Author Topic: Those Darn Pesky German Teenagers  (Read 1122 times)

Offline Gunslinger

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Those Darn Pesky German Teenagers
« on: May 09, 2004, 01:04:14 PM »
What ever happend to the exploding bag of dog poop....TPing a house or knocking over ones trash cans.  Kids now a days have the ability to bring the world to its knees


Jetzt gehen Sie ohne irgendein Abendessen schlafen

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4928653/

Authorities: Teen confesses to creating ‘Sasser’
Worm infected thousands of computers worldwideThe Associated Press
Updated: 2:46 p.m. ET May  08, 2004HANOVER, Germany - A German high-school student has confessed to creating the “Sasser” worm that generated chaos across the globe by infecting hundreds of thousands of computers, authorities said Saturday.

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The teenager, whose name was not released, was arrested Friday in the northern village of Waffensen, where he lives with his family. In a search of the suspect’s home, German investigators confiscated his customized computer, which contained the worm’s source code.

“As a result of the student’s detailed testimony about the viruses he spread, he has been identified clearly as the author,” the state criminal office in Hanover said in a statement. Spokesman Detlef Ehrike said he is being investigated on suspicion of computer sabotage, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

After being questioned, the teenager was released pending charges.

The worm raced around the world over the past week, exploiting a flaw in Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

(MSNBC is an NBC News - Microsoft joint venture.)

Microsoft said informants contacted it on Wednesday, offering information about the worm’s creator. The company’s investigators worked with German authorities, the FBI and Secret Service agents, tracing the virus by analyzing its source code, said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer.

Smith did not say how many people came forward or explain how they got their information.

“These were individuals who were aware of who the perpetrator was,” he said in a conference call. “They did not stumble on this simply through technical analysis.

Unlike many infections, Sasser does not require users to activate it by clicking on an e-mail attachment. Once inside, the worm scans the Internet for others to attack, causing some computers to continually crash and reboot.

The teenager told officials that his original intention was to create a virus called “Netsky A” that would combat the “Mydoom” and “Bagle” viruses, removing them from infected computers. In the course of that effort, he developed Sasser.

“The student did not give any thought to the resulting consequences or damage,” investigators’ statement said.

Disruptions worldwide
On Monday, the worm hit public hospitals in Hong Kong and one-third of Taiwan’s post office branches. Twenty British Airways flights were each delayed about 10 minutes Tuesday due to Sasser troubles at check-in desks. British coast guard stations were forced to use pen and paper for charts normally generated by computer.

Sasser is known as a network worm because it can automatically scan the Internet for computers with the security flaw and send a copy of itself there.

Four versions
The German government’s information technology security agency said there were four versions of Sasser.

“The first version was amateurish,” spokesman Michael Dickopf said. However, the others “were clearly different in the damage they caused.”

Police said the German teenager was responsible for all the versions, in addition to variants of the Netsky virus.

Microsoft investigators told the informants, who had asked whether they would be eligible for a reward, that they would consider paying $250,000 if the information led to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Smith said the arrest was a sign that such rewards work.

“We believe this is an important step forward in the industry’s ability to fight malicious code on the Internet,” he said.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2004, 01:07:25 PM by Gunslinger »

Offline eskimo2

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« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2004, 01:25:25 PM »
Maybe he will write a book in prison....

Offline VOR

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« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2004, 01:50:18 PM »
Quote
Maybe he will write a book in prison....


I thought that was more of an Austrian  thing to do.

:p

Offline hawker238

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« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2004, 02:58:32 PM »
How dare you make light of my struggle.

Offline babek-

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« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2004, 03:05:39 PM »
He is not in prison - but he will have to pay al lot of money for his actions. The rest of his life...

Offline straffo

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« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2004, 03:17:04 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by babek-
He is not in prison - but he will have to pay al lot of money for his actions. The rest of his life...


And tons of people still pay microsoft for Windiot...

