[Infowarrior] - Computer Experts Unite to Hunt Worm

[Richard Forno]

Computer Experts Unite to Hunt Worm

By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: March 18, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/technology/19worm.html

An extraordinary behind-the-scenes struggle is taking place between  
computer security groups around the world and the brazen author of a  
malicious software program called Conficker.

The program grabbed global attention when it began spreading late last  
year and quickly infected millions of computers with software code  
that is intended to lash together the infected machines it controls  
into a powerful computer known as a botnet.

Since then, the program’s author has repeatedly updated its software  
in a cat-and-mouse game being fought with an informal international  
alliance of computer security firms and a network governance group  
known as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.  
Members refer to the alliance as the Conficker Cabal.

The existence of the botnet has brought together some of the world’s  
best computer security experts to prevent potential damage. The spread  
of the malicious software is on a scale that matches the worst of past  
viruses and worms, like the I Love You virus. Last month, Microsoft  
announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the capture of  
the Conficker author.

Botnets are used to send the vast majority of e-mail spam messages.  
Spam in turn is the basis for shady commercial promotions including  
schemes that frequently involve directing unwary users to Web sites  
that can plant malicious software, or malware, on computers.

Botnets can also be used to distribute other kinds of malware and  
generate attacks that can take commercial or government Web sites off- 
line.

One of the largest botnets tracked last year consisted of 1.5 million  
infected computers that were being used to automate the breaking of  
“captchas,” the squiggly letter tests that are used to force  
applicants for Web services to prove they are human.

The inability of the world’s best computer security technologists to  
gain the upper hand against anonymous but determined cybercriminals is  
viewed by a growing number of those involved in the fight as evidence  
of a fundamental security weakness in the global network.

“I walked up to a three-star general on Wednesday and asked him if he  
could help me deal with a million-node botnet,” said Rick Wesson, a  
computer security researcher involved in combating Conficker. “I  
didn’t get an answer.”

An examination of the program reveals that the zombie computers are  
programmed to try to contact a control system for instructions on  
April 1. There has been a range of speculation about the nature of the  
threat posed by the botnet, from a wake-up call to a devastating attack.

Researchers who have been painstakingly disassembling the Conficker  
code have not been able to determine where the author, or authors, is  
located, or whether the program is being maintained by one person or a  
group of hackers. The growing suspicion is that Conficker will  
ultimately be a computing-for-hire scheme. Researchers expect it will  
imitate the hottest fad in the computer industry, called cloud  
computing, in which companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Sun  
Microsystems sell computing as a service over the Internet.

Earlier botnets were devised so they could be split up and rented via  
black market schemes that are common in the Internet underground,  
according to security researchers.

The Conficker program is built so that after it takes up residence on  
infected computers, it can be programmed remotely by software to serve  
as a vast system for distributing spam or other malware.

Several people who have analyzed various versions of the program said  
Conficker’s authors were obviously monitoring the efforts to restrict  
the malicious program and had repeatedly demonstrated that their  
skills were at the leading edge of computer technology.

For example, the Conficker worm already had been through several  
versions when the alliance of computer security experts seized control  
of 250 Internet domain names the system was planning to use to forward  
instructions to millions of infected computers.

Shortly thereafter, in the first week of March, the fourth known  
version of the program, Conficker C, expanded the number of the sites  
it could use to 50,000. That step made it virtually impossible to stop  
the Conficker authors from communicating with their botnet.

“It’s worth noting that these are folks who are taking this seriously  
and not making many mistakes,” said Jose Nazario, a member of the  
international security group and a researcher at Arbor Networks, a  
company in Lexington, Mass., that provides tools for monitoring the  
performance of networks. “They’re going for broke.”

Several members of the Conficker Cabal said that law enforcement  
officials had been slow to respond to the group’s efforts, but that a  
number of law enforcement agencies were now in “listen” mode.

“We’re aware of it,” said Paul Bresson, an F.B.I. spokesman, “and  
we’re working with security companies to address the problem.”

A report scheduled to be released Thursday by SRI International, a  
nonprofit research institute in Menlo Park, Calif., says that  
Conficker C constitutes a major rewrite of the software. Not only does  
it make it far more difficult to block communication with the program,  
but it gives the program added powers to disable many commercial  
antivirus programs as well as Microsoft’s security update features.

“Perhaps the most obvious frightening aspect of Conficker C is its  
clear potential to do harm,” said Phillip Porras, a research director  
at SRI International and one of the authors of the report. “Perhaps in  
the best case, Conficker may be used as a sustained and profitable  
platform for massive Internet fraud and theft.”

“In the worst case,” Mr. Porras said, “Conficker could be turned into  
a powerful offensive weapon for performing concerted information  
warfare attacks that could disrupt not just countries, but the  
Internet itself.”

The researchers, noting that the Conficker authors were using the most  
advanced computer security techniques, said the original version of  
the program contained a recent security feature developed by an M.I.T.  
computer scientist, Ron Rivest, that had been made public only weeks  
before. And when a revision was issued by Dr. Rivest’s group to  
correct a flaw, the Conficker authors revised their program to add the  
correction.

Although there have been clues that the Conficker authors may be  
located in Eastern Europe, evidence has not been conclusive. Security  
researchers, however, said this week that they were impressed by the  
authors’ productivity.

“If you suspect this person lives in Kiev,” Mr. Nazario said, “I would  
look for someone who has recently reported repetitive stress injury  
symptoms.”