cRPG

Off Topic => General Off Topic => Topic started by: [ptx] on November 01, 2013, 01:23:30 pm

Title: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: [ptx] on November 01, 2013, 01:23:30 pm
..is this. (http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/meet-badbios-the-mysterious-mac-and-pc-malware-that-jumps-airgaps/)

It's apparently real, btw.

Fuck. :shock:
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Swaggart on November 01, 2013, 03:09:07 pm
Terrifying.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Paul on November 01, 2013, 03:28:13 pm
It's probably some alien invasion presquabble. Guess I gotta learn how to use slide rule then.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Xant on November 01, 2013, 03:41:07 pm
Only scary if you believe it's true.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: cmp on November 01, 2013, 03:43:50 pm
101% real
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Molly on November 01, 2013, 04:39:05 pm
The thing I doubt the most is the ultra-high-frequency thing... I am no IT guy but I know my electronics pretty well. That sounds like hogwash to me.

IF true, I am more fascinated than frightened tbh :D
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on November 01, 2013, 04:52:56 pm
The thing I doubt the most is the ultra-high-frequency thing... I am no IT guy but I know my electronics pretty well. That sounds like hogwash to me.

IF true, I am more fascinated than frightened tbh :D

I wasn't around (well not using technology) but you used to connect to the internet by putting a phone into a modem (transmitting data over audio signals), so basically how the viruses were transmitting in the article.  Even the 56k modems used sound frequencies to transmit data (albeit over a physical line). 

It is pretty crazy though...something to keep in mind when troubleshooting viruses.

Also fuck Apples, go Banana!
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Molly on November 01, 2013, 04:59:07 pm
I wasn't around (well not using technology) but you used to connect to the internet by putting a phone into a modem (transmitting data over audio signals), so basically how the viruses were transmitting in the article.  Even the 56k modems used sound frequencies to transmit data (albeit over a physical line). 

It is pretty crazy though...something to keep in mind when troubleshooting viruses.

Also fuck Apples, go Banana!
I know, my first connection to the internet that I made was with 28.8k modem... :wink:
...but that wasn't the case in the article. In theory it might work with a speaker and a microphone but transmitting like that would need a rather powerful speaker and a top notch microphone. Those standard capacitive microphones you get in a notebook... well, the noise on that transmission... not to mention that every coffee maker and vacuum cleaner would transmit partly into it... it sounds very very fishy. He's not talking about a test setup in a lab but about standard consumer electronics...

Edit: Another thing... the transmission would only work if there is a transmitter and a receiver. You can't infect hardware using that kind of transmission w/o the receiving end being already listening. In theory, transceiving between already infected hardware... big maybe but infecting that way? No way.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Radament on November 01, 2013, 05:11:17 pm
"With the speakers and mic intact, Ruiu said, the isolated computer seemed to be using the high-frequency connection to maintain the integrity of the badBIOS infection as he worked to dismantle software components the malware relied on."

This is a badass malware if real (and i think it's possible)! This is the future of hax ! We are going to have a badass malware in our crpg server and , as human being , he's going to delete all archery chars!! awesome.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: CrazyCracka420 on November 01, 2013, 05:22:28 pm
Yeah I agree with your points benkei.  Pretty sure the only way you could "communicate" with another computer, would be if it was listening for a signal and knew how to decode it.  So only between two already infected computers.  But the thing is, if it's hacking the bios it might be able to somehow set those devices to listen even if you reinstall the OS.  But yeah, don't see how it would be able to infect a computer using audio signals, and they would need some good transmitters and receivers. 

Either way, it's freaking crazy, and very next level thinking.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Kafein on November 01, 2013, 07:15:40 pm
Already infected hardware can communicate with each other using very high frequency sounds, so as to be undetectable by humans, and apparently security people have been able to do that for a long time. Doesn't seem that weird to me.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: cmp on November 01, 2013, 07:50:28 pm
A computer is not listening to high frequency sounds and executing code in them, unless it has been already infected and told to do so by a virus. Two infected computers can talk between themselves without being networked (hypotetically)? Big fucking deal, you still need to infect them first.
The article is still bullshit, by the way.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Christo on November 01, 2013, 09:07:11 pm
Interesting
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: Molly on November 02, 2013, 12:14:30 am
A computer is not listening to high frequency sounds and executing code in them, unless it has been already infected and told to do so by a virus. Two infected computers can talk between themselves without being networked (hypotetically)? Big fucking deal, you still need to infect them first.
The article is still bullshit, by the way.
That's what I said :D

And I still doubt that sound communication thing. In a lab setup with proper and dedicated hardware... Maybe. With the standard Apple products... No way.

I won't believe it until I see that. And a transmission distance of 10 cm doesn't count... That would barely be proof of concept.
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: EponiCo on November 02, 2013, 12:18:00 pm
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/wired-microbes-electricity-091613.html

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/symphonic-sewage-waste-treatment-plant-plays-mozart-to-microbes-a-698040.html
Title: Re: Scariest thing this Halloween...
Post by: rufio on November 02, 2013, 12:27:25 pm
visitors can't see pics , please register or login