Search forums

Forums

Export thread

Scariest thing you'll read all day.

Oct 31, 2013#1

PatrThom

Some people think it's a Hoax. Others think it's the next generation of malware.

Meet badBIOS, a self-repairing computer infection which seems to be able to continue to communicate with its peers even after unplugging the network cable and removing the card.

--Patrick

Oct 31, 2013#2

strawman

Wow, well this changes things! Hopefully mcafee and norton will join forces and save us from this evil nightmare!

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to go turn off all my computers, mobile devices, and read a good, virus free book.

Oct 31, 2013#3

Bowielee

That is some serious crap. I didn't think it would be physically possible. I'd not recommend clicking on the link I'm putting in spoiler tags seeing as we don't know how this can really be transmitted, but I'll include it for posterity.

I guess I'm desensitized to that seeing as my uncle had a glass eye and would do this all the time.

Oct 31, 2013#4

Ravenpoe

Bowielee said:
That is some serious crap. I didn't think it would be physically possible. I'd not recommend clicking on the link I'm putting in spoiler tags seeing as we don't know how this can really be transmitted, but I'll include it for posterity.

I guess I'm desensitized to that seeing as my uncle had a glass eye and would do this all the time.

Yeah, I didn't find that gross at all. Kinda interesting.

Oct 31, 2013#5

Dei

Oh shit, I might be infected already!!!!

My dad has a glass eye so it really doesn't bother me. Nothing I haven't already seen. He put his eye out as a kid when he was playing with a measuring tape and it snapped back and hit him in the eye. So when I tell kids not to do that because they could put out their eye, I have proof!

Oct 31, 2013#6

drifter

The real article is actually pretty interesting.

Oct 31, 2013#7

strawman

drifter said:
The real article is actually pretty interesting.

Ok, that is fascinating. If this were to get out into the wild, it would be very, very hard to deal with.

Oct 31, 2013#8

PatrThom

At first I couldn't follow the replies.

Then I realized I'd pasted twice but only copied once. My bad. Unintentional troll.

It's edited to fix the link now. Sorry for the confusion.

EDIT: Looks like @drifter already linked it, too.

--Patrick

Oct 31, 2013#9

GasBandit

Hah, and here I was just thinking "Ha, PatrThom's sure full of cheek today!" Ah well. Robopocalypse ahoy!

Nov 1, 2013#10

Shakey

That's nuts. It still surprises me how creative people can be when it comes to hijacking computers.

Nov 1, 2013#11

PatrThom

Shakey said:
That's nuts. It still surprises me how creative people can be when it comes to hijacking computers.

I know, right? I mean, why can't these people come up with a worldwide wireless mesh network scheme I can hook into so I don't ever have to pay a phone bill/cable bill again? Instead, they have to write malware. Sheesh. Priorities, man!

--Patrick

Nov 1, 2013#12

bhamv3

This sounds so outlandish I'm refusing to believe it's true.

Nov 1, 2013#13

Bowielee

Had a chance to read the actual article and... well, hell. It sounds like something that a TV writer would come up with that is physically impossible. Yet, there it is.

Nov 2, 2013#14

PatrThom

Bowielee said:
Had a chance to read the actual article and... well, hell. It sounds like something that a TV writer would come up with that is physically impossible. Yet, there it is.

I know. Aside from "refuses to boot from CD drive," I wish there was a more reliable method of detecting this in the wild.

--Patrick

Dec 2, 2013#15

Shakey

Well... Scientist-developed malware covertly jumps air gaps using inaudible sound

Dec 2, 2013#16

bhamv3

Shakey said:
Well... Scientist-developed malware covertly jumps air gaps using inaudible sound

Well... shit. I'm unplugging my microphone now.

Dec 2, 2013#17

strawman

You can't be infected by sound unless you're already infected by something that communicates via sound. So stay clean and you're safe.

Once you get bit, though, unplugging the network cable or disabling wireless might not be enough to secure your computer.

Dec 2, 2013#18

Shakey

stienman said:
You can't be infected by sound unless you're already infected by something that communicates via sound. So stay clean and you're safe.

Unless you happen to take your laptop to a local coffee shop or library that has an infected computer near by. Or someone sets a tiny computer just outside your computer room at your house. YOU ARE NEVER SAFE!

But really unless someone really wants the passwords to all your porn sites you really have nothing to worry about. This is targeted at governments or high security targets.

Dec 2, 2013#19

strawman

Shakey said:
Unless you happen to take your laptop to a local coffee shop or library that has an infected computer near by. Or someone sets a tiny computer just outside your computer room at your house. YOU ARE NEVER SAFE!

Well, no. Not unless they infect you via some other method. What they've demonstrated is that two computers that are both already infected can communicate via soundwaves we can't hear.

