Who creates viruses and why?

af_thefragile

Last month my laptop got infected with some virus which required me to erase everything on it and do a clean install of windows again. I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers? Who has the time to sit and write up a program which has no other aim apart from ruining someone's computer and what sort of a low life does one have to be to spend their time figure out ways to destroy and disrupt other people's lives??...

Celly Smunt

Some people just want to watch the world burn.




others should use anti-virus.

pippip

af_thefragile wrote: »

Last month my laptop got infected with some virus which required me to erase everything on it and do a clean install of windows again. I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers? Who has the time to sit and write up a program which has no other aim apart from ruining someone's computer and what sort of a low life does one have to be to spend their time figure out ways to destroy and disrupt other people's lives??...

Your just collatoral damage in their war with the big companies....microsoft mostly

Grayson

Some do it for financial reasons. others do it because they want to see if they can. Yet others do it because they want to disrupt iranian uranium enrichment. There's loads of different viruses and the motives of their makers vary widely.

seven_eleven

Shouldnt have downloaded all those dodgey porn files, op.

Celly Smunt

seven_eleven wrote: »

Shouldnt have downloaded all those dodgey porn files, op.

people still download porn?

mattjack

seven_eleven wrote: »

Shouldnt have downloaded all those dodgey porn files, op.

There's dodgy porn films now ?

Micky Dolenz

Why do people do anything? Because they can.

Celly Smunt

this is a virus nobody click it!

Where To

mattjack wrote: »

There's dodgy porn films now ?

You can imagine how shocked I was when I searched for articles on the lesser dogfaced prawn with Safesearch off.:eek:

Sinfonia

Antisocial scum, they are :P

Skinhead Kane

America, blame them for everything I say!

Zebra3

Who creates viruses and why?

Cynics would suggest people who create anti-virus programs create viruses to make money, but I can't imagine anybody in the world doing anything underhand like that.

Where To

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Why do people do anything? Because they can.

Didn't figure you as a Diana Ross fan Micky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul7-BXR3T_s

af_thefragile

seven_eleven wrote: »

Shouldnt have downloaded all those dodgey porn files, op.

Wasn't porn and I did have anti-virus on. I somehow got it off pandyland.net which is a fairly harmless comic strip site...

admiralofthefleet

in before run to da hills

The Snipe

Often times virus's are created by security companies to test security for a system.

Virus's you get, Money, Because they can, to see if they can, because they find it fun.

Duggy747

Zebra3 wrote: »

Cynics would suggest people who create anti-virus programs create viruses to make money, but I can't imagine anybody in the world doing anything underhand like that.

Considering the amount of machines infected that come into me with Norton / McAfee / Avast / AVG / Security Essentials / Bullguard / etc already installed on them but are crippled by a virus, they do a shìt job at stopping the supposed ones they help create / fund.

Anyways, tons of reasons why viruses are created. Anything from using your machine as a bot for spamming onto others, scams, etc, right down to somebody just testing their coding ability.

I found the Garda virus funny with it's awful Irish translation and a demand of a £100 :pac:

InReality

money !

johnayo

af_thefragile wrote: »

Wasn't porn and I did have anti-virus on. I somehow got it off pandyland.net which is a fairly harmless comic strip site...

Are you sure you didn't type in Pantyland by mistake......... Only saying like:(

BBDBB

absolute c*nts do

because they are socially inadequate

Run_to_da_hills

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

in before run to da hills

:eek:

flyswatter

To become so good at making at them that computer security companies offer them a great job preventing them.

BrokenArrows

Ive never publically released one but its fun to write some prank ones to get revenge on people you know such as redirecting common websites to hardcore porn.

However the most common reason is to turn a personal computer into a mail forwarding bot.

If the "Hacker" was to use this personal computer to send spam emails then it could be traced back to him but if he has 1000's of random computers infected sending the emails for him then it cannot be traced back.

You also get the script kiddies who just do it for ****s and giggles.

Grayson

BBDBB wrote: »

absolute c*nts do

because they are socially inadequate

Not all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWLg6tTeQRg

BrokenArrows

Duggy747 wrote: »

Considering the amount of machines infected that come into me with Norton / McAfee / Avast / AVG / Security Essentials / Bullguard ....

