Might wanna read this

[Dennis]

Dan Verton, Computerworld

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

 

A Malaysian virus writer who is sympathetic to the cause of the al Qaeda

terrorist group and Iraq, and who has been connected to at least five

other

malicious code outbreaks, is threatening to release a megavirus if the

United States launches a military attack against Iraq.

 

The virus writer, who goes by the handle Melhacker and whose real name is

believed to be Vladimor Chamlkovic, is thought to have written or been

involved in the development of the VBS.OsamaLaden@mm, Melhack, Kamil,

BleBla.J, and Nedal worms.

 

However, in an exclusive interview Wednesday with Computerworld, Melhacker

confirmed earlier reports by IDefense that he has developed and tested a

"three-in-one" megaworm code-named Scezda that combines features from the

well-known SirCam, Klez, and Nimda worms.

 

"This is a real Internet computer worm," said Melhacker. "I will attack or

launch this worm if America attacks Iraq." The worm has been ready and

fully

tested in his lab since August, he said. He also confirmed earlier

intelligence reports that he has ties to both Russian hackers and

Pakistani

virus writers.

 

Caution Urged

 

Brian Kelly, president and chief executive of IDefense, said that while

Melhacker hasn't proved adept at seeding new worms in the wild, this worm

could be difficult to stop. IDefense quietly warned its clients last week

about the potential for such a worm to hit the Internet, saying that

companies should move to a heightened state of alert and watch for

suspicious Internet traffic and e-mail if Iraq is attacked.

 

"If he were to be successful with this one, it could be very serious,"

said

Kelly. "Although we are aware of his contacts with Russian and Palestinian

code-authoring groups, we're not yet sure how strong those relationships

are."

 

Vincent Gullotto, vice president at McAfee Security's Avert, a division of

Network Associates, said the threat posed by Scezda is completely

dependent

on whether Melhacker is successful in getting it to propagate.

 

"If he is, it could be very large," said Gullotto.

But it's difficult to speculate, because there have been many such viruses

that have gone nowhere, he said. "Until we see the virus moving in the

wild,

we consider it to be a low risk," Gullotto said.

 

Short Track Record

 

Melhacker, who has also gone by the name Kamil, may have had some

involvement in the September release of the BugBear mass-mailing network

attack worm. According to IDefense, Melhacker has close ties to Nur

Mohammad

Kamil, who identifies himself as part of a group known as "A.Q.T.E.

Al-Qaeda

Network." Melhacker has also associated himself with the al Qaeda network

for a long period and has been an active Malaysian malicious coder threat

for at least six years.

 

At least one of these worms, the Nedal worm (the name is Laden spelled

backward) contained encrypted code, according to analysis conducted by

IDefense. When decrypted, the code was shown to contain numerous Arabic

names of unknown significance, as well as references to al Qaeda.

 

In the case of the VBS.OsamaLaden@mm worm, the code leaves a message that

references the September 11 terrorist attacks and then attempts to shut

down

a user's system and delete all files in the Windows System directory.

 

The continuing development of malicious code from pro-Islamic and

pro-al-Qaeda hackers, especially in Malaysia, is of great concern and one

that needs to be closely watched, according to an intelligence bulletin

released last week by IDefense.

 

"While it might be true that al Qaeda operatives are not well organized,

skilled, or equipped to mount a serious cyberoffensive, it is likely that

al

Qaeda sympathizers will serve as surrogates in their cyberoffensive," said

Kelly.

[Guest SiLvEr BuLLeT]

1)Where did you get that??

 

2) No more T for me on Counter-strike

[[Mmmm]SparkyTech]

I say bomb Iraq any way... I can live with a worm, but not scum.

 

[Playaa]

w00t to that one sparky

 

cost of a new computer? $600 (on pricewatch)

cost of utterly destroying every stinking terrorist in the world? priceless...

[Guest The Hurricane]

not everyone living in Iraq is scum...

[Guest catalystgs]

I love how the U.S. thinks they are so much better than everyone else. We have nuclear weapons, so why do we think that no one else should? Sure, Iraq does want to use them against us, but we deserve it for being such donkey burrows to everyone. I'm moving to Canada... no one has beef with the Canadians...

[Fatty]

Is this a situation where 2 out of 3 are bad?

[Gond]

I love how the U.S. thinks they are so much better than everyone else.  We have nuclear weapons, so why do we think that no one else should?  Sure, Iraq does want to use them against us, but we deserve it for being such donkey burrows to everyone.  I'm moving to Canada... no one has beef with the Canadians...

Gosh, it would be nice if you would move to Canada but I hate to think of those poor guys having to deal with you.

 

Iraq has proven they are a hostile country. Giving them these type of weapons is only asking for trouble.

 

Maybe I'm getting old but I'm so freaking tired of people saying we are so bad. So, we don't want these little countries killing themselves...gosh, we are so EVIL for that. We don't want agressive countries having nuclear weapons...shame on us. I'm far from a war mongler but I'm behind what the US is doing right now.

[Guest [DLM]->MP_Stinger]

yeah catawhatever that post made no sense it just sounded like some idiot that automatically hates our government even when the/she lives in the country of the government they hate, get educated before you start acting like one of those morons that defends all of the terrorists from the national arab whatever or whatever that organization is

[Guest catalystgs]

I'm not defending Iraq. I'm saying that the U.S. should stop pushing all the smaller countries around and making them conform to our beliefs. The U.S. is in no way innocent of meddling in other countries' affairs.

[DJ Premier]

i agree to a certain extent.

[Heartless]

American's are so stuck up in themselves. We snoop around into other peoples business.. we need to deal with our own problems first. And it we stayed out of other peoples business.. we wouldn't be here in the first place.

