i think my main point i was driving home is that, sure, viruses out there now are still a threat, but as far as actual damage, you don't see anything like we saw w/ Chernobyl. agreed? how many anomolies out there do you see right now that are hardware attack based (besides stuxxnet)? i actually don't see hardware attacks being targeted in the future, either, simply becvause of the protection schemes that are now in place on chipsets/etc

i truly don't think anything can top what Chernobyl did in '98 in terms of actual pc "damage". i mean, after the second payload was launched and flashed your BIOS to nil, back then you basically had a paperweight (your MOBO was useless)

quickly, since you seem to be the only one responding to me here---

what do you think of the term "hacker" being thrown around everywhere these days? hell, i turn on CNN , and those dopes are talking about the cyber-attacks that Wiki-leaks is carrying out. they seem to think it takes alot of skill to point a mass array of zombie bots in a servers direction and hit the SEND button! you have to be kidding me! the term has been so loosely thrown about these days, i tell myself i want no part of that label. i don't deserve the title myself, simply because i feel my skills are not even on that level. i am still an intermediate network geek. when you can write your own shellcode and can set up an elaborate network scheme (and can also secure it AND break it when you need to), then i feel you have earned that title. kids who copy/paste code from notepad and tweak 2 lines then slap their names to it are not hacking anything. nor is the user who hits the auto-pwn button on his metasploit while blindly having his back turned drinking a kool-aid. do you get what i am saying? where is the skill involved in todays "hacking"? i fnd alot of show and none of the go

so do you agree with me that the future of hacking---the fact it is now so damn automated and easy, is actually detrimental to the real art? it seems the VAS and Metasploits of the world can turn ANYONE into a "hacker". yes, that angers me. no one these days even knows when they root a server, how they even did it! sure, you have the shellcode sitting in front of you as a Metasploit module, but how many dopey kids out there even know what the hell those lines of code even did!?

the best example is when you have people scanning you using nmap or whatever scanner. they will sit there and go after you for a good 5 minutes, then throw their hands up and say "he must be blocking me"

the fact you don't even watch your traffic as you scan proves to me right there you are a fool with no clue! you watch the traffic as you scan so you can instantly see if you are being filtered (usually in the first 5 seconds)

it is simple COMMON SENSE approaches like this that seem to no longer be in use anymore. we have things now on such an automated level, we simply hand our tasks over to some massive exploit program/scanner while we sit back and reap the rewards. this is not "hacking". sure, you can learn alot from it and yes, in the business world, time is money, so you need to have tasks automated. but PLEASE, do not call any of this shit hacking! this message is mainly directed at the dopey idiots on CNN who think a damn DoS attack is earth-shattering and "terrorizing"--enough to add fame for some pimple-faced 15 year old who fired off the FLOOD button!

hopefully i am not the only voice on here who sees it this way, speak up for the true art!

I think that with the sale of the stuxxnet code we will see more terrorists turning to this radical "hardcore" virii to get there message through and we all know that America is probably going to be the target. Just because they aren't in the news or out there doesn't mean they are being coded by people who live in their mothers basements.



NOTES ABOUT POST:

1. Virii is the plural of virus
2. All nerds live in their mother basements.

Never heard of stuxnet, Zeus, Spyeye and some of the newer breeds? Yeah anything you see on Hackhound, hackforums and openwc i agree but linger in these russian forums and you get some serious stuff.