Darkness and light always go hand in hand. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At the same time that personal computers were making IT accessible to everyone, computer viruses were becoming more and more common.

However, no computer virus has ever been as ferocious and devastating as the Chernobyl virus, and on April 26 alone, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of computers around the world were hit -- even if they were not connected to the Internet, they might not be 100 percent spared.

According to Symantec's report, the Chernobyl virus is a new computer virus that is ingenious in design, pervasive in its spread, and destructive.

With a size of about 1 KB, it is highly stealthy because it can infect a variety of files, including executable programs and office software documents on various platforms, without changing the file size.

The known ways in which the Chernobyl virus spreads, including file copies and downloads, as well as e-mails, cover almost all of the most common operations for users.

After the outbreak of the Chernobyl virus, the damage that has been observed includes: hardware damage to some computer systems, damage to mainstream office documents, network paralysis, etc.

At Symantec's press conference on April 26 at 9 p.m., the company's CEO, Gordon? Eubanks said with a serious face: "Judging from the current summary situation, in order to prevent the further spread of the Chernobyl virus, mainstream free public email systems, including AOL, Yahoo, Zheru Software, and Microsoft, have suspended their services. ”

"Symantec customer service has received hundreds of reports that their computer systems are not working at all."

"Because it's a Sunday, it's not clear how many office and business computers will be infected."

"In view of the fact that the Chernobyl virus can damage certain models of personal computers, I advise employees of various companies and institutions not to rush to turn on their computers on the first business day of the next week, but to wait for the engineers in the IT department to take some precautions first."

……

Finally, when it came to the interactive session, a reporter rushed to ask: "It's so bad that my computer won't start today!" It's easy to understand why computer viruses destroy files on hard drives, but why is hardware not immune to the Chernobyl virus? ”

Gordon? Eubanks lifted his glasses and replied thoughtfully: "The computer hardware we are familiar with, such as the most typical motherboards, is actually equipped with read-only memory, which is used to store the software microcode that controls the underlying operation, that is, the BIOS - the Chernobyl virus is by destructively rewriting the contents of the BIOS, and then making the hardware unable to boot and run normally. ”

The reporter asked suspiciously: "If it is a read-only memory, why can the Chernobyl virus rewrite the contents of the BIOS?" ”

Gordon? Eubanks patiently explains: "In the early days, read-only memory was truly 'read-only memory' because it needed to be erased with the help of ultraviolet light. ”

"However, as computer systems become more complex and powerful, in order to facilitate upgrade and maintenance, motherboards have begun to adopt a new type of read-only memory that can be erased and written only by changing the voltage, which is not absolute 'read-only memory' in comparison."

"The target of the Chernobyl virus to destroy hardware is these motherboards that use a new type of read-only memory. However, because there are differences in the specific operating voltage, only some motherboards are affected. ”

Seeing that the other party looked like a mourner, Gordon? Eubanks comforted: "You can take the manufacturer of the computer that doesn't boot to see if they can replace the BIOS." ”

Another reporter asked, "My computer boots up normally, but a lot of files won't open - can Symantec fix it?" ”

Gordon? Eubanks smiled bitterly and replied vaguely: "At present, our main focus is on how to detect and kill the Chernobyl virus and possible variants. ”

A female reporter asked curiously: "Is the origin of the Chernobyl virus now clear?" ”

Gordon? Eubanks said cautiously: "We only saw a string of 'we should not forget this day in history' from the copyright notice part of the parsed Chernobyl virus code snippet, so we judged that the motive for its creation may be related to the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and other circumstances are unclear." ”

An older journalist who noticed Gordon? What Eubanks said before meant was that Symantec was currently mainly busy with how to kill the Chernobyl virus, and he didn't care about anything else, so he asked in depth: "Is it very difficult to kill the Chernobyl virus?" Doesn't it have a lot to do with what you just emphasized, which is extremely hidden? And the Chernobyl virus, how did it do this? ”

"As you said, the Chernobyl virus is not easy to deal with." Gordon? Eubanks nodded with a heavy face, "As for how you want to understand how the Chernobyl virus hides itself so well, you first need to understand a little trick in the computer world for processing data. ”

"As we all know, a modern electronic computer system is essentially a device that operates binary numbers - 0 and 1, and in the concrete implementation, the basic unit is a combination of 8 bits of 0 and 1, that is, a byte."

"In modern times, 32-bit computer systems have become commonplace. In order to improve performance, this basic unit has become 4 bytes. ”

"It's like, in the process of making coffee, you will use a series of units that you are used to ignoring, such as spoons, cups, etc., for the sake of convenience and efficiency."

"So, in a 32-bit system, even if you only use a two-byte integer, the computer system actually uses four bytes to process it."

"Put this data processing technique, or the principle of 'byte alignment', on the file storage structure of the hard disk, and there will be a lot of 'gaps' outside the 'valid data'."

"Especially when software vendors design a file structure, they will reserve some extra empty bytes that cannot be used temporarily in order to upgrade and backup in the future, thus further increasing the 'gap'."

"The Chernobyl virus takes advantage of these 'gaps' to encrypt, compress, and then split itself into several fragments, so as to be invisible in it while not allowing the infected files to appear abnormal in any size."

……

The reporters looked at each other and a thought popped up in their hearts -- the person who designed the Chernobyl virus is really amazing!

