Who Writes Malicious Programs and Why?

Administrator Joined : 20 Dec 2007 Posts : 161

Virus writers belong to one of four broad groups: cyber-vandals, who
can be divided into two categories, and more serious programmers, who
can again be split into two groups.
Cyber vandalism - stage 1

In the past, most malware was written by young programmers: kids who
just had learned to program who wanted to test their skills.
Fortunately most of these programs did not spread widely - the majority
of such malware died when disks were reformatted or upgraded. Viruses
like these were not written with a concrete aim or a definite target,
but simply for the writers to assert themselves.

Cyber vandalism - stage 2

The second largest group of contributors to malware coding were young
people, usually students. They were still learning programming, but had
already made a conscious decision to devote their skills to virus
writing. These were people who had chosen to disrupt the computing
community by committing acts of cyber hooliganism and cyber vandalism.
Viruses authored by members of this group were usually extremely
primitive and the code contained a large number of errors.

However, the development of the Internet provided space and new
opportunities for these would-be virus writers.Numerous sites, chat
rooms and other resources sprang up where anyone could learn about
virus writing: by talking to experienced authors and downloading
everything from tools for constructing and concealing malware to
malicious program source code.
Professional virus writers

And then these 'script kiddies' grew up. Unfortunately, some of them
did not grow out of virus writing. Instead, they looked for commercial
applications for their dubious talents. This group remains the most
secretive and dangerous section of the computer underground: they have
created a network of professional and talented programmers who are very
serious about writing and spreading viruses.

Professional virus writers often write innovative code designed to
penetrate computers and networks; they research software and hardware
vulnerabilities and use social engineering in original ways to ensure
that their malicious creations will not only survive, but also spread
widely.

Virus researchers: the 'proof-of-concept' malware authors

The fourth and smallest group of virus writers is rather unusual. These
virus writers call themselves researchers, and they are often talented
programmers who devote their skills to developing new methods for
penetrating and infecting systems, fooling antivirus programs and so
forth. They are usually among the first to penetrate new operating
systems and hardware. Nevertheless, these virus writers are not writing
viruses for money, but for research purposes. They usually do not
spread the source code of their 'proof of concept viruses', but do
actively discuss their innovations on Internet resources devoted to
virus writing.

All of this may sound innocent or even beneficial. However, a virus
remains a virus and research into new threats should be conducted by
people devoted to curing the disease, not by amateurs who take no
responsibility for the results of their research. Many proof of concept
viruses can turn into serious threats once the professional virus
writers gain access to them, since virus writing is a source of income
for this group.

Why write viruses?

Fraud

The computer underground has realised that paid for Internet services,
such as Internet access, email and web hosting, provides new
opportunities for illegal activity with the additional satisfaction of
getting something for nothing. Virus writers have authored a range of
Trojans which steal login information and passwords to gain free access
to other users' Internet resources.

The first password stealing Trojans appeared in 1997: the aim was to
gain access to AOL. By 1998 similar Trojans appeared for all other
major Internet service providers. Trojans stealing log in data for
dial-up ISPs, AOL and other Internet services are usually written by
people with limited means to support their Internet habit, or by people
who do not accept that Internet resources are a commercial service just
like any other, and must therefore be paid for.

For a long time, this group of Trojans constituted a significant
portion of the daily 'catch' for antivirus companies worldwide. Today,
the numbers are decreasing in proportion to the decreasing cost of
Internet access.

Computer games and software license keys are another target for cyber
fraud. Once again, Trojans providing free access to these resources are
written by and for people with limited financial resources. Some
hacking and cracking utilities are also written by so-called 'freedom
fighters', who proclaim that all infomration should be shared freely
throughout the computing community. However, fraud remains a crime, no
matter how noble the aim is made out to be.
Organised cyber crime

The most dangerous virus writers are individuals and groups who have
turned professional. These people either extract money directly from
end users (either by theft or by fraud) or use zombie machines to earn
money in other ways, such as creating and selling a spamming platform,
or organizing DoS attacks, with the aim here being blackmail.

Most of today's serious outbreaks are caused by professional virus
writers who organize the blanket installations of Trojans to victim
machines. This may be done by using worms, links to infected sites or
other Trojans.
Bot networks

Currently, virus writers either work for particular spammers or sell
their wares to the highest bidder. Today, one standard procedure is for
virus writers to create bot networks, i.e. networks of zombie computer
infected with identical malicious code. In the case of networks used as
spamming platforms, a Trojan proxy server will penetrate the victim
machines. These networks number from a thousand to tens of thousands of
infected machines. The virus writers then sell these networks to the
highest bidder in the computer underground.

Such networks are generally used as spamming platforms. Hacker
utilities can be used to ensure that these networks run efficiently;
malicious software is installed without the knowledge or consent of the
user, adware programs can be camoflaged to prevent detection and
deletion, and antivirus software may be attacked.

Financial gain

Apart from servicing spam and adware, professional virus writers also
create Tojan spies which they use to steal money from e-wallets, Pay
Pal accounts and/or directly from Internet bank accounts. These Trojans
harvest banking and payment information from local machines or even
corporate servers and then forward it to the master.

Cyber extortion

The third major form of contemporary cyber crime is extortion or
Internet rackets. Usually, virus writers create a network of zombie
machines capable of conducting an organized DoS attack. Then they
blackmail companies by threatening to conduct a DoS attack against the
corporate website. Popular targets include estores, banking and
gambling sites, i.e. companies whose revenues are generated directly by
their on-line presence.

Other malware

Virus writers and hackers also ensure that adware, dialers, utilities
that redirect browsers to pay-to-view sites and other types of unwanted
software function efficiently. Such programs can generate profits for
the computer underground, so it's in the interests of virus writers and
hackers to make sure that these programs are not detected and are
regularly updated.

In spite of the media attention given to young virus writers who manage
to cause a global epidemic, approximately 90% of malicious code is
written by the professionals. Although all of four groups of virus
writers challenge computer security, the group which poses a serious,
and growing threat is the community of professional virus writers who
sell their services.

Sana maliwanagan kau boss.!! kung gusto nyo ng ganitong buhay nasa sa inyo na un...

MABUHAY ANG MGA PROGRAMMERS!!!

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