Published
3 years agoon
You’ve heard of malware, worms, and viruses, but what do those terms actually mean? How do worms and viruses damage your devices?
Malware, computer viruses, worms: these are some of the core terms that cause fear and panic. We're always told to steer clear of dubious sites and downloads because getting a nasty computer bug can result in a host of disastrous outcomes; you can have your data erased or even leaked to the internet!
While there are numerous computer threats out there in the world, malware, viruses, and worms are the ones that we talk about more often. So what actually are they? What are the differences between them?
The first computer viruses weren't threats like today; they were experiments during the early days of computer technology. Back in 1971, an engineer at the technology company BBN Technologies developed a program that could self-replicate called "Creeper."
This program was made to jump from different DEC PDP-10 machines running the Tenex operating system. Creeper would travel from computer to computer using the ARPANET and would display the message "I’M THE CREEPER: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN."
It would replicate itself as it jumped to the next computer and attempt to delete itself from the previous one. Aside from being a minor inconvenience (and rather creepy), Creeper did not cause any harm to the systems.
Related: What are Macro Viruses? Can Windows Defender Protect You From Them?
We typically refer to malware, viruses, and worms as different entities, but here's the deal: malware is an umbrella term. Malware refers to any type of malicious software that's meant to wreak havoc on computers. This means that viruses and worms are different categories of malware.
This means that the first computer viruses technically can't be called malware because they were just harmless experiments. Even the 1986 virus called "Brain" isn't malware, though it was the first to spread worldwide.
There are a lot of different types of malware and you may have heard of some of them. Trojans, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware: the list goes on. There are even different types of malware that attack Android phones.
This leaves us with viruses and worms. How are these two bits of sinister software different, and which one is the lesser of the two evils?
Even though malware encompasses a wide variety of bad software, we tend to think of viruses as the umbrella term. We call any bit of malicious software that invades our computers a virus, but viruses have their own idiosyncrasies that make them uniquely terrible.
One of the main identifying factors with viruses is their ability to self-replicate; this is what made Creeper a virus. Much like biological viruses, computer viruses need to find a host to attach themselves to. They arrive on the computer attached to files, then find other files to infect.
A virus is activated when the user opens an infected document or runs an infected EXE file. Once the file is opened, the virus gets to work infecting other files and documents.
Related: The Most Notorious Malware Attacks of All Time
Worms are very similar to viruses in that they are capable of self-replicating; however, there are a few differences. Worms are more self-efficient than viruses. Worms, unlike viruses, don't need host files to attach to. They are standalone programs that act on their own.
After a worm finds its spot on the hard drive or SSD, it can start making copies of its own accord. Instead of spreading from file to file, worms just make standalone copies of themselves.
Now that we know what makes viruses and worms different, let's talk about what makes them deadly. When someone (i.e. the hacker) plants unwanted software on your computer, it puts a lot of power in their hands, making them a puppet master to your device. Viruses and worms, when activated, can do some major damage to the user on many levels.
They can cause your computer to become uncharacteristically slow, but that's on the less severe side of the spectrum. Since these programs multiply en masse, they start to take up more and more drive space. On older computers, some viruses would actually inflate files so much that the system was unable to even open them.
It gets worse, as viruses and worms can initiate unwanted actions on your computer. They can install programs, cause pop-ups throughout your system, even send emails to people from your email address to infect other computers.
Getting to the more serious effects, your personal data can be a virtual buffet to a virus or worm. Since the hacker has their fingers in your system, they can have access to any kind of information they want. They'll be able to steal information like passwords, addresses, and banking information.
If that isn't scary enough, viruses and worms can also stay there and just cause damage to or modify your system files. Much like rogue Minecraft players who destroy other people's servers, viruses and worms can change or delete files on your system. You can easily log on one day and find important files and programs missing.