……

Spent half a day foaming, Gordon? Eubanks ultimately has to make his company's presence felt.

"As a leading international computer security company, Symantec has joined forces with major vendors such as Philus, Microsoft, IBM, and Sun Microsystems to discuss solutions to the Chernobyl virus, and pay close attention to possible virus variants," he said. ”

……

The reporters rolled their eyes when they heard this -- after talking for a long time, there was still no effective way to deal with the Chernobyl virus.

……

Because of the ravages of the Chernobyl virus, there are too many people who roll their eyes.

On the East Coast of the United States, Joel Klein, the prosecutor in charge of the United States of America v. Zheru Software monopoly case, rolled his eyes as he looked at the documents in front of him.

Although a lot of important information has been compiled and printed in a book, some of the latest evidence is still in the paralyzed computer.

The Ministry of Justice is getting professional technicians to try to recover precious data from hard drives.

Even if these documents can be recovered in their entirety, today is the time for the trial of the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software, Inc., and it is obvious that it will not be useful.

……

When he arrived at the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the District, Joel Klein noticed that the people here were also gloomy.

When he inquired again, even Thomas Panfield Jackson, the judge in the United States of America v. Zheru Software Monopoly case, had his office computer ruined by the raging Chernobyl virus!

Joel Klein's heart sank suddenly, and Guy knew that Thomas Panfield Jackson was actually inclined to Zheru Software's suspected industry monopoly in his attitude.

But even the judge's office computer has been recruited, so it is inevitable that some important information cannot be retrieved for the time being.

What makes Joel Klein feel a little bit of psychological balance is that everyone on the side of the opponent's lawyer team at Zheru Software does not seem to have an easy time, and the lead lawyer, David Boyce, still takes time to look at the material from time to time.

In this way, the case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Co., Ltd. Monopoly was heard for the first time in a delicate atmosphere that should have been in place, but was suddenly caught off guard.

……

On the West Coast, it's business as usual for the richest man - do whatever he has to do!

Looking at the huge headline in the "New York Times" - "This Monday, everyone should not turn on the computer", Tang Huan couldn't help but laugh.

This situation of Guy is too similar to the ransomware virus derived from the "Eternal Blue" more than ten years later in the original plane!

The richest man then read the Wall Street Journal, which said that the Chernobyl nuclear accident 12 years ago caused $18 billion in economic losses to the Soviet Union at that time; Today's Chernobyl computer virus has caused an estimated $10 billion in economic losses to the world today.

Tang Huan picked up his mobile phone and took a look at the stock market in the United States -- because of the time difference, the New York stock market had already opened.

As for the result, of course, it will fall in response - which is all too rare.

You must know that since late October last year, because of the Asian financial turmoil, the New York stock market has undergone a so-called fierce adjustment, and it has entered an invincible mode of rising steadily.

……

When the richest man came to the headquarters of Zheru Software, he happened to see the employees under his command, impatiently driving away the investigators of the Ministry of Justice - asking for the documents, our network was paralyzed by the Chernobyl virus, and the printers were on strike, and there was no "" to give you at all!

Tang Huan ignored such pushing, shoving, arguing and quarrelling, and went straight to the office of the chairman of the board of directors where he was located.

Just after making a pot of tea, Brad Swarberg, CEO of Zheru Software, rushed over and talked about the ongoing trial of the United States of America v. Zheru Software in the Federal Circuit of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

"Arguments in court can only be described as clichés." Brad Swarberg had a happy smile on his face, mixed with a somewhat sarcastic smile, "It is said that some of the so-called strong latest evidence cannot be retrieved by the Ministry of Justice for the time being. ”

The richest man nodded noncommittally and digressed the topic: "The harm of the Chernobyl virus is still at the peak of its spread - how are we coping with it?" ”

"There are two main aspects - one is internal and the other is external." Brad Swalberg replied methodically.

"As a user, the system of Zheru Software has also been affected by the Chernobyl virus. For example, services, including mail servers, have been temporarily suspended. ”

"Fortunately, although the loss has occurred, it is still under control."

"The real trouble is the outside - as the producer of Zheru Software Company, its operating system and office software are the two major categories of products, both of which are the hardest hit areas, and the operation of the customer service system is already at full capacity."

"Judging from the current summary situation, the Chernobyl virus is a hardware destruction on the old version of the consumer-grade operating system with a mixture of 16-bit and 32-bit underlying architecture; And the computer system running the latest pure 32-bit StudiOS has not found any examples of destruction; As for the server-oriented high-level operating system, Vientiane, it is even more invulnerable. ”

"The premise of the office software documentation being corrupted is that the macro switch of the scripting language is running, and it is activated."

"Guiding our customers to grasp these key points is a very tricky project."

The two of them were discussing the mystery of "crisis is also an opportunity", and the assistant sent an update message.

Symantec has just announced that the strings contained in the Chernobyl virus have been analyzed by security experts and linguists that they are supposed to have been made by a native Russian speaker.

In addition, according to the current Internet tracking results, one of the earliest websites for the transmission of the Chernobyl virus is located in Russia.

Although Symantec did not elaborate further, the implication was already obvious - the global economic damage, estimated to reach 10 billion US dollars, was caused by Russian hackers.

Tang Huan had a meaningful smile on his face - this pot should be a Russian hacker. Anyway, in the original time and space, the United States will press the hat to you no matter what is going on!