I don't see why he should pay the rest of is life for an microsoft flaw and incompetence, add to this the lack of the minimal knowledge and protection by the users.

Offline eskimo2

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« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2004, 03:26:45 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by straffo
And tons of people still pay microsoft for Windiot...

I don't see why he should pay the rest of is life for an microsoft flaw and incompetence, add to this the lack of the minimal knowledge and protection by the users.


Let's compare Windows to Citron.  Windows has some design flaws, so do Citrons.  If I were to sabotage a Citron aftermarket mass produced part that exploited a flaw in the car, causing the car to die or crash, who should be held responsible?

EVERYTHING can be sabotaged!

eskimo

Offline straffo

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« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2004, 03:55:56 PM »
Sure everything can be badly designed but I think Microsoft got a team to be sure.

But this particuliar flaw exist since long.
I'm also pissed because microsoft spent million in ads instead o f research
And know my boss is sure we need to "upgrade" some computers  to Winblows knowing that :
-The OS is collection of the more rotten and badly designed software.
-Lack of reliability will be my responsabilty and I'll be only the one  having the head removed in the announced catastrophe.

The sabotage is not the part I'm affraid off , it's something I can live with.

But bad design in the heart of the system ,that irrate me .

Offline Gunslinger

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« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2004, 04:03:08 PM »
I have to say....even w/ the security flaws......I've been very happy with Windoes XP.

Offline straffo

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« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2004, 04:12:00 PM »
Well I don't think you have a computer serving thousands of customer per day not having been offline 1 minute in 6 years :)

That's the challenge :)

Offline Nilsen

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« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2004, 04:23:12 PM »
winXP is a step back from win2k imo. Free BSD and OSX Panther are my favs.

HAND

Offline hawker238

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« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2004, 04:23:48 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by eskimo2
Let's compare Windows to Citron.  Windows has some design flaws, so do Citrons.  If I were to sabotage a Citron aftermarket mass produced part that exploited a flaw in the car, causing the car to die or crash, who should be held responsible?

EVERYTHING can be sabotaged!

eskimo


I think you should be held responsible.

Offline capt. apathy

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« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2004, 05:59:28 PM »
Quote
I don't see why he should pay the rest of is life for an Microsoft flaw and incompetence, add to this the lack of the minimal knowledge and protection by the users.


because it wasn't so much a flaw as MS missing an angle that an a-hole like him could use to attack people for no damn reason.

your logic kinda astounds me.  it's like thinking a burglar should go free and the lock maker should pay, if the burglar finds a way around the lock.

actually if you really consider it the amount of time and effort that MS puts into securing you from vandals and thieves, and their speed at responding when a vulnerability is found is pretty damn impressive.  continuing to find and fix issues on your product long after it's bought.

imagine if every time someone figured a new way to brake into your car, the car manufacturer figured out a solution and offered to fix the issue on your car within the week for no extra charge.

btw- IIRC, the fix was issued before this attack, and I believe it only hit machines that weren't updated.  that being the case the user is much more responsible for the problem than MS, with the punk who wrote the virus being much more responsible than either.

Offline Sixpence

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« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2004, 06:08:27 PM »
More competition for OS's would be nice, then you would have to find a flaw in every one of them. All your eggs in one basket so to speak. The monopoly MS holds in the form of it's OS is not allowing a better OS to be made.
"My grandaddy always told me, "There are three things that'll put a good man down: Losin' a good woman, eatin' bad possum, or eatin' good possum."" - Holden McGroin

(and I still say he wasn't trying to spell possum!)

Offline Pei

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« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2004, 06:29:41 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by eskimo2
Let's compare Windows to Citron.  Windows has some design flaws, so do Citrons.  If I were to sabotage a Citron aftermarket mass produced part that exploited a flaw in the car, causing the car to die or crash, who should be held responsible?

EVERYTHING can be sabotaged!

eskimo


It's a bit more difficult to get to millions of Cintrons in home around the world.