Having a virus can turn your entire world upside down depending on what you have on your computer, what type of virus or worm you get, and how the hacker wishes to ravage your data. Related: What You Need to Know About the Dridex Trojan Horse
Having any sort of malware attack is scary business. According to Clario, malware like ILOVEYOU and Sobig.F both caused billions of dollars in damages. It's imperative you avoid getting infected with any sort of malware, but how do you go about doing that? Here are some basic security tips.
Whether it's a virus or a worm, it's still malware. Let's face it, there are always going to be bad people who want to watch the world burn, and sometimes, they target your computers. This is why it's important to know what these terms mean and what makes them different.
Sometimes, a bit of knowledge can mean a world of safety.
Arthur is a tech journalist and musician living in America. He has been in the industry for nearly a decade, having written for online publications such as Android Headlines. He has a deep knowledge of Android and ChromeOS. Along with writing informational articles, he is also adept at reporting tech news.
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Published
9 months agoon
March 15, 2024
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s orchestration of one of history’s largest financial frauds in his quest to dominate the cryptocurrency world deserves a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years, federal prosecutors on Friday told a federal judge.
Prosecutors made the recommendation in papers filed in Manhattan federal court in advance of a March 28 sentencing, where a judge will also consider a 100-year prison sentence recommended by the court’s probation officers and a request by defense lawyers for leniency and a term of imprisonment not to exceed single digits.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November on fraud and conspiracy charges after his dramatic fall from a year earlier when he and his companies seemed to be riding a crest of success that had resulted in a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David.
Some of his biggest successes, though, resulted from stealing at least $10 billion from investors and customers between 2017 and 2022 to buy luxury real estate, make risky investments, dispense outsized charitable donations and political contributions and to buy praise from celebrities, prosecutors said.
“His life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people’s money. And even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong,” prosecutors wrote.
“Having set himself on the goal of amassing endless wealth and unlimited power — to the point that he thought he might become President and the world’s first trillionaire — there was little Bankman-Fried did not do to achieve it,” prosecutors said.
They said crimes reflecting a “brazen disrespect for the rule of law” had depleted the retirement funds and nest eggs of people who could least afford to lose money, including some in war-torn or financially insecure countries, and had harmed others who sought to “break generational poverty” only to be left “devastated” and “heartbroken.”
“He knew what society deemed illegal and unethical, but disregarded that based on a pernicious megalomania guided by the defendant’s own values and sense of superiority,” prosecutors said.
Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States in December 2022 from the Bahamas after his companies collapsed a month earlier. Originally permitted to remain at home with his parents in Palo Alto, California, he was jailed last year weeks before his trial after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan concluded that he had tried to tamper with trial witnesses.
In their presentence submission, prosecutors described Bankman-Fried’s crimes as “one of the largest financial frauds in history, and what is likely the largest fraud in the last decade.”
“The defendant victimized tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials. Each of these crimes is worthy of a lengthy sentence,” they wrote.
They said his “unlawful political donations to over 300 politicians and political action groups, amounting to in excess of $100 million, is believed to be the largest-ever campaign finance offense.”
And they said his $150 million in bribes to Chinese government officials was one of the single largest by an individual.
“Even following FTX’s bankruptcy and his subsequent arrest, Bankman-Fried shirked responsibility, deflected blame to market events and other individuals, attempted to tamper with witnesses, and lied repeatedly under oath,” prosecutors said, citing his trial testimony.
Two weeks ago, Bankman-Fried attorney Marc Mukasey attacked a probation office recommendation that their client serve 100 years in prison, saying a sentence of that length would be “grotesque” and “barbaric.”
He urged the judge to sentence Bankman-Fried to just a few years behind bars after calculating federal sentencing guidelines to recommend a term of five to 6 1/2 years in prison.
“Sam is not the ‘evil genius’ depicted in the media or the greedy villain described at trial,” Mukasey said, calling his client a “first-time, non-violent offender, who was joined in the conduct at issue by at least four other culpable individuals, in a matter where victims are poised to recover — were always poised to recover — a hundred cents on the dollar.”
