Re: cyberweaponry

On Jun 3, 2012 12:05 PM, "Tedd Sperling" <tedd@sperling.com> wrote: > > On May 31, 2012, at 7:45 PM, Ross McKay wrote: > > >> He said that this was unusual because typically such viruses are > >> written in languages like Ruby-on-Rails and such. > > > > Um, really? I very much doubt that. AFAIK, most true viruses are written > > in a compiled language, and many trojans as well. RoR websites would > > definitely be a vulnerability target though... > > Yeah, that's what I thought, but this guy was held out to be one of the foremost experts on cyber-warfare. So, I listened and asked. Actually, that's not true anymore. Flame was indeed written in Lua (and you can find the source if you look), and while that choice of language is a bit surprising, since it's a gaming language, the choice of distributing a script-based virus/worm is not unique. Remember, WSH viruses and worms, though not as prevalent today, were some of the most widespread and destructive forms of malware in history --- a la Loveletter/Lovebug/ILOVEYOU.