Relentless Replicants
Computer viruses and worms haunt the internet. They worm their way into a system, replicate, and spread again. It’s a simple process—with devastating consequences. But there’s a whole industry of people that rose up to fight back.
Craig Schmugar recalls how he and his team responded to MyDoom, one of the fastest-spreading worms ever. Dr. Nur Zincir-Heywood reveals the inner workings of viruses and worms, and how they draw their names from the world of biology. And security expert Mikko Hypponen shares advice on avoiding malware. But he also warns that we’re in an arms race against malware developers.
If you want to read up on some of our research on viruses and worms, you can check out all our bonus material over at redhat.com/commandlineheroes. Follow along with the episode transcript.
74: Mikko
Poker is a competitive game. Unlike other casino games, poker is player vs player. Criminal hackers have understood this for a while and sometimes hack the other players to get an edge. And that small edge can result in millions of dollars in winnings.
This episode contains a story from Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure. We also interview Mikko to know more about him and the history of malware.
Sponsors
This episode was sponsored by IT Pro TV. Get 65 hours of free training by visiting ITPro.tv/darknet. And use promo code DARKNET25.
This episode was sponsored by Thinkst Canary. Their canaries attract malicious actors in your network and then send you an alert if someone tries to access them. Great early warning system for knowing when someone is snooping around where they shouldn’t be. Check them out at https://canary.tools.
Sources
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/18318-wsop-bracelet-winner-jailed-for-web-poker-cheating
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/my-unbelievable-ept-barcelona-story-hotel-rooms-arts-barcelona-broken-into-plant-trojans-1369171/
Mikko’s research on bypassing hotel room keys
https://archive.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002647.html
https://pokerfuse.com/news/live-and-online/more-stories-of-tampered-laptops-emerge-in-wake-of-ept-barcelona-scam-24-09/
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=40050535&postcount=410
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=40099537&postcount=794
https://igaming.org/poker/news/danish-former-high-stakes-pro-reported-to-police-for-massive-fraud-1602/
https://nyheder.tv2.dk/krimi/2019-12-02-dansk-pokerspiller-far-konfiskeret-26-millioner-kroner
https://www.flushdraw.net/news/peter-jepsen-verdict-a-mixed-victory-for-poker-justice/
https://www.bankrollmob.com/poker-news/2019123/danish-poker-pro-sentenced-jail-cheating-others-online-poker
Video: Peter Jepsen talks about an attempted hack on him
https://www.sijoitustieto.fi/comment/29593#comment-29593
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/sad-conclusion-my-barcelona-incident-1397551/
Video: Brain Searching for the first PC virus in Pakistan
https://archive.org/details/malwaremuseum