Some people just need to realize when something is a bad idea… \u00c2\u00a0Evidently Zach Gage has made a game that as you kill invaders, your files get randomly deleted. \u00c2\u00a0Nice, yes?<\/p>\n
Well, Intego detects it as OSX\/LoserGame, and VirusBarrier X5 also detects it… \u00c2\u00a0But does Sophos? \u00c2\u00a0Not yet… \u00c2\u00a0And this application has been out for a while. \u00c2\u00a0It’s an obvious piece of Malware \/ Trojan… \u00c2\u00a0So why doesn’t all the antivirus packages detect it? \u00c2\u00a0I don’t have an answer…<\/p>\n
So be careful, and don’t run this application if you value your data…<\/p>\n
Intego’s summary is after the jump….<\/p>\n
Intego\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Virus Monitoring Center has come across an odd new program. Called lose\/lose, this is a kind of alien-killer game like the venerable Space Invaders, but with a new twist. As the developer describes it on his web site,
\n
\nEach alien in the game is created based on a random file on the players computer. If the player kills the alien, the file it is based on is deleted. If the players ship is destroyed, the application itself is deleted.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nHmm\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 You play a game and it deletes files? Your files? That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sound very good.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Developer Zach Gage claims that this is part of his MFA thesis, and while that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly believable, it seems an odd way to write a thesis: a game that may delete user\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s files is, quite frankly, a malicious program. Gage is trying to dress this up in philosophical concepts; he told us:<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/em>I would even argue that Lose\/Lose does good and not harm, as it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of a project bringing this kind of matter to our attention. Part of it is about examining this flaw in our reasoning. We are so afraid of technology that we can become enraged just at the idea of a dangerous piece of software, even when that software is no more dangerous than dragging your files to the trash and deleting them yourself. In a world where so much of our lives are online, shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we have passed this fear by now? If we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perhaps theres a greater danger to continuing to move forward into this technological future than we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to terms with. When files on your computer are more important physical possessions, the rules of the game change. Imagine if someone could remotely delete furniture from your house, food from your fridge, or work from your desk? Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you want to know even the basics of how that system worked before you integrated it so heavily into your lif<\/em>e?
\nHigh-concept art is nothing new, but applying that to malicious computer programs certainly is. While the program has even been part of an Australian digital art exhibit, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it any better.<\/p>\nMalware as art could be fine in an exhibit, but releasing it in the wild is risky. Granted, the program has clear warnings about what it will do, both on pages where it can be downloaded, and on the game\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s splash screen, but this will simply show that those who don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read \u00e2\u20ac\u201c or, perhaps, whose native languages are not English \u00e2\u20ac\u201c may end up losing valuable files.<\/p>\n
Intego is considering this as malware, with the name OSX\/LoserGame, and VirusBarrier X5 with virus definitions dated October 28, 2009 or later will delete this game. If you see it, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try playing it, unless you really want to lose files.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Some people just need to realize when something is a bad idea… \u00c2\u00a0Evidently Zach Gage has made a game that as you kill invaders, your files get randomly deleted. \u00c2\u00a0Nice, yes? Well, Intego detects it as OSX\/LoserGame, and VirusBarrier X5 also detects it… \u00c2\u00a0But does Sophos? \u00c2\u00a0Not yet… \u00c2\u00a0And this application has been out for […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[12,5,25,35],"tags":[69,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.schollnick.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}