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mmm lambs
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: London
Posts: 1,906
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Death of the internet
I read this on another forum and found it quite interesting so thought I would share it with you lot.
Here is a little short story I wrote. I say short, but it is quite long, so if you don't want to read it, bugger off out of this post.
This is based entirely on factual and anecdotal evidence, personal knowledge and experience, and research papers and journals.
The Day of Eden
by: John Ferguson
Introduction:
In the late 80's early 90's the computer virus was a legend. Hackers were mystical figures who had TV programmes and films made about them. Then the internet revolution occured. Computers became interconnected to an unprecedented level, however the speed of growth of the internet took many people by suprise. Security became a big issue, and hackers and virus-makers became big concerns for the coporations keen to protect their assets.
Viruses became ten-a-penny, and makers of Anti-Virus software became to make millions from countering these viruses. At first it was easy... viruses were simply copied and added to a database. Virus-writers wised up, and began encrypting their viruses. Anti-Virus software cracked the encryption. Virus writers got smarter and created "Polymorphic" viruses. These were viruses which mutated to a certain extent, however the core-code remained the same. Eventually Anti-Virus software caught up. The game of cat-and-mouse was known as Viral Co-Evolution.
In 2003 a series of viruses known as SoBig were released on the world. The viruses themselves were technically clever and their nature meant they spread faster than any virus ever known. Variant F, the 6th mutation infected 1 in 17 emails in the summer of 2003, causing millions in damages. More worryingly, the virus contained extra code which created spawns of mini-viruses which lay undetected on hard-drives and were "activated" at certain times. One of the variants caused chaos by bomabarding Microsoft's websites with millions of emails. Another variant mini-virus caused versions of Windows XP to shut down after 1 minute. All in all, the SoBig series of viruses, while being largely detectable, caused vast damage to the internet.
Away from viruses, another credible area of computer research during the late 90's early 00's is Distributed Computing. Distributed computing is a science which solves a large problem by giving small parts of the problem to many computers to solve and then combining the solutions for the parts into a solution for the problem. Some of the technologies such as the SETI@Home program are fairly simplistic.... however some are fairly groundbreaking. Distributed Parallel Procesiing involves working with agent programs. These are independent programs that are programmed with simplistic rules and work together with other agents to achieve certain goals. For example, a group of simplisitc robots programmed with the rules of rudimentary movement, the rules of not to hit the wall, the rules of not to hit each other and a goal of moving around a room.. would be able to perform this task. The robots may not grasp the rules straight away, but eventually the robots would go off and do their own thing indefintely. They would in effect learn from their mistakes, and share their knowledge with the other robots through a "Homogenous" network. If programmed to do so, the agents could even combine to move objects or to play basic games. All the time the agents are learning and sharing experiences. This combination of artifical intelligence and distributed computing is known as Evolutionary Computing or "Artificial Evolution".
The Groundwork
March 2004 - San Diego, California
EvoNet Technologies, the world's premier researcher into Distributed Parallel Processing has announced that it has been the target of a major hacking operation. Despite warnings following last years SoBig outbreak, EvoNet chose to rely on tried and tested Hardware Firewall technologies and monthly anti-virus updates. The hack occured when a rogue floppy disk, containing a simpe trojan-virus was used within the building. This self-executing virus accessed the administrators computer through the network. Once there, it added a hard-coded IP address and account to the company's remote dial-in network access. This is a list of people who access the network from their home computer. This list stores the accounts of these people and the address of the computer they are allowed to access from. It also stores the level of authorization. This addition was recorded in the logs, although these were not checked, as this was not a common occurence.
That night, the new dial-in account was accessed and an unknown assailant entered the companies network and was allowed unrestriced access to the entire company mainframe without alerting security software. After only a few minutes of browsing, the assailant download several hundred megabytes of information on Distributed Parallel Processing, including the source code of several agent programs, simulation envornments, and other documentation. The speed of this attack makes police suspect the attacker knew the subject matter and the company mainframe well. All employees are being interviewed.
