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Internet chaos was caused by one boy
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According to a story in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Sven Jaschan (pictured to your left), an 18-year-old German boy, is responsible for 70 per cent of all viruses received worldwide in the first half of 2004.
Not only did Jaschan create the Sasser worm, he is also behind all 28 variations of the Netsky virus that continues to be sent out in millions of infected e-mails each month. Jaschan told the German magazine Stern that he spread the viruses to gain his peers’ respect.
“I felt as if I had written a first-class essay. How Netsky spread, I think it’s terrific, and my classmates thought I was terrific. Then it was reported on TV. That was cool. Only occasionally did I wake up in the middle of the night and think, yikes, there might be trouble.”
Jaschan is currently seeking employment with a computer security company, hoping to turn from poacher to gamekeeper in the still nascent computer industry.
Just What Is a Virus, Anyway? Below, a Boot Camp on Malware
A virus reproduces, usually without your permission or knowledge. In general terms they have an infection phase where they reproduce widely and an attack phase where they do whatever damage they are programmed to do.
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From Bagle.AC to Agent.AE, from Netsky.P, Sasser.B, MyDoom.P and Beagle.AO, to a myriad of other malware intrusions, there’s a war going on in your computer life.
What to do? Well, for one, you can protect yourself from those miscreant malware intrusions. Two, you can keep yourself well informed; and, a good place to start would be with the Computer Knowledge Virus Tutorial.
The virus tutor map will provide you with an introductory insight into the topics covered in the tutorial, which range from the common behaviour of most viruses to hardware and software threats, to the types of viruses (polymorphic, camouflage, stealth, and a dozen more varieties), how they infect your computer, the history of viruses, virus protection, current threats, logic bombs, and more than you ever thought you wanted to know (but need to know) about viruses, and keeping your computer safe.
Never again will you find yourself hard up for an answer to the question, “Just what is a virus, anyway?” when you’re queried by a friend. Read on.
New Versions of Necessary Software — Download ’Em Now
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There’s a new version of Ad-Aware that was made available to the public just yesterday. As was the case with the previous edition of Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware, the new Ad-Aware 1.02 SE Personal Edition scans and cleans your computer’s RAM, registry, hard drives, and external storage devices for known data-mining, advertising, and tracking components, allowing you to maintain a higher degree of privacy while you surf the Web.
The new Ad-Aware 1.02 SE Personal Edition provides advanced protection from known Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, as well as tracking components, taking the fight against Spyware to the next level. If you haven’t downloaded and installed Spybot 1.3 (the latest version) you’ll want to do that, as well. And, while you’re at it, you might as well download and install the latest version (2.3.8) of McAfee Stinger.
Windows XP Service Pack 2 Only Days Away
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Last, but certainly not least this week, the official roll out of Windows XP Service Pack 2 has begun, creating fear and trepidation among the computer cognoscenti.
Microsoft released Windows XP SP2 to original equipment manufacturers last Friday and released the network installation version of SP2 on the Microsoft Download Center on Monday. The consumer download will be available via Windows Update within days, according to a Microsoft spokesman.
“There’s buzz out there about it,” says Roger Moffat, senior director of product marketing for ASAP Software. “This is the biggest and most significant OS upgrade before Longhorn, so the customer might view this as a major stepping stone.”
Advice, Be Safe Not Sorry: DO NOT download SP 2 until you’ve performed a complete backup of your important files (e-mail, photos, browser favourites / bookmarks, your entire My Documents folder, and any other precious data on your computer that you would not want to lose).
Later in the week, VanRamblings will publish a full column on Windows XP Service Pack 2. In the meantime, surf safe.