Antiviruses can only reliably detect viruses which they know about.
And for them to know about them they must already exist and be infecting computers.

So the computers you see are probably some the "early adopters" of the virus

CreepingDeath

af_thefragile wrote: »

I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers?

It used to be intelligent and bored computer programmers who wanted to test their skills in the early 1980s/90s.

But these days organised criminals have worked out how to make money on it, creating malware and viruses to allow your computer to be controlled remotely as part of a "botnet", or to attempt to capture your passwords eg. banking passwords.

There's an underground black market in "zero day exploits", where criminals and dodgy state agencies bid for the latest hacks that they can exploit.
Be that Windows, Adobe, Java, Linux network protocols etc.

So the cyber-warfare is in full swing behind the scenes, with the Chinese and Americans trying to hack everyone and everything.

BrokenArrows

Its been a long time since ive gotten a virus.

Last time must have been about 10 years ago and that wasnt my fault.

Did a fresh install of XP and connected it to the college network without any antivirus of firewall or running windows update. Within minutes the thing was going mental.
Popups all over the shop, HD and CD started spinning like mad.

I just left it to see what it would do as i knew id have to wipe it again anyway. Eventually it overheated and turned off. lol.

My first exposure to a virus/trojan was subseven. Good times!

Lawrence1895

It's all an alien conspiracy

Or was it the Germans? :pac:

The Radiator

af_thefragile wrote: »

Last month my laptop got infected with some virus which required me to erase everything on it and do a clean install of windows again. I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers? Who has the time to sit and write up a program which has no other aim apart from ruining someone's computer and what sort of a low life does one have to be to spend their time figure out ways to destroy and disrupt other people's lives??...

The anti-virus guys create virus's's's to keep themselves in the job, it's quite clever really

af_thefragile

CreepingDeath wrote: »

So the cyber-warfare is in full swing behind the scenes, with the Chinese and Americans trying to hack everyone and everything.

So you're telling me the Chinese and Americans can see me looking at naughty pictures?

Duggy747

BrokenArrows wrote: »

So the computers you see are probably some the "early adopters" of the virus

The Garda virus, for example, has returned for over a month and still bypasses major A/V software like Norton's software. Not so much McAfee or Kaspersky, though.

That's more than enough time for the subscription based ones to get their act together when free anti-malware programs like MalwareBytes already have their definitions updated for it.

BrokenArrows

Duggy747 wrote: »

The Garda virus, for example, has returned for over a month and still bypasses major A/V software like Norton's software. Not so much McAfee or Kaspersky, though.

That's more than enough time for the subscription based ones to get their act together when free anti-malware programs like MalwareBytes already have their definitions updated for it.

Norton has always been ****.

phasers

for the lulz mostly

CreepingDeath

af_thefragile wrote: »

So you're telling me the Chinese and Americans can see me looking at naughty pictures?

Your internet service provider can see you looking at naughty pictures, no need for some state agency.

Also, I imagine if you used something like Google to search for porn, they'd know you signed into GMail, and know your IP address and real name.

Run_to_da_hills

Duggy747 wrote: »

The Garda virus, for example, has returned for over a month and still bypasses major A/V software like Norton's software. Not so much McAfee or Kaspersky, though.

That's more than enough time for the subscription based ones to get their act together when free anti-malware programs like MalwareBytes already have their definitions updated for it.

I don't know why people still purchase AV's when you can get nearly all of them in sample packs through Windows security center in the control panel. Some trials last 30 to 90 days, you simply uninstall it them download the next one, by the time you go through the lot you need an upgrade on your PC.

MS Security essentials is not too bad and its free.

I know one guy that wasted e90 on Norton and it couldn't even clear the Garda Virus. In the end he got rid of it through installing MalwareBytes in safe mode through a pen drive. .

BrokenArrows

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I don't know why people still purchase AV's when you can get nearly all of them in sample packs through Windows security center in the control panel. Some trials last 30 to 90 days, you simply uninstall it them download the next one, by the time you go through the lot you need an upgrade on your PC.

MS Security essentials is not too bad and its free.

I know one guy that wasted e90 on Norton and it couldn't even clear the Garda Virus. In the end he got rid of it through installing MalwareBytes in safe mode through a pen drive. .

