The Malware Writers and Hackers - Article Example

? With the evolution in complexity, scale and span of computer technology it would be naive to expect that time has stood still for the hacker or malware content writer of the last century. If anything, it is vast tracts of technology and systems security that have gasped to keep pace with the enterprise and ingenuity of the present day cyber criminal. It has often been said in a lighter vein – though little could be closer to fact – that you need a hacker to write the most fool-proof programs. This is testimony to the clout and threat that a hacker carries in propelling the most significant advancements in system coding and system security. It is also a statement on the ‘legitimacy’ that a hacker has acquired in the current scenario. This current scenario is a monumental change from the last century in terms of not just the profile of the malware ‘specialist’ but the various tools, modus operandi and the scope and span at his command today. In the pages ahead is an attempt to outline how malware content writers and/or hackers have become progressively more vicious and intrusive. Hobby Hacker turns Mr. Hyde The hacking of today began as ‘phreaking’ in the early 70’s. When John Draper’s toy whistle generated the 2600 Hz tone to authorize free calls from telephone exchanges, it was more a prank and a quirk of a ‘kinky’ mind than anything more serious. In the late 70’s, it turned a trifle more serious with de-coding of bank accounts for defraud. It was around this time that the colourful ‘Captain Zap’ emerged as arguable ‘inspiration’ for a generation of hackers when he broke in AT&T clocks and brought moonshine discounts to people during sunshine hours. Righard J. Zwienenberg, Chief Research Officer at security software vendor Norman Data Systems, recalled that in 1988 people were writing viruses and malware mostly to become famous. Many early infectious programs in those years were written as pranks and not intended to cause serious damage to computer systems. Trainee programmers learning about viruses and their techniques wrote them for practice or to test them. Since then it has moved into a more organized crime field. The very fact that there was public outcry against allocation of FBI resources against hacking in the US in the ‘80s speaks a lot for the trivial position it occupied in the public psyche; even the 1985 published Hacker’s Handbook encouraged hacking as a sport! More recently, since the rise of widespread broadband Internet access, malicious software has been written with a profit motive in mind. It speaks of a dangerous trend with malware authors monetizing their control over infected systems and turning that control into a source of revenue. For instance, since 2003, the majority of widespread viruses and worms have been designed to take control of users' computers for black-market exploitation. Infected "zombie computers" are used to send email spam, to host contraband data such as child pornography or to engage in distributed denial-of-service attacks as a form of extortion. Another strictly for-profit category of malware has emerged in spyware -- programs designed to monitor users' web browsing, display unsolicited advertisements or redirect affiliate marketing revenues to the spyware creator. Tools of the trade get more toxic: Nothing exemplifies the evolution of malware writers and hackers better than the tools they deploy. The 20th century hacker’s kit consisted of a motley assortment of a BBC Model B and Sinclair Spectrum computer, a Prism VTX 5000 and Cumana modem, a portable monitor, an Epsom printer, disc drives and floppies and an electronic organ for creating tones for phreaking. Today’s hacker uses far more sophisticated technology to achieve his nefarious ends – botnets or networks of compromised ‘zombie’ PCs began to be tapped into in 2003. Malware writers who compromised the computers with Internet worms realized that they could be rented out to spammers for a fee. As botnets created from compromised desktop PCs grew, they created a black market in zombie machines manipulated to send spam. Mafia groups nowadays operate botnets to get details from credit cards or monitor access to banking websites to harvest passwords. The Bancos Trojan, released lately, is a good example of such an attack. Even this nature of malware is changing. Internet worms designed to spread quickly were common place a couple of years ago, but of late where people want to send out malicious code, they’re spamming it full blast deliberately because sending out a rapidly proliferating worm to create a huge botnet is too obvious and raises too many alarms, prompting users to take security measures. Today’s for-profit malware writers want to stay clear of the radar, because if their product is noticed it prompts victims to take action. Organized commercial malware authors want to enslave, not destroy, their targets. Even so, botnet-originated DDoS techniques are being used to target companies such as online gambling sites and banks; criminal groups threaten to bring down their websites for periods of time causing a potentially serious impact on revenue and customer confidence. Corporate and political espionage is also increasingly relying on the dexterity of malware programmers. Whatever may be the form it is taking, cybercrime and cybercriminals are using a different, more vicious generation of malware writer to the typical prank-playing teen who has traditionally been the author of viruses in the past. Malware is now multi-cultural Malware writers and attackers have become familiar with local culture, pastimes and social nuances and now incorporate them into their ploys. Malware that was very English language centric till a few years back is now addressing victims in native languages, in native idiom. The surge of the internet has brought into its fold large parts of the non-English peaking world and what better way to get access to their bank accounts and credit cards than through a familiar medium. Just as crime syndicates lock step across the world, so do cyber criminals transcend national boundaries and exchange data to spam world travelers with local information that they may turn to in time of need. Not just the geographical spread, the span of malware is equally alarming. Malware now makes up the majority of all new applications: 65–70 percent of applications developed and released to the public for Windows-based PCs have been reported to be malicious, according to Symantec's latest threat report. Of the 2,134 application vulnerabilities recorded in the latest report, web applications dominated the list. Symantec claims that over 70 percent of these were "easily exploitable". Cyber chase challenges Even as the need to book cyber crime perpetrators becomes more imperative, the challenge grows more difficult. The tendency to ignore and trivialize of the ‘70s has given way to specialized cyber crime cells that face an uphill task with internet becoming the battleground of the intrusive cyber criminal in the 21st century. This alone is enough reason to set alarm bells ringing at the growing influence and spread of the malware writer and hacker. The cyber crime chase is now happening across countries and continents and the cry for sharing cyber intelligence and for having reciprocal legislations is growing more desperate. The power and reach of the malware specialist has been definitively recognized as all-prevalent, potent and pestilential. In conclusion, it would not be inappropriate to term malware writers and cyber criminals as the white ants of the 21st century’s internet era, eating into the foundations of our networks as they rapidly branch out in all conceivable directions. In their wake they are leaving damage and destruction; but, more dangerously they are a species that is becoming increasingly stronger and more resistant to regulation, remedy or reason. Sources: 1. Danny Bradbury, Computers & Security, Volume: 25, Issue: 2 pp.89-90; ISSN 0167-4048 March 2006 2. Dan Goodin, San Francisco • Posted in Malware, 22nd February 2008 00:50 GMT 3. Wikipedia>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware 4. Computer Crime: A Brief Chronology – Technology & Computer Crime, Information & Security Group >> www.isg.rhul.ac.uk 5. Symantec >> http://www.messagelabs.com/intelligence.aspx Read More