Or is there security in-built somehow? What if there is a security bug that permits escalation? Windows defaults to limited permissions now also BTW.
  - aidenn0 14y ago
    Counterpoints: Virtually all desktops are either single user. I exploit a bug in any of your networked client software to run locally. Since it's running under X11, I can now log all of your keystrokes. If you ever run sudo and type in your password, I have root. On the other-hand I don't really care about running as root, since most of what a botnet is used for can be done with non-root permissions anyway.

Lucky enough for the guy who wrote this. He didn't try it long enough to know that there's this thing on Windows OS called "Virus/Worm/Trojan" that eats up everything on his PC. ROFL.

aw3c2 14y ago

I dread the time when Linux is popular enough for malware. it will be a massacre.

voidlogic 14y ago
People often say this, there are a lot of complicated technical reasons this is not true, leaving those aside, here are two very simple ones: 1. You download virusBin in Linux, you cannot run it- it does not have execute permission by default. 2. OK so either graphically or at the terminal (chmod u+x) you make virusBin executable.... (I'm not sure why you did this...) If you run it, all of its access outside of /home/$USER is read-only, the system and other users are safe, maybe your data is not. So if you really want to mess up your machine 1. Download virusBin 2. Give virus Bin execute permission 3. Assuming you are the systems admin, you can now run it as root... sudo ./virusBin.. To get a user to do all that it is going to take a LOT of social engineering.
- TheAnimus 14y ago
  1) Ever since XP SP2, anything that has been downloaded does not have execute flags. The downside is the user is prompted in a manner that allows them to override this. The question is, how did the executable get there in the first place? Most of the explots that really hit windows are bugs in browsers / addins. A lot are also spread via 'naughty things', to view this really degrading porn of some celebrety you must first do this survey and execute this code. Or even bundled in with pirate versions, over a few beers a buddy who works for a small design software firm was laughing at how many people had become infected by a virus which was spread by just one torrent of their product (not by him!). Or like 419 scam emails, really obvious things, that weed out the people with an ounce of sense to leave only those dumb enough to run it. People like my Dad, who typed in the admin password because he was running as regular user :( Then threw a hissy fit when I suggest he not know the admin password in future. Sure administrator as default is dumb, really dumb. But most of these attack vectors would still be open on linux, in fact we've seen some for the bsd based OSX last year.
  - voidlogic 14y ago
    In recent versions of Windows you are right about the exec perm and run as admin prompt existing. "The downside is the user is prompted in a manner that allows them to override this." Exactly right. Since both of those prompts are "click OK to continue" types it makes the barrier they present is much lower than Linux where you have to change a file permission, then type your password again (and probably from a terminal to use sudo). I would say the barrier is so low they seldom work from what I have seen. My family members who run Linux don't even know how to use sudo... they just use the Ubuntu software center/synaptic. "in fact we've seen some for the bsd based OSX last year" I have not used OSX in 4 years so I can't comment meaningfully on this. My gut tells me Apple probably takes a lower barrier approach like MS, but I don't know.
    - TheAnimus 14y ago
      Actually, being very un-scientific and subjective. I've not seen that. Most things I've seen spreading are already infected executables of pirate code. Or exploits. Now we can talk about the fact running as Admin is stupid, and UAC is just a way to allow bad habbits to continue. But, just look how complex (and sometimes elegant) the average entry in pwn2own web browsers are. Side stepping ASLR, breaking the sandbox, privlidge escalation. All of those things can and are possible on any operating system, this includes linux.
    - xymostech 14y ago
      Commenting on the state of OS X right now: There's this 'Gatekeeper' feature (which can be disabled, but starts enabled) that makes it so a developer has to have a signed certificate from apple in order to run on OS X. If someone starts releasing malware with a previously obtained certificate, Apple will send an update that disables that certificate. I think that, once smaller developers start getting their apps signed (I'm not sure how hard it is to do this) then this will be a wonderful tool, and already probably is nice for non-power users. I currently leave it disabled because enough of the stuff I use isn't signed, but in the future it might be a nice step forwards for security.
      - 14y ago
- webreac 14y ago
  Tell him to type source < wget ... Then to type your password when the usual dialog appears.
- singular 14y ago
  Surely you could get them to execute something via an e.g. .deb package? Or is there security in-built somehow? What if there is a security bug that permits escalation? Windows defaults to limited permissions now also BTW.
- aidenn0 14y ago
  Counterpoints: Virtually all desktops are either single user. I exploit a bug in any of your networked client software to run locally. Since it's running under X11, I can now log all of your keystrokes. If you ever run sudo and type in your password, I have root. On the other-hand I don't really care about running as root, since most of what a botnet is used for can be done with non-root permissions anyway.