Just use AVG free. Its as good if not better than any of the paid or trials you get.

BrokenArrows

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Just use AVG free. Its as good if not better than any of the paid or trials you get.

And cripples the machine too. Can't recommend it anymore.

Canis Lupus

Avast! Free for me.

fasttalkerchat

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I don't know why people still purchase AV's when you can get nearly all of them in sample packs through Windows security center in the control panel. Some trials last 30 to 90 days, you simply uninstall it them download the next one, by the time you go through the lot you need an upgrade on your PC.

MS Security essentials is not too bad and its free.

I know one guy that wasted e90 on Norton and it couldn't even clear the Garda Virus. In the end he got rid of it through installing MalwareBytes in safe mode through a pen drive. .

I wouldn't recommend changing anti-virus' too often unless reinstalling the OS. Norton especially, leaves behind a load of crap that restricts other anti-viruses.

I would never pay for any anti-virus... especially not Norton. Microsoft Security Essentials does a great job for me.

frozenfrozen

To collect zombies to use in a botnet which they can sell or use themselves. Or to get creditcard info. or to just have fun and mess around with people who aren't clever and don't use antivirus

Run_to_da_hills

Karsini wrote: »

And cripples the machine too. Can't recommend it anymore.

That's what I found, I hate pop ups and over protection prompts, Norton and Bullgiard the same.

Using MS security ATM Essentials and don't have a prob with it.

BrokenArrows

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

That's what I found, I hate pop ups and over protection prompts, Norton and Bullgiard the same.

Using MS security ATM Essentials and don't have a prob with it.

I have not noticed any crippling effects.

I turned off the popup bits so i dont see any issues.

kowloon

Kaspersky used to be my tool of choice, but even that got bloated. Not a problem on my desktop but it'll kill a netbook.

ArseLtd

af_thefragile wrote: »

Last month my laptop got infected with some virus which required me to erase everything on it and do a clean install of windows again. I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers? Who has the time to sit and write up a program which has no other aim apart from ruining someone's computer and what sort of a low life does one have to be to spend their time figure out ways to destroy and disrupt other people's lives??...

Well there lots of different ones, i believe malware is the pc term. They might be looking at your stuff, key logging to get your credit card details etc

There's a theory that they're made by none other than the antivirus companies themselves, who wouldn't exist only for them

endacl

Because the lonely and terminally virginal arsechickens who write viruses can only spend a finite amount of time each day pulling themselves off while sniffing their mother's knickers. Writing code is what they do to pass the time while waiting to, 'reload'...

ViveLaVie

kowloon wrote: »

Kaspersky used to be my tool of choice, but even that got bloated. Not a problem on my desktop but it'll kill a netbook.

I used to have McAfee and have Avast Free now but my netbook is super slow despite being virus free. Is this why?

K-9

I use Linux Mint now so viruses aren't a big concern, still can happen. Most of them now seem to be some scam trying to get your credit card details.

Malwarebytes is an excellent programme to have, the free version is fine and will find stuff AV's can miss.

kowloon

ViveLaVie wrote: »

I used to have McAfee and have Avast Free now but my netbook is super slow despite being virus free. Is this why?

It could be, they can really bring a machine to a crawl.

demanufactured

af_thefragile wrote: »

Last month my laptop got infected with some virus which required me to erase everything on it and do a clean install of windows again. I often wonder who creates virus programmes and why? What do they aim to achieve from screwing up other people's computers? Who has the time to sit and write up a program which has no other aim apart from ruining someone's computer and what sort of a low life does one have to be to spend their time figure out ways to destroy and disrupt other people's lives??...

Most of them end up getting well paid jobs with the big security companies.....

demanufactured

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Its been a long time since ive gotten a virus.

Last time must have been about 10 years ago and that wasnt my fault.

Did a fresh install of XP and connected it to the college network without any antivirus of firewall or running windows update. Within minutes the thing was going mental.
Popups all over the shop, HD and CD started spinning like mad.

I just left it to see what it would do as i knew id have to wipe it again anyway. Eventually it overheated and turned off. lol.

My first exposure to a virus/trojan was subseven. Good times!

I think that may have been a hardware issue lol