Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 5th Nov 2009 17:29 UTC
Bugs & Viruses 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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RE[6]: Puh-lease
by umccullough on Mon 9th Nov 2009 06:30 UTC in reply to "RE[5]: Puh-lease"
umccullough
Member since:
2006-01-26

Plus, what if someone with malicious intent repackages this software (standalone or with a collection of other games, for example) and removes the notices of data loss? Better to be proactive and detect it now, and I agree, it should be classed as malware. Even if not the developer's intent, people don't expect a game to delete their data.


Do you really believe it's so difficult for someone to add this "feature" to any other game out there? Deleting files on a disk is a pretty trivial task...

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RE[7]: Puh-lease
by n4cer on Mon 9th Nov 2009 16:24 in reply to "RE[6]: Puh-lease"
n4cer Member since:
2005-07-06

Do you really believe it's so difficult for someone to add this "feature" to any other game out there? Deleting files on a disk is a pretty trivial task...


No, I don't believe it's difficult, and the response should be similar in such cases. It's largely about expected behavior. If I made/hacked a game to acquire your PII or CC#s, or randomly encrypt/corrupt your data, would you not consider that malware even if I gave notice of what I'd be doing? If not my version, would you consider a repackaged release of my game (sans notices) by a third-party malware?

You don't even need admin privileges to do this, so what good is AV software if it doesn't warn the user about these types of apps?

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