Following the downloads, several Kamikaze-viruses were deposited, and files were deleted. Although backups were kept, many weeks of information is now lost, as backups are only done once a month. The purpose of the hack is unknown. Police have attempted to trace the IP address without luck.
The Hype
April 2004 - Cyberspace
Underground websites and IRC channels are reporting increased communcation between major virus-writers. This comes in response to news that Symantec and McAfee have both quashed a SoBig2 virus with minimal fuss. Sources in the underground suggest that the Anti-Virus writers will have their work cut out with the next generation. Anti-Virus software companies responded by saying they will adapt to any new virus threat as they always have done.
Ground Zero
June 21st 2004
12:01 GMT - London, England
Computer systems at the London Stock Exchange begin to behave oddly. Programs open and close at random, computers restart, peripherals are unresponsive. A viral-outbreak is suspected. Mainframe links to major banks are closed which tests are carried out. The virus remains unidentified. Windows-based systems appear uninfectted and trading continues.
12:53 GMT - Paris
The Paris stock exachange is blighted by similar symptoms to the London Exchange. The same virus is suspected, although the rest of the internet remains uninfectted which suggests a targetted hack. The mainframe links are closed. As with London, the windows-based systems are uninfectted.
13:34 GMT - Hong Kong
HSBC bank suffers catastophic mainframe failure. The failure cascades down to regional offices of the bank despite firewalls and systems in place to prevent this from happening. All HSBC banks are closed, the mainframes are shutdown for scanning, the cash-machines are closed. Accounts cannot be accessed creating widespread anger.
14:01 GMT - New York
Shortly after opening for business, the New York Stock Exchange is hammered with a techical difficulties. A virus is suspected. The virus appears to be more ferocious and destructive than it's European counterparts as it is deleting files and feeding false information into accounts. Trading is immediately suspended.
15:34 GMT - New York
Financial institutions and insurance brokers become infectted with the same destructive virius. Many major corporations order immediate closure of external email until the problem is identified.
16:23 GMT - New York
Many American banks including First National close their mainframes and cash machines after further banks in the Far East become infected with the new threat. A small hackers website emails major newspapers and media sites claiming responsibility for the virus which they label "Eden". Anti-Software companies still have yet to find Eden. The virus itself remains illusive and invisible, yet violently destructive. The BBC estimate the damage to the world's economy at billions of dollars, despite being around for less than 5 hours. The rest of th internet remains completely uninfectted.
17:00 GMT - London
The majority of the world's banks are now closed for business, as banking computers and mainframes are switched offline fearing Eden infection. Those banks that dare to continue suffer catastrophic consequences. Barclays bank in London loses 2 million of it's customer accounts, resorting to magnetic tape backups. The result is that cash machines are down across the globe. Debit/Credit machines do not authorize payment, cheques and deposits cannot be cashed, and direct debits fail to be paid. People begin to fear for savings accounts, pensions and investments. Banks reassure the pubic that the mainframes are safe and backups are being made.
17:14 GMT - California
Symantec Anti-Virus company identify their first copy of Eden. The virus passed into the companies network through normal internet traffic and was spotted purely by chance, the reason for not setting-off virus alarms or being stopped by the firewall is still unknown. The virus itself is minisule... much smaller than most viruses. The code is encrypted but attempts are being made to crack the encryption. Scans for copies of the same virus are being made.
17:30 GMT - California
Disaster strikes as Symantec's computer systems suffer catastophic failure. Despite scanning for versions of Eden, apparently mutated variants or versions already in Symantec were activated. This means that Eden is a mutating virus, and is virtually invisible to detect. Some people in the media point out the bizzare conicidence that Symatec is struck only minutes after identifying and analaysing Eden. Some people even suggest the virus saw Symantec as a threat and decided to eliminate them. Symantec respond by saying the virus was too small and simplistic for such a complex level of intelligence.
