[HN Gopher] Malware found on laptops given out by government
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       Malware found on laptops given out by government
        
       Author : elorant
       Score  : 50 points
       Date   : 2021-01-23 21:04 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bbc.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.com)
        
       | rdiddly wrote:
       | These are all quotes from the article. Compare the first four
       | with the fifth and tell me if you see anything wrong with this
       | picture:
       | 
       | 1) _a handful of schools_
       | 
       | 2) _a small number of devices_
       | 
       | 3) _not widespread_
       | 
       | 4) _a very small number of devices_
       | 
       | 5) _self-propagating network worm_
        
         | TehCorwiz wrote:
         | #5 will shock you.
        
         | jodrellblank wrote:
         | And another quote from the article " _Gamarue.I, a worm
         | identified by Microsoft in 2012_ " which has documentation at
         | Microsoft.com[1] and at some random site [2] saying " _This
         | threat tries to use the Windows Autorun function to spread via
         | removable drives, such as USB flash drives._ " and "
         | _Worm:Win32 /Gamarue.I copies four essential components from
         | one location to another. These four components are the four
         | files used in the attack: "desktop.ini," "~$wb.usbdrv," "usb
         | drive (1gb).lnk" and "thumbs.db."_"
         | 
         | Self-propagating it is, self-propagating over a network it
         | doesn't seem to be. Is it more likely "A School in Bradford
         | plugged an infected USB stick into laptops while setting them
         | up, and disabling built-in antivirus in favour of some third-
         | party less effective antivirus"?
         | 
         | [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-
         | encyclo...
         | 
         | [2] https://www.enigmasoftware.com/wormwin32gamaruei-removal/
        
         | Debug_Overload wrote:
         | PR damage control > actual damage control and being honest.
        
         | x86ARMsRace wrote:
         | I fail to see anything contradictory here. As an example,
         | there's nothing contradictory about "a small outbreak of a
         | highly contagious virus". Large outbreaks necessitate an
         | initial small outbreak.
        
           | rdiddly wrote:
           | The contradiction if you want to call it that, is between the
           | apparent importance of emphasizing four times the small
           | number of infected systems, and the relative unimportance of
           | that fact when talking about something that is self-copying.
           | In the process hopefully it dawns on people that the piece
           | cloaks about two lines of technical info inside hundreds of
           | words designed to reassure people's feels.
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-23 23:00 UTC)