Crisis Malware Sneaks onto Windows Virtual Machines

Symantec is reporting a new variant of the OSX Crisis malware that adapts itself to Windows Virtual Machines environment, dubbed W32.Crisis. Symantec recommends updating your virus definitions, preferably Norton.

It does not use vulnerability in the VMware software itself. It takes advantage of an attribute of all virtualization software: namely that the virtual machine is simply a file or series of files on the disk of the host machine

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So, Linux/GNU is still secure.

Back to work.

This is the only way crisis would run on OSX...

Haswell said:

So, Linux/GNU is still secure.

Back to work.

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i have my doubts that there isnt a linux version of this in the wild, since its propagating by using the common way malware attacks systems - social engineering attacks, its just that most linux users really don't fall to these attacks

DeathPrincess said:

This is the only way crisis would run on OSX...

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The majority of OSX crisis-type situations usually involve an emotional breakup of two people through Twitter anyhow.

On a serious note, it's a shame that Apple doesn't build their MB Pros with actual professional GPUs. They use lower end gaming hardware instead of sprining for a Quadro like Dell does with their Precision notebooks.

Haswell said:

So, Linux/GNU is still secure.

Back to work.

Click to expand...

There is malware that's similar that does work however. NetWeirdRC infects Linux allegedly. It's also worth noting that on VM's Crisis only goes after Type 2 hypervisors, not the Type 1's that servers are likely to use.

SkribbelKat said:

The majority of OSX crisis-type situations usually involve an emotional breakup of two people through Twitter anyhow.

On a serious note, it's a shame that Apple doesn't build their MB Pros with actual professional GPUs. They use lower end gaming hardware instead of sprining for a Quadro like Dell does with their Precision notebooks.

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Yes. Those are serious though. A secret reason why they all have slot loading disk drives, isn't just to stick paper/cheese slices into (as a joke) and watch them flail to get it out, it's to dispense tissues.

The problem with that is the markup. Say you have a $200 GeForce GPU, you have to add to this the +60% minimum cApple tax markup (it's because the purchasers are really bad at getting good deals!). So thats already a $320 GPU. Now, a Quadro, though based (it's just a bios change, theres several Geforce cards you can flash to be quadros) on GeForce chips, these have sometimes a 300% markup (it's for the extra support and drivers and some other stuff apparently). So you'd be looking at a $960 GPU!

Now the average user isn't going to know what a GPU is, so telling them some component which they don't know what it is is costing them half the cost of a laptop isn't going to work. So you would have to charge $5000 for the junky laptop and tell them it's just really special and can make imaginary colors and has balm tissues or something. But still it's going to seem really expenive for some extra stuff which they have no idea what it does. Theres also the fact that Quadros are only needed for specific purposes like some CAD programs, and OSX doesn't really have any CAD programs or most of the professional/sciencey stuff that needs the extra crap quadros do. Most stuff nowadays will run fine/identically on "gamer" graphics. But it's more likely because they're cheap.