by Elinor Mills
A decade ago there was no Facebook, no iPhone, and no Conficker. There was dial-up and AOL and a nasty virus called Melissa that ended up being the fastest spreading virus at the time.
CNET News talked to Dmitry Graznov, a senior research architect at McAfee Avert Labs who was among the researchers who worked to fight the Melissa outbreak and track down the creator.
Q: How was Melissa discovered?
Graznov: Avert as a whole discovered it as did some of the competitors. It was submitted to us by customers as it started to spread around the world (on March 26, 1999).
What made Melissa different from previous viruses?
Graznov: It was the first mass-mailing virus, which used e-mail to spread on a large scale.
What harm did the virus do?
Graznov: In some cases the load on the e-mail servers in some organizations was so high that the servers were effectively shut down.
How many computers were affected and what did the virus do?
Graznov: Hundreds of thousands of computers were affected. That's a guess...Melissa infected other documents a user opened in Microsoft Word. It also connected to Outlook if it was running and selected 50 entries in the address book and e-mailed an infected document to those addresses...including mailing lists...As a result, the virus was sent not just to 50 people, but to thousands of people easily. We didn't have any firm numbers to go by, but we did have reports from customers saying their Exchange servers were overwhelmed.
How long did the outbreak last?
Graznov: Several days, but the infections continued to be registered for a long time after that. It was just a macro virus and we were well equipped to provide detection and removal for people's computers even then...The fact that it was so widespread in the world already meant it took a long time to remove the infections.
How did the virus writer get caught?
Graznov: I was running, actually still am, a project called Usenet Virus Patrol, which scans Usenet articles for viruses. The author of Melissa posted the virus to a newsgroup called "alt.sex." It was zipped up and sent as if it was a list of passwords to like 80-something different porno sites...It was just bait to entice people into downloading it and opening it. Once it was opened, it started e-mailing itself around. It was relatively easy to go back and find the exact Usenet posting that started all this. In the header of the posting it was possible to find out not only the e-mail address from which it was sent but also the IP address of the computer from which it was sent. That IP was linked to an AOL account and from that the FBI subpoenaed AOL and they provided the dial-in logs...and found out what computer was assigned that IP address and from what telephone number the call was made. The AOL account was a compromised one...The phone call that used that account came from New Jersey and the FBI linked the phone number to a particular address. That is how they found the guy's computer...The data we provided them was the clue that led straight to the criminal. (David L. Smith pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison and $5,000 in fines.)
What was the motivation behind Melissa?
Graznov: There was no material gain. Back then, people didn't do it for money. They did it for mischief, for fame...Today there is huge money in computer crime...Back then, we had 200 times fewer pieces of malware than we have today.
Any comments on Conficker and Melissa and how far we've come?
Graznov: Conficker is a completely different type of thing. It's not a macro virus. It's an executable and a botnet, and it downloads lots of stuff on your computer. It's basically a network for sale. It can be rented out. It can be used for password stealing. Back in 1999 there wasn't such a thing as a business model for malware...Today, big money is involved in computer malware. You cannot even compare them.
source
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Nov 23, 2007
O2 has Wigan-sized iPhone problem
Exclusive Everyone wants a Wii or an Eee this Christmas. They're the hottest technology items in town, but there's none to be found for love nor money. If you want an iPhone, however, supplies remain plentiful.
Reliable channel sources tell us that Apple's exclusive UK operator has activated just 26,500 iPhones since its launch two weeks ago, below the company's expectations.
This doesn't reflect the true number sold - for reasons we elaborate on below - but the gross is unlikely to be significantly higher. It's far lower than first-weekend sales guesstimates of 100,000, a figure reprinted by tabloid and broadsheet alike. The UK market has around 25m households; 26,500 is around the capacity of Fulham's Craven Cottage, or Wigan's JJB Stadium.
O2 chief Peter Erskine sounded defensive on the Monday following the launch, justifying the company's decision.
"It's the old story in retail, if you can get them in you can sell them something," he told reporters, saying it was "early days" for the iPhone. It still is.
The impetus within O2 to take the exclusive iPhone deal came from Matthew Key - who personally came within range of the Reality Distortion Field.
"I played with it for two minutes and just thought, 'oh my God, this is leagues above anything I've ever seen before'," Key told the Telegraph. Key drove home the deal while other operators balked at Apple's terms.