Mukasey said he will respond to the prosecutors’ claims in a filing next week.
Published
10 months agoon
February 21, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order and created a federal rule aimed at better securing the nation’s ports from potential cyberattacks.
The administration is outlining a set of cybersecurity regulations that port operators must comply with across the country, not unlike standardized safety regulations that seek to prevent injury or damage to people and infrastructure.
“We want to ensure there are similar requirements for cyber, when a cyberattack can cause just as much if not more damage than a storm or another physical threat,” said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser at the White House.
Nationwide, ports employ roughly 31 million people and contribute $5.4 trillion to the economy, and could be left vulnerable to a ransomware or other brand of cyberattack, Neuberger said. The standardized set of requirements is designed to help protect against that.
The new requirements are part of the federal government’s focus on modernizing how critical infrastructure like power grids, ports and pipelines are protected as they are increasingly managed and controlled online, often remotely. There is no set of nationwide standards that govern how operators should protect against potential attacks online.
The threat continues to grow. Hostile activity in cyberspace — from spying to the planting of malware to infect and disrupt a country’s infrastructure — has become a hallmark of modern geopolitical rivalry.
For example, in 2021, the operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline had to temporarily halt operations after it fell victim to a ransomware attack in which hackers hold a victim’s data or device hostage in exchange for money. The company, Colonial Pipeline, paid $4.4 million to a Russia-based hacker group, though Justice Department officials later recovered much of the money.
Ports, too, are vulnerable. In Australia last year, a cyber incident forced one of the country’s largest port operators to suspend operations for three days.
In the U.S., roughly 80% of the giant cranes used to lift and haul cargo off ships onto U.S. docks come from China, and are controlled remotely, said Admiral John Vann, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s cyber command. That leaves them vulnerable to attack, he said.
Late last month, U.S. officials said they had disrupted a state-backed Chinese effort to plant malware that could be used to damage civilian infrastructure. Vann said this type of potential attack was a concern as officials pushed for new standards, but they are also worried about the possibility for criminal activity.
The new standards, which will be subject to a public comment period, will be required for any port operator and there will be enforcement actions for failing to comply with the standards, though the officials did not outline them. They require port operators to notify authorities when they have been victimized by a cyberattack. The actions also give the Coast Guard, which regulates the nation’s ports, the ability to respond to cyberattacks.
Published
1 year agoon
November 19, 2023
Theories are going around the internet why Sam Altman was fired. On an insider tech forum (Blind) – one person claims to know by third-hand account and how this news will trickle into the media over the next couple of weeks.
It’s said OpenAI had been using data from D2 to train its AI models, which includes GPT-4. This data was obtained through a hidden business contract with a D2 shell company called Whitefly, which was based in Singapore. This D2 group has the largest and biggest crawling/indexing/scanning capacity in the world 10x more than Alphabet Inc (Google), hence the deal so Open AI could get their hands on vast quantities of data for training after exhausting their other options.
The Chinese government became aware of this arrangement and raised concerns with the Biden administration. As a result, the NSA launched an investigation, which confirmed that OpenAI had been using data from D2. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, which is a major investor in OpenAI, was informed of the findings and ordered Altman’s removal.
There was also suggestion that Altman refused to disclose this information to the OpenAI board. This lack of candor ultimately led to his dismissal and is what the board publicly alluded to when they said “not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”
To summarize what happened with Sam Altman’s firing:
1. Sam Altman was removed from OpenAI due to his ties to a Chinese cyber army group.
2.OpenAI had been using data from D2 to train its AI models.
3. The Chinese government raised concerns about this arrangement with the Biden administration.
4. The NSA launched an investigation, which confirmed OpenAI’s use of D2 data.
5. Satya Nadella ordered Altman’s removal after being informed of the findings.
6. Altman refused to disclose this information to the OpenAI board.
We’ll see in the next couple of weeks if this story holds up or not.
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