Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 5th Nov 2009 17:29 UTC
Computers are taking on ever more important roles in our daily lives. They used to be simple tools to get simple things done - work-related, mostly, maybe a few simple games, and that was it. However, over time, they have become the central hubs for all sorts of data - including precious data. For his Master of Fine Arts thesis project, Zach Gage illustrated just how important our computer data has become.
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Member since:2005-07-06
So, you trust your malware software to warn you of every impending threat?
No, I just don't think that it should ignore known threats that it could trivially warn against. If a friend sent me this program without warning me what it did, I'd consider it rude. If software that behaves in a trojan-like way is known to the anti-malware vendors, then I would consider it irresponsible if they didn't add it to their database. Their target audience isn't me, it's more vulnerable users who could benefit from these warnings.
I shouldn't rely on getting a malware warning. But I see absolutely nothing odd about the anti-malware vendors flagging up this software, it's exactly what they should be doing and represents fairly sensible behaviour on their part, IMO. Whether anti-malware software should be necessary is a somewhat independent issue...
Seems like you've possibly fallen into the trap this article was trying to portray... You've put your trust into software written by others to protect your data for you.
If you're not backing it up and taking precautionary measures to prevent data loss, then you're ultimately just wandering around in a dangerous world hoping that everyone is watching out for you.
I think that's quite a lot to infer from what I said! There's also a "trap" in assuming that because technically literate users are able to protect their personal machines against such threats that nobody else has a legitimate usecase for anti-malware software. I think a corporation (or parent, or long-suffering family computer-fixer) would be justified in installing anti-malware software just to reduce the instances of pain that irresponsible or ignorant users might present to them. It doesn't have to be a complete fix to be worth the effort, if it saves the admin a spate of "please restore backups of these files that a game deleted" then that's desirable.
If I were in this position, I'd prefer that the software flag up known applications that look like a game and yet delete files. In this case it is known, so it's been listed as malware and I think that's the sensible precaution for the vendors to take.
Note, though, that it does sound to me like the author has been responsible in warning users of the functionality of the program so I do not consider this to be true malware - there's no malice. I just think it's still a reasonable thing to block by default as for most users it probably doesn't do something they want!
I think an example program like this should be given to all first time computer users (even if it doesn't actually delete their files, but just pretends to), to remind them that not all that glitters is gold, and clicking on something neat and shiny could have dire consequences if they aren't thinking ahead.
I'd agree with that - most computer users seem completely unaware of the extent to which they rely on good behaviour from their software and often can't understand why they'd be at risk anyhow.
Member since:2006-01-26
If software that behaves in a trojan-like way is known to the anti-malware vendors, then I would consider it irresponsible if they didn't add it to their database. Their target audience isn't me, it's more vulnerable users who could benefit from these warnings.
In order to "behave like a trojan" - the software would pretty much have to do something other than what it says it will do. Since it specifies exactly what it will do, I don't consider it to be a "trojan" by the definition.
Dangerous, yes, trojan, no.
It's really no more dangerous than the rm command - it just gives the user a fun, random way to do the same thing that a user can already do on their own.
"Seems like you've possibly fallen into the trap this article was trying to portray... You've put your trust into software written by others to protect your data for you.
If you're not backing it up and taking precautionary measures to prevent data loss, then you're ultimately just wandering around in a dangerous world hoping that everyone is watching out for you.
If you're not backing it up and taking precautionary measures to prevent data loss, then you're ultimately just wandering around in a dangerous world hoping that everyone is watching out for you.
I think that's quite a lot to infer from what I said! "
I inferred a possibility based on what you claimed should happen with your anti-malware software - nothing more.
There's also a "trap" in assuming that because technically literate users are able to protect their personal machines against such threats that nobody else has a legitimate usecase for anti-malware software.
I never said anti-malware software was useless - but if you rely on it to protect your data, you're doing it wrong. It should be viewed as a time-saving product, not a data-saving product: it can occasionally save you the time of having to restore from backups due to data loss. I believe you alluded to this also in your followup statement (which I didn't quote).
If I were in this position, I'd prefer that the software flag up known applications that look like a game and yet delete files. In this case it is known, so it's been listed as malware and I think that's the sensible precaution for the vendors to take.
Where do you draw the line for "looks like a game"? I've seen some pretty fancy/shiny looking software that has the sole purpose of altering files on your system (possibly destroying them) without backing them up first. Sometimes this software just begs you to click a button and destroy data by making the button so nice and pleasant looking
As it turns out, I've seen software I use daily flagged as "malware" because the vast majority of people don't know how to use it properly, or doesn't understand the consequences of running it. In some cases, this software has been added/removed/added/removed from malware listings repeatedly over several years because the malware software authors can't decide if it's legitimate or not.
In the end, by choosing anti-malware software, you've chosen to let someone else decide what's best for you. You're also relying on them to do it right in the first place, which is no guarantee.
Always backup your important data.
Member since:
2006-01-26
In case you're thinking "he shouldn't run random binaries people have e-mailed", I don't. But it's clearly a known-harmful app, so though I don't think it's strictly malware (no malicious intent) I think it's reasonable to expect a warning from the same software that protects you from other known-harmful code.
So, you trust your malware software to warn you of every impending threat?
Seems like you've possibly fallen into the trap this article was trying to portray... You've put your trust into software written by others to protect your data for you.
If you're not backing it up and taking precautionary measures to prevent data loss, then you're ultimately just wandering around in a dangerous world hoping that everyone is watching out for you.
I think an example program like this should be given to all first time computer users (even if it doesn't actually delete their files, but just pretends to), to remind them that not all that glitters is gold, and clicking on something neat and shiny could have dire consequences if they aren't thinking ahead.