They haven't demonstrated one computer infecting another computer using sound waves.

You have to infect the computer using some other method (and there are plenty, so it's not that big a hurdle) before the sound communication comes into play. The sound communication could allow further attacks, or simpify stealing data from a non internet connected computer.

But you hit the nail on the head about the purpose of such technology - there are many secure computer systems which are not connected to public networks, which reside in the same room as computers that are connected. If they can infect the "secure" computer somehow, then that fact that it's not directly connected to the public network is meaningless.

The software can jump the air gap as long as there are speakers and microphones on both infected computers.

Dec 3, 2013#20

sixpackshaker

Hey, I watch Burn Notice (and other spy shows)... all you have to do is stick a magnet to the case of a computer and you hacked it...

Dec 3, 2013#21

Bowielee

sixpackshaker said:
Hey, I watch Burn Notice (and other spy shows)... all you have to do is stick a magnet to the case of a computer and you hacked it...

Or wiped its hard drive, making it useless

Honestly, though, haven't computers been around long enough that people don't at least have a passing knowledge of how they work?I will no longer be accepting the "I'm just not into computers" argument anymore as a case for ignorance.
I mean, I'm not a car geek, but I at least make it a point to have a working understanding of how a combustion engine works if I'm going to use one.

Dec 3, 2013#22

Bubble181

Bowielee said:
I mean, I'm not a [X enthousiast], but I at least make it a point to have a working understanding of [X] if I'm going to use one.

Myeah, sorry, wrong species. 95% of us don't.
Heck, I try, but even so...I have no idea whatsoever how polyesther is made ,but I still wear cheap synthetic t-shirts

I do agree - computers are an important part of modern life, and having a passing knowledge is...well, basic. However, as I'm still regularly shown both at work and in my leisure time...There are still plenty of otherwise reasonably intelligent people out there who think the monitor is the computer, the other bit's the other bit, and everything else is decoration. You may think those "put the mouse on the ground and use them with your feet" pcitures/stories are a joke, but I've seen it done - 100% seriously. *shrug*

Dec 3, 2013#23

PatrThom

^
|
This is complete and utter Truth.
>50% of the people I talk to don't know the difference between RAM and hard drive.

--Patrick

Dec 3, 2013#24

Shakey

The president of the company I work for won't touch a computer. For a while he had a monitor in his office hooked up to nothing just because he thought it made it look like he used one. He has all of the emails he needs to read printed out on paper for him.

Dec 3, 2013#25

Eriol

Shakey said:
The president of the company I work for won't touch a computer. For a while he had a monitor in his office hooked up to nothing just because he thought it made it look like he used one. He has all of the emails he needs to read printed out on paper for him.

Dec 3, 2013#26

Shakey

Eriol said:

The plus side is I don't have to deal with him asking questions.

Dec 3, 2013#27

Dei

Shakey said:
The president of the company I work for won't touch a computer. For a while he had a monitor in his office hooked up to nothing just because he thought it made it look like he used one. He has all of the emails he needs to read printed out on paper for him.

This is scarier than any computer virus!

Dec 3, 2013#28

bhamv3

Shakey said:
The president of the company I work for won't touch a computer. For a while he had a monitor in his office hooked up to nothing just because he thought it made it look like he used one. He has all of the emails he needs to read printed out on paper for him.

I wonder if we're going to be like this in a few decades.

"No, I refuse to jack into the neural interface, that thing freaks me out. Just show me the information on a screen, man, is that so hard?"

Dec 3, 2013#29

Shakey

bhamv3 said:
I wonder if we're going to be like this in a few decades.

"No, I refuse to jack into the neural interface, that thing freaks me out. Just show me the information on a screen, man, is that so hard?"

I'm already like that with facebook and snapchat. Just call me if you want me to know some random news about your life! Or just send me a damn text so I have more than 5 seconds to figure out what the hell that picture is supposed to mean.

Dec 3, 2013#30

strawman

bhamv3 said:
I wonder if we're going to be like this in a few decades.

"No, I refuse to jack into the neural interface, that thing freaks me out. Just show me the information on a screen, man, is that so hard?"

"But then you can't smell the scents they included..."

"I DONT WANT TO SMELL MY EMAIL!"

Dec 4, 2013#31

sixpackshaker

PatrThom said:
^
|
This is complete and utter Truth.
>50% of the people I talk to don't know the difference between RAM and hard drive.

--Patrick

All my users think the "hard drive" is the large box sitting next to the monitor.

Dec 6, 2013#32

figmentPez

sixpackshaker said:
All my users think the "hard drive" is the large box sitting next to the monitor.

Did you mean:
"All my users think the "hard drive" is the large box sitting next to the ~~monitor~~ computer."

Forums