[TAG] Thieves Winning Online War, Maybe Even in Your Computer (NY Times)

[Ben Okopnik]

[Article in NYTimes by John Markoff, via the RISKS Digest]

```
Despite the efforts of the computer security industry and a half-decade
struggle by Microsoft to protect its Windows operating system, malicious
software is spreading faster than ever. The so-called malware
surreptitiously takes over a PC and then uses that computer to spread
more malware to other machines exponentially. Computer scientists and
security researchers acknowledge they cannot get ahead of the onslaught.
'''

(Full story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/technology/internet/06security.html)

Gosh, that last sentence has me all terrified. "Cannot get ahead of the
onslaught", even.

I remember the last time I had a virus. I downloaded it, compiled it (in
a chroot-jail sandbox, just in case), and played with it for a bit - it
created a neat little "/tmp/.bliss" log file for me to read. Then, I ran
it again with an option that told it to go away, and it was gone.

It didn't make me feel onslaughtered (I think that's the proper
verb... <barbie_mode>English is *hard!</barbie_mode>) at all. I don't
know what those other people's problem is.


Seriously - it's a badly-written article, with lots of name dropping and
little actual research. The author doesn't even mention Linux (or BSD,
or any options beyond OS/X.) The general point is that the Bad Guys are
making lots of money ripping off the poor little users... but this is
just the same old three-card monty multiplied by a few million naive
hayseeds just off the train. Yep, there are more con men and more
suckers, as well as more unsuspecting mules. [shrug] It's called a
"growing population" and "better communications". That, as always,
presumes either A) an increased ability to swim with the sharks or B)
accepting, however unwillingly, your role as an _hors_d'oeuvre_ . There
is no option C - and never has been.

I guess the NYT needs some low-calorie filler for their Technology
section once in a while...


-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *