Meet "badBIOS"

[Power]

this virus currently exists on Linus

 

 

help

 

Anyways, I'm not sure about the genuine existence of it or whether this is a rumour spread by av companies.

[1823alex]

I don't think it's a rumor it seems pretty realistic and possible.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[Maskot]

My macs cd drive doesn't work anymore and I've been seeing features slowly die off ;n; what do.

[1823alex]

Dumb Double Posting from phone...

[1823alex]

Nothing to see here never mind

[1823alex]

Nvm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[1823alex]

the virus would have to be big enough to store bios information of a lot of motherboards spanning over a period of time. unless it can effectively analyze the motherboard and download a bios for it without the user noticing, then its gonna be huge.

it flashes the bios after obtaining admin privellages

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[Lays]

Linux doesn't get many viruses either. Plus Linux is better than OSX. The only reason why Linux isn't the most commonly used is because it doesn't run games natively. As soon as it does all the PC gamers will go to Linux and Windows will die out. Less and less support for Windows until eventually consumers will then go to Linux eventually. This will all happen in the next 10 years.

 

I truly doubt windows will go anywhere anytime soon, to many people are used to it+ actually like it, and the reason macs/linux doesn't get very many virus's is because the people making those virus's are more concerned with the bigger audience (windows) 

 

Windows/Microsoft are way to big to go anywhere anytime soon, no matter how many screw ups they make (windows 8, etc) 

 

( also I'm not trying to start a "what's better" argument, I'm just saying)

[kuddlesworth9419]

I truly doubt windows will go anywhere anytime soon, to many people are used to it+ actually like it, and the reason macs/linux doesn't get very many virus's is because the people making those virus's are more concerned with the bigger audience (windows) 

 

Windows/Microsoft are way to big to go anywhere anytime soon, no matter how many screw ups they make (windows 8, etc) 

 

( also I'm not trying to start a "what's better" argument, I'm just saying)

There have been many company's in the past that have been as big as Microsoft and have fallen. it is naive to believe that Microsoft couldn't fail anytime soon. I don't think it will disappear right away but once Steam OS comes out and more gaming orientated distros come out most PC gamers including me will migrate over. That is a huge chunk of Microsoft's consumer base (not all of it though). After that I would expect quite a bit of software tools to be migrated over to Linux also which takes away dev time on the Windows, eventually Windows will be abandoned altogether as there will not be enough software developed for it. This process will take over the course of 10-20 years though. I could be wrong entirely.

[totjup5]

I can't wait till it is the default OS!

I think 10 years is a bit optimistic but I hope you are right.

[sof006]

Everyone buy a motherboard with Dual BIOS... One BIOS that gets screwed over. Wipe your HDD, then flash over the messed up BIOS using the second BIOS chip

 

Can't remember which manufacturer does Dual BIOS but its definitely there as an option to anyone who is paranoid about these types of virus, hell if this virus becomes common maybe more manufacturers will catch on and develop Dual BIOS boards.

[GoodBytes]

Secure Boot.. enable it, and be safe.

That is why Win 8.1 bugs you about it, if you have it disabled.

 

MacOS does not support Secure Boot.

[wpirobotbuilder]

The day Linux becomes popular is the day Linux gets viruses

It's called Linux's excellent permissions. If you aren't stupid and make everything executable from "all users" then a lot of problems will likely be eliminated.

[LogicDeifying]

*Sigh*

[martinrox1568]

It's called Linux's excellent permissions. If you aren't stupid and make everything executable from "all users" then a lot of problems will likely be eliminated.

Lol. "A lot of problems" but not all problems. Every OS eliminates a lot of security issues. You think windows firewall just stands there and looks pretty? No, but hackers have learned to get around it. All a program needs to do to gain permission is the ask the user. I can garuntee you that the average user does not understand that their music downloading app doesn't need superuser access. And if the user was smart enough the deny the su, he probably wouldn't download the virus in the first place.

[martinrox1568]

There have been many company's in the past that have been as big as Microsoft and have fallen. it is naive to believe that Microsoft couldn't fail anytime soon. I don't think it will disappear right away but once Steam OS comes out and more gaming orientated distros come out most PC gamers including me will migrate over. That is a huge chunk of Microsoft's consumer base (not all of it though). After that I would expect quite a bit of software tools to be migrated over to Linux also which takes away dev time on the Windows, eventually Windows will be abandoned altogether as there will not be enough software developed for it. This process will take over the course of 10-20 years though. I could be wrong entirely.

Huge chunk? I'm petty sure only 1% of windows users are hardcore PC gamers. Steam os is awesome but it won't do much in terms of destroying windows

[kuddlesworth9419]

Huge chunk? I'm petty sure only 1% of windows users are hardcore PC gamers. Steam os is awesome but it won't do much in terms of destroying windows

6,000,000+ is a big chunk I would say. 

[rhyseyness]

6,000,000+ is a big chunk I would say. 

