[Sussex] Piracy Possibly the cause of Virus Virulence

[John Crowhurst]

> It occurs to me ( as sometimes it does when I wake to early ) that many
> XP and Windows Users have been reluctant to patch and secure their
> systems because they may not have a legal copy on their computers. The
> Fear of the XP Deactivation bug and MS Snooping of systems may lead
> people to never want to press the Windows Update....

This is probably true. Windows piracy has always been a sore point, as
people view Microsoft making huge profits with their software, and the
applications effectively cost too much in comparison to their worth. I
believe that is the main reason why they pirate.

> Of course this just plays into the hands of Virus writers who rely on
> such systems to help transport their warez....

People could keep all these intrusions out of XP machines by using the
builtin firewall, but... most users don't know how to use their firewalls
and so their machine gets compromised.

This new worm is interesting, as its like a rootkit in a way, it opens up
a port (4444) and binds a command shell to it. The hacker can come along
at a later date and update the worm remotely, FTP a payload using the TFTP
service and compromise the machine, take any file that he/she wishes from
the machine, etc.

--
John