Non-OS-Dependant Malware
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 15th Dec 2006 20:35 UTC, submitted by anonymous
Privacy, Security, Encryption "All too often people talk about the disadvantages of the Windows operating system: it has too many security flaws, it is not properly patched, it is not security oriented… Until the much talked about Vista system finally reaches our computers, there will still be plenty of time to protest. However, with the new malware dynamic, the idea that malware is restricted to specific operating systems is becoming anachronistic. It no longer matters whether the victim is a home-user or a company employee. It is now irrelevant whether the system administrator is just someone who lives round the corner or a highly qualified IT manager."
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Other than shell scripts...not possible
by ValiantSoul on Sat 16th Dec 2006 16:21 UTC
ValiantSoul
Member since:
2005-07-20

Until someone comes up with a way similar to Apple's fat binaries (universal binaries) and manage to make it work for Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, Windows, etc (and on the different hardware platforms - x86, PPC, SPARC, etc) (which is also not possible because different systems go by the magic number at the beginning of the file), the closest thing to a non-OS-dependent malware would have to be a shell script (which then discludes Windows users). And shell scripts don't execute themselves, and no user using those systems would be stupid enough to enter the root password for it (though it could take out their home directory instead of ask for a password).

Reply Score: 1

skymt Member since:
2006-12-05

Or, maybe, programs written in interpreted programming languages? It's easy enough to make a Python program perform a task on any machine with the interpreter. Some PC manufacturers bundle the Python interpreter with new Windows PCs (HP, for instance), so even that is becoming less of an issue for malware writers.

Reply Parent Score: 1