Watch this! The changing face of malware Youtube Video The anti-malware software industry seems to be fighting a losing battle, with Symantec even declaring antivirus "dead". In this online tutorial Darryl MacGregor, principal technologist for information security at IT training biz QA, discusses the best strategies for protecting your information assets in the near …
Interestingly enough the narrator mentions the Cascade virus, in that the characters fell to the bottom of the screen and he mentions that he had to switch the screen off when this happens.
In the virus (or variant of), holding a series of keys would clear the screen - and the user would have been able to continue.
Interesting article anyway,
After all, operating systems are getting better & more security aware these days; so (to a degree) is utility software (even Flash, Acrobat etc.,) yet there's virtually no development in the weakest part of any system.
The Liveware.
The most prevalent virus I've come across in the last few years has had different effects, but it's all been the PICNIC virus:-
Problem In Chair Not In Computer.
If you run as a limited user in any environment in Linux, OSX, or Windows NT6, you can defeat most malware as long as you have security settings that work in an infected environment. If you are going to use anti-malware at all, then be sure and pick them that run at the kernel level, so they have a chance of fighting manipulation by the criminals. Most of the time a good file cleaner can defeat any malware in a limited rights environment! I have no idea what Apple and Linux users have for that, but I'm sure it is possible. Just clean the files before doing something sensitive, and chances are good that you will not be keylogged or anything else that can run at user privileges and take advantage of anything at all!
There are a few things that can happen regardless, but a good HIPS will catch it every time. ( so far - tomorrow may change everything)
Isn't that why most malware these days use rootkits and employ "rooting" (the *NIX term for privilege escalation) as a general rule? In such an environment, it doesn't matter if the user is limited; the malware ignores that and goes straight for the Superuser, which exists by default in most *NIX environments. After all, someone's got to be the boss.
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