computer viruses(names,origin,types)Help!!!!

[H4ku]

To put my two cents in...

The face that you want to no names, types, of viruses makes me think I dunno...You wanna make them. You want the name so you can search and download it, and the type so you can get a description of what you want. I am sure you can look it up on google, pretty easy stuff.

Also a personal note. I know this is a hack forum but doesn't mean you spam it with all your obvious requests to want to destroy computers. So if you want to go and learn how to make viruses and bullshit go find another forum.

There's nothing wrong with making them; but it sounds like he just wants to download them and start infecting people.

Exactly. Which is not what this website promotes.

[tremor77]

There's nothing wrong with making them; but it sounds like he just wants to download them and start infecting people.

Exactly. Which is not what this website promotes.

Well.. there would be nothing wrong with downloading them to study their effects in the name of educational research, as long as all proper precautions were made and there was no malicious intentions involved.

@H4ku: There is a fine line here between what is illegal, and what is educational that often simply comes down to semantics (how things are written). Take the following 2 statements:

a. "Can someone help me find some viruses so I can unleash them on my school network because I like to break stuff."
b. "Can someone help me find some viruses so I can see what they do in a secure environment and then write a report for school."

All these youngsters on here simply need to learn how to format their questions and requests properly.. we still may see straight through the BS and troll them harshly but atleast they manage to stay within the ToS.

As for wanting to know names and such... I can relate as a virus collector (and I know there are more of you here speak up!) knowing the names and effects of viruses to me is no different than a baseball fan knowing players names and stats.. or a serial killer fan knowing how many kills Bundy had.

I am giving micosoftword and his poor english the benefit of the doubt on this one. But then again anyone would half a mind would know exactly where to go to pick up viruses... a hooker!

[H4ku]

I agree, I just mean a lot of people come to these forums because they want to destroy and hack stuff. Which I understand if he wants to study, I enjoy doing that too. But honestly, it just seems fishy. That's all I am saying, you know?

So I am not gonna tell him how but you guys are definitely allowed to. I just don't wanna help him make a virus and unleash it on someone you know?

[tremor77]

You are a righteous invidual H4ku... can we clone you? Of course, not recommending this but, writing a virus is a nice fast way to skip college and get yourself a decent job with the black ops division of Symantec.. the worlds #1 producer of viruses and malware.

[fashizzlepop]

tremor, just curious, how do you go about collecting them safely? And what do you do with them once you have them? do you just keep them stored for fun? Or...?

[tremor77]

I use several methods.. and I don't go out looking for viruses mind you, I only get ones that I've managed to capture in the wild. When I started doing this it was in 1995 and I worked for my college tech staff... when a lab computer or more often a professor (the things I found on their hard drives looolz) managed to get infected, I would simply be running virus scans using manual options.. that is, when an infection is found, prompt for action instead of automtically using repair, quarantine or delete.. when I was prompted I'd slide a floppy in and copy the infected file.

I've since found quarantine itself to be a pretty viable option.. ack gtg.. at work and my boss called a meeting.. i'll elaborate more when i can..

---- Edit ----

Back from my meeting, So I'll add a bit more. As for what I do with viruses now, is I save them on a USB stick instead of a floppy. From executables to dll's, to various infected media types like .mov and the wimad infected .m4a, pdf vulnerabilities, infected screensavers, .pif's and browser plugins (more malware than virus).. a vast majority of what I have is pretty dormant on it's own, requiring a trigger like a windows startup command or a registry entry.. In the case of where I know explicitly what triggered the virus in the first place I will often get a download of that... things like The Gator Toolbar, Search Assistant and WinProtector 2010. I try to sort them either based on what they do or how they work, like all the infected .dll's i put in a folder called /drivers - and I have worked out some control programs that attempt to install as much as possible either if the computer is booted from USB boot or from autorun if a play or run option is used. I have a junk pc that I tend to re-install OS on once a week that is sort of a playground... there is no point to it really just, I guess like someone who works in pest control to have a collection of bugs at home...

it's more like a catalog of the enemies i've faced! Sometimes there is a story behind them... like an e-mail attachment that my boss opened even after I sent a company wide e-mail and white paper saying.. don't open attachments titled "I Love You". I guess that's it.. and until you asked I've never really thought about it all that much.. just a little hobby I guess and never thought it all that odd.

[Goatboy]

That's pretty damn interesting, tremor. I had a similar idea a while back, but as soon as I did we stopped having people come in with viruses =\

Might I ask, why not use a VM to hold/run them instead of reinstalling on an old comp?

[tremor77]

Might I ask, why not use a VM to hold/run them instead of reinstalling on an old comp?

To be perfectly honest I've never setup a VM before, but it seems like a good idea. Would this be safe against a boot sector virus? Or how about an old school batch virus? I don't know all that much about virtual machines but you've perked my interest... should I use vmware or microsoft virtual pc?

[Goatboy]

The beauty of a VM is that it's all self-contained, meaning it has its own "boot sector" and everything a normal disk should have. If it got a virus, then your host PC (the computer actually running the VM software) should be safe from the guest OS (running inside the VM). Same goes for batch files. The basic idea is that a VM is like a sandbox, with snapshots you can revert to if anything goes wrong.

As for a recommended software, I personally use VirtualBox. I find it a lot easier and more enjoyable to use the VMWare, albeit with less features. I like it because it has a FOSS version which is very capable, and a commercial version if you so desire. The reason I stay away from VMWare is because they make you jump through a dozen hoops just to get the damn installer. With VirtualBox, it's a very straight-forward process.

[sanddbox]

I guess I have to post the obligatory XKCD comic:

Click!