17:45 GMT - California
McAffe, Sophos and Dr Solomon anti-virus companies suffer the same fate. Microsoft close their systems to the outside. All corporations close their external email, fearing that is the source of the virus. Reports from Washington suggest that the virus has been so ruthless that the American Military have taken their systems offline. Unconfirmed reports from within the FBI suggest that their central computer is infected and case files have been deleted. The FBI deny this claim.
18:22 GMT - San Diego, California
Local law enforcement officers storm the residence of a Mr Paul Randell. The former computer programmer at the EvoNet Corporation was under suspicion of the hack on th ecompany in March. Mr Randell worked on the Distributed Parallel Processing project, but was sacked after his employers learned that Mr Randell had been arrested in February for possesion of Cannabis. Police suspected the hack was a "payback" to his former employers, but had no evidence to charge Mr Randell. Police were tipped off when the CIA traced the origin of the email posted to the BBC earlier today claiming responsibility for the Eden virus. Mr Randell denies any involvment.
18:00 GMT - Washington DC
After Mr Randell's arrest, panel experts on a TV News programme in computing draw conclusions regarding the nature of Eden, and the expertise Mr Randell has in agent-based programming. They surmise that Mr Randell could have released a series of Agent Viruses, with a goal to create havoc. With basic programmed rules, fairly simple viruses could combine to create a huge super-virus. Each virus could have a particular expertise, for instance infiltrating a network, or destroying a mainframe. Each virus would share it's expertise with every other virus, meaning that the very small and fairly dumb virus programs would have the expertise and destructuve power of a program a hundred times it's size.
18:27 GMT - Perth, Australia
The first news report of a home computer infected with Eden. The Windows installation was completely corrupted and personal files were lost. Scientists realise for the first time that Eden is platform-independent, meaning it can attack mainframes, Unix, Windows, or Mac machines regardless. Scans on the computer show that the Eden self-destructed after destroying the hard-drive to avoid detection.
19:00 GMT - London
Eden undergoes an apparent goal shift. At pricisely 7pm GMT, Eden simultaneously attacks thousands of servers across the internet. instantly, millions of websites and webpages are taken down, and in some cases destroyed. ISP hosts are attacked, and those people brave enough to still be on the internet despite the "day of Eden", find their computer destroyed. As the day goes on, Eden becomes better and faster at accessing, destroying, and leaving a computer system. Scientists also discover that Eden is self-replicating, creating new, mutated versions of itself.
19:30 GMT - San Diego, California
News from local police say that at 19:00 GMT, Mr Randell announced that the virus was over. He then proceeded to tell police that he had programmed a goal into the virus to terminate itself at 19:00 GMT. Mr Randell was extremely distressed to learn that the virus had mutated and created it's own goals. One Expert annonuced that the evolving, replicating, self-preserving nature of the virus meant it could technically be classed as "alive". This was strongly rebuked by religious groups.
The Aftermath
Banks and insurance companies, social services, Inland Revenue, telephone and TV comapnies, power generation, water treatment, hospitals, police stations, stock exchanges, web servers....
All of these are interlinked in a huge, world-wide-web. Every computer is only at most 7-steps away from every other computer in the world. While paper records are kept, the majority of information is stored online. Most important information must be backed up for records sake, but backups are useless if there is nothing to backup onto.
The internet is a little like the human body. Even cell is connected to every other cell. Viruses appear and infect cells, but anti-bodies fight the virus and repair the cell.
What if a virus appeared which infected every cell without the anti-bodies knowing? What if it attacked the anti-bodies themselves? What if it mutated so fast that the anti-bodies couldn't keep up? What if it destroyed cells so fast, that the whole body itself was in trouble of collapsing?
These viruses exist. Ebola, HIV, Aids, even the Common Cold mutates too fast to be kept up with. It makes sense that a similar virus may one day infect our web. And when it does, it will have the same effect on the web that AIDS has on the human body... and probably the same end result.
THE END
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