He wasn't alone. Analysts urged O2 to make emergency investments in its network capacity to cope with anticipated data demand. Broadsheet newspapers and 24 hour news TV filled space by reporting on 'a cultural phenomenon'.
So what are the numbers?
Carphone Warehouse, the main retail outlet for Apple's hot item, had taken stock of 50,000 iPhones, but had only managed to shift around 11,000 in the first weekend. O2 has over 400 stores and Apple just 12 in the UK. Phone industry sources estimated that 25,000 units might have shifted in that first weekend - but that now seems optimistic.
But does the number of activations actually represent the number of iPhones O2 has shipped? That's a hotly disputed issue in the channel this week.
The optimistic argument is that many more thousands of iPhones have been sold, but not yet activated. Some have been bought as Christmas presents, and the number activated represents the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Others have been bought, then "jailbroken" - removing the SIM lock and restrictions on running third-party software - and then immediately sold on for a profit.
Perhaps Jack Duckworth has bought one for Vera as a Christmas present in Corrie - and come December 25, that scene will be being played out across the land.
Link
Reliable channel sources tell us that Apple's exclusive UK operator has activated just 26,500 iPhones since its launch two weeks ago, below the company's expectations.
This doesn't reflect the true number sold - for reasons we elaborate on below - but the gross is unlikely to be significantly higher. It's far lower than first-weekend sales guesstimates of 100,000, a figure reprinted by tabloid and broadsheet alike. The UK market has around 25m households; 26,500 is around the capacity of Fulham's Craven Cottage, or Wigan's JJB Stadium.
O2 chief Peter Erskine sounded defensive on the Monday following the launch, justifying the company's decision.
"It's the old story in retail, if you can get them in you can sell them something," he told reporters, saying it was "early days" for the iPhone. It still is.
The impetus within O2 to take the exclusive iPhone deal came from Matthew Key - who personally came within range of the Reality Distortion Field.
"I played with it for two minutes and just thought, 'oh my God, this is leagues above anything I've ever seen before'," Key told the Telegraph. Key drove home the deal while other operators balked at Apple's terms.
He wasn't alone. Analysts urged O2 to make emergency investments in its network capacity to cope with anticipated data demand. Broadsheet newspapers and 24 hour news TV filled space by reporting on 'a cultural phenomenon'.
So what are the numbers?
Carphone Warehouse, the main retail outlet for Apple's hot item, had taken stock of 50,000 iPhones, but had only managed to shift around 11,000 in the first weekend. O2 has over 400 stores and Apple just 12 in the UK. Phone industry sources estimated that 25,000 units might have shifted in that first weekend - but that now seems optimistic.
But does the number of activations actually represent the number of iPhones O2 has shipped? That's a hotly disputed issue in the channel this week.
The optimistic argument is that many more thousands of iPhones have been sold, but not yet activated. Some have been bought as Christmas presents, and the number activated represents the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Others have been bought, then "jailbroken" - removing the SIM lock and restrictions on running third-party software - and then immediately sold on for a profit.
Perhaps Jack Duckworth has bought one for Vera as a Christmas present in Corrie - and come December 25, that scene will be being played out across the land.
Link
Nov 21, 2007
iPhone Not Sending Out IMEI Numbers After All, Widespread Panic Subsided
There was a huge uproar about Apple possibly collecting IMEI numbers from iPhone users whenever they used either the Weather or Stocks Widget but it seems like it was a false alarm. Heise publications has found it is instead a unique code identifier sent out by every iPhone and is not specific on a per user basis.
Heise, through some extended testing, found these two Widgets do not transfer any sort of personal information besides what the user has input and a unique identifier code. The code is used by the iPhone to either authenticate with Apple whether or not the device connecting to that service (which is powered by Yahoo!) is allowed or used to track how popular that service is amongst users.
However, the Calculator Application found on the iPod Touch and iPhone sends the same information.
Link
Heise, through some extended testing, found these two Widgets do not transfer any sort of personal information besides what the user has input and a unique identifier code. The code is used by the iPhone to either authenticate with Apple whether or not the device connecting to that service (which is powered by Yahoo!) is allowed or used to track how popular that service is amongst users.
However, the Calculator Application found on the iPod Touch and iPhone sends the same information.
Link
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