[ConGregation]

So what did we do to cause this? I see everyone saying we are to blame for all the problems of the world but I sure dont see it like that. So what if we helped the Afghanastanis fight the USSR. It made complete sense. How did we force Saddam to over run Kuwait and take it over? Why is Al Quaida out to destroy America? Because Osama doesnt like it that our women have a voice in our government!

 

We are a target simply becuase we are succesful. Im not saying we are totally innocent. And we have done some really stupid things in foreign policy and covert operations. But generally we have promoted Democracy and human rights while trying to keep the world a safe place for Americans to live, love and laugh.

 

But to bring the conversation to the focal point, how in the world could you say its wrong for us to try and keep nukes outta Iraq? Instead you just condemn all our other blunders and history.

[DJ Premier]

Not to stray off the topic but have you ever noticed that when you go travelling to Europe or Southeast Asia for vacation, the most popular term is "stupid Americans" by locals and foreign tourists alike?

 

Regarding what we did to cause this...

 

We did plenty, but it doesn't mean other people should go around killing thousands of civilians and call it "right" according to their religion.

 

Here is ONE thing that contributed to the fire:

...

...

...

...EDITTED TO PREVENT POLITICAL BACKFIRE...

...

...

 

To answer when Al Qaeda will stop attacking America (according to latest Bin Laden tape):

- We must no longer support Israel.

- We must all turn Muslim.

[Killer]

Allright heres my 2 centcs.

 

Im a proud, hardfought american patroit, and i would server my country if needed, bu ti aggree we are stuck up. and Iraq is NOT a small country. They might not have a lot of population, but they have brave, willed soldiers who are willing to fight and DIE for their country. Un or now, they will always have bio-chemican thermonuclear weapons. The second they launch 1 at us, it will either be defended, or picked up on radar, Bush will get his launch codes, and fire 1 right back at em. Thats all i had to say.

[Killer]

I meant to say UN or not ( United nations inspectors incase anyoen was confused )

[FatGuyInALittleCoat]

Not to stray off the topic but have you ever noticed that when you go travelling to Europe or Southeast Asia for vacation, the most popular term is "stupid Americans" by locals and foreign tourists alike?

That means exactly zip. You should hear what is said about tourists here in Orlando.

 

I say bring it on. I doubt there is a virus we can't handle. Are we supposed to cower before a terrorist threat? Butch up people.

 

 

Be assured that Saddam Hussein is quite insane. In October he held an “election� in which we are supposed to believe 100% the Iraqi population voted and 100% of voters voted for him. And to “thank� the people of Iraq for re-electing him unanimously he thought it would be nice to release every criminal from prison. Hundreds of thousands of murders and rapists we’re released back in to the population. The press foreign press (CNN, etc.), which is normally highly restricted in Iraq, was invited to witness the election and the release of the prisoners. They were quickly kicked out of the country when thousands of Iraqi women began protesting because their husbands who had been arrested for their political beliefs didn’t come home. The Iraqi Ministry of Information didn’t want us to figure out that political prisoners are killed.

 

Now picture this screwball with chemical and nuclear weapons. Should we back down because you don’t want to lose your JPEGS and MP3’s?

[DJ Premier]

That means exactly zip. You should hear what is said about tourists here in Orlando.

 

This statement makes my statement mean even more. In most of the foreign countries I've visited, I've been treated with respect, curiousity and genuine courtesy.

 

Here in the US, we treat them like garbage. I'm guilty as well. I live in in a tourist attraction city as well and I treat them like garbage too.

 

Btw, this has nothing to do with Saddam but more along the lines of how "high and mighty" we come off to other countries.

 

I bet if some fella came over to your house and acted all high and mighty, you'd slap them silly. I know I would.

[FatGuyInALittleCoat]

There is a possibility that good ‘ol Osama Bin Laden may be insane too. This is just a guess. But he has this quirk where he likes to kill thousands of innocent people because he doesn't like the fact that their government supports religions other than Islam.

 

Why can’t the Arabs just say “thank you very much for making us so rich by buying our oil� and then build themselves nice countries with all the cash we’ve given them. Instead they feel the need to kill each other and destroy the land they claim to hold dear. I guess they got bored with that and decided to expand their playing field.

 

I’m not sure what to think about people who dance in the streets at the news that thousands of Americans are burning and jumping to their deaths.

[DJ Premier]

Osama has only a small request. Convert to Islam! The whole world!

 

If that doesn't define "insane", I dunno what does.

What a k00k.

 

Btw, not all Arabs are bad.

 

I doubt CNN would show arabs crying and mourning on TV. It makes better news to show them firing AK's into the air and dancing. Not all Arabs are bad.

[Guest the mack]

American's are so stuck up in themselves. We snoop around into other peoples business.. we need to deal with our own problems first. And it we stayed out of other peoples business.. we wouldn't be here in the first place.

tell that to the victims of sept 11

 

then again if we stayed out of hilters bisuness ...which wasnt ours

[Heartless]

im starting to doubt osama is even real. Who says its not just a made up sand devil by bush? Come on now.. as soon as bush was in office Osama came up, and once that died down now its Saddam.. who's next?

[Ak2786]

im starting to doubt osama is even real. Who says its not just a made up sand devil by bush? Come on now.. as soon as bush was in office Osama came up, and once that died down now its Saddam.. who's next?

Umm actually osama has been around for awhile now and known about long before bush took over. Don't make yourself sound ignorant by saying that he is fake and that bush made him up.

[Guest the mack]

hehe maybe bush just made up saddam too

[Dennis]

what about santa claus