MTA On Line Self Help Page
Who's writing this stuff?
Well, it's not in black and white, but there are some general and widely accepted categorizations.
Many virus's are re-gurgitations or mutations of previous codes. (commonly referred to as a copy cat). These virus's are simply a small addition to an existing virus.
Many virus's are written "AFTER" a software company releases information and a "Patch" to fix a a possible weakness in their Programming.
For the most part, virus writers are generally believed to be male, in their early twenties and have a great deal of technical experience.
The people who write viruses generally have their own reasons for what they do and they aren't too open about identifying themselves. Some of the reasons that people write viruses:
- Sociopathy: Many virus writers are just troublemakers--or maybe just troubled individuals--who want to create havoc and then thrive on the attention it generates. They are the electronic equivalents of graffiti artists, prank phone callers, etc., looking for fame and glory in a rather twisted way.
- Revenge: Sometimes viruses are written by disgruntled employees or others who want to get back at someone or make a statement.
- The Challenge: Some virus writers do it just to see if they can away with it. As virus detection software gets smarter, virus writers have to employ new tricks to have their "products" evade notice.
- Education: Writing viruses, especially ones smart enough to avoid detection, requires a great deal of technical know-how. Some people take up virus writing to teach themselves how to program at a low-level within the PC. It's ironic, but experienced virus writers are among the most technically skilled programmers in the world!
In many cases, full-fledged wars can break out between virus writers and the companies that write antivirus software. Given the twisted genius of many virus authors, it isn't surprising that many new viruses specifically target antivirus software programs! Then the antivirus programs modify themselves to protect against these new attacks, and so on, and so on. In essence, it's a digital war zone out there, and your computer is the battleground.
Here's a few of the more famous Virus Authors;
1988 - Robert Tappan Morris created and let loose a worm that infected 6,000 systems for $15 million worth of damage. He was placed on three years probation and fined $10,000, plus 400 hours of community service.
1994 - Christopher Pile an unemployed, self taught programmer wrote and sent out the SMEG virus. Pile confessed to police he had written the viruses to "increase his self-esteem" and because England appeared not to have produced any virus writers capable of programming samples capable of spreading in the real world.. He was sentenced to 18 months.
1998 - Chen Ing-hau A sergeant in the Taiwanese Army, Ing-hau wrote the destructive Chernobyl virus out of a grievance he harbored against Antivirus companies. The virus was programmed to erase the contents of infected hard disks on April 26, (the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986). The virus caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages worldwide. Released after his first arrest because "no one had filed a complaint." Ing-hau was re-arrested a year later when a Taiwanese student finally spoke up. The most he could serve was three years but Ing-hau managed to escape any serious punishment.
1999 - David Smith from New Jersey wrote the Melissa mass mailing virus, reportedly as a 'tribute' to a Florida lap dancer he was fixated upon. The worm created a message storm which forced major IT companies including Microsoft, Intel and Lucent Technologies to shut down their email gateways and left a trail of destruction in its wake. Smith pleaded guilty to releasing the virus and was sentenced to jail for 20 months and fined $5,000.
2000 - Onel de Guzman a Philippine computers studies student sent out the Iloveyou and lovebug virus's, which cost $7 billion dollars of damage worldwide. Arrested and then released for lack of an existing Philippine law to prosecute him Onel was never prosecuted and served no time in prison. It's reported that Onel wrote the virus to improve his chances of getting a job. .
2001 - Jan De Wit of the Netherlands released the Kournikova virus. Shocked at the success of his creation, de Wit turned himself into the authorities and pleaded guilty to releasing the prolific mass mailing worm. He claimed he released the virus as an experiment after reading a survey which suggested users hadn't learnt any lessons from the spread of the LoveBug. He received 150 hours of community service
2002 - Simon Vallor a 22 year old Welsh Web Designer wrote and distributed three separate viruses. The Gokar, Redesi and Admirer mass mailers were estimated to have initially infected over 27,000 computers. In January 2003, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Jeffrey Lee Parson an 18 year old Hopkins High School (New Jersey) Senior was arrested and convicted for for releasing a copycat version of the Blaster worm. The original authors of the worm remain at large.
So why do these people write and spread viruses and other malware? Because they CAN -- and that can be reason enough. In the large majority of cases, the authors are not caught. And, when they are caught, they go relatively unpunished. So the deal is, "hey, let's do something cool and be on the news and watch everybody freak out." All that fun and very low risk.
The Team