Still <1%

[mr moose]

6,000,000+ is a big chunk I would say. 

Nah, pc gamers are barely a blip on the whole computer industry, The Government alone has more pc's with windows than there are pc gamers and we haven't even considered private enterprise or the health system.   We might spin a small profit for amd, nvidia and intel etc, but they don't need us to survive. were only a little bit of icing on the cake.  Basically our existence has no real influence in the IT world.

[Tr3vor]

Ruiu posited another theory that sounds like something from the screenplay of a post-apocalyptic movie: "badBIOS," as Ruiu dubbed the malware, has the ability to use high-frequency transmissions passed between computer speakers and microphones to bridge airgaps.

 

I think this whole thing is a bunch of crap.

 

but it does bring up a good point, which is volatile BIOS chips. write over that with garbage and nothing will work. Or they could be modified to just fuck up your day.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Nah, pc gamers are barely a blip on the whole computer industry, The Government alone has more pc's with windows than there are pc gamers and we haven't even considered private enterprise or the health system.   We might spin a small profit for amd, nvidia and intel etc, but they don't need us to survive. were only a little bit of icing on the cake.  Basically our existence has no real influence in the IT world.

But who are the ones that program for Windows. Linux users or PC gamers. There are others that do, Also there is quite a bit of software that is programmed for PC gamers and hardcore users. And if they all go over to Linux it wouldn't be that long before there is a lack of software being developed for WIndows. Say for example if Photoshop ran better in Linux than it did in WIndows or if a Word styles application was developed for Linux that was as good or better then wouldn't more people just leave Windows and migrate to Linux or just use both. Linux will eventually take away customers from Windows. 6,000,000 + Windows users will likely be migrating to Linux soon after Steam OS is released. Don't downplay the idea the PC gaming is small because it isn't by far. There are many more PC gamers then there are console gamers put together. Not all of them use Steam. I can't remember how many accounts are active on Steam but it's around 65 million. League of Legends is the biggest most popular game ever. Just take that into consideration and then imagine what Microsoft's reaction would be to Windows 9 when it comes out and there are very few people buying it. Not many people are buying Windows 8 as is which is bad enough although because they did such a good job with W7 there is no reason to downgrade to W8. There are 600 million W7 users which is a big amount but what if there were only 500 million. That is quite a large chunk of their revenue or future customers that had just disappeared. 

[kuddlesworth9419]

Still <1%

It's actually 65 million. Not 6 million. I took the average users on Steam at any given time for the UK which is 6.5 million. 65 million active users on Steam is a huge amount of people that all use Windows/Linux and Mac. And then add up all those that don't use Steam which is probably just as much or more even. All those people just leaving Windows and going to Linux is bad news for Windows. There are 600 million copies of W7 floating around just to put that into perspective. PC gaming is actually really big. Bigger then any console even.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Personally I wouldn't get rid off wndows, I'd Have windows and steam OS

I might have both but that is only because I know how to use W7 really well. But after a while of getting used to Steam OS or another Linux Distro I might just change completely. 

[mr moose]

But who are the ones that program for Windows. Linux users or PC gamers. There are others that do, Also there is quite a bit of software that is programmed for PC gamers and hardcore users. And if they all go over to Linux it wouldn't be that long before there is a lack of software being developed for WIndows. Say for example if Photoshop ran better in Linux than it did in WIndows or if a Word styles application was developed for Linux that was as good or better then wouldn't more people just leave Windows and migrate to Linux or just use both. Linux will eventually take away customers from Windows. 6,000,000 + Windows users will likely be migrating to Linux soon after Steam OS is released. Don't downplay the idea the PC gaming is small because it isn't by far. There are many more PC gamers then there are console gamers put together. Not all of them use Steam. I can't remember how many accounts are active on Steam but it's around 65 million. League of Legends is the biggest most popular game ever. Just take that into consideration and then imagine what Microsoft's reaction would be to Windows 9 when it comes out and there are very few people buying it. Not many people are buying Windows 8 as is which is bad enough although because they did such a good job with W7 there is no reason to downgrade to W8. There are 600 million W7 users which is a big amount but what if there were only 500 million. That is quite a large chunk of their revenue or future customers that had just disappeared. 

 

We are expected to hit 2Billion active computers in the world in 2014, of the 65 million on steam you are assuming that all will switch to steam os,  I can't see that happening because not every steam user only uses their pc for games.  My son uses his computer for school work (which requires windows) It just happens to have a steam account on it as well. 

 

The popularity of LoL or WoW or GTAV  or any game is irrelevant, it has no bearing on total pc sales or the size of the gaming industry next to the size of the commercial enterprise or government facilities.

 

We are a blip, we are nothing and even if every single gamer stopped using windows tomorrow not much would change. It's just not as big as you think it is. sorry.

[martinrox1568]

Still <1%

Out of the 100s of millions of PC users?