Antivirus software deletes itself(thenextweb.com)
thenextweb.com
Antivirus software deletes itself
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/09/20/sophos-antimalware-software-detects-malware-deletes-critical-binaries/
15 comments
I thought "Bricking" is a relative term. For someone with an compatible in circuit debugger/programer that phone would be probably salvageable. For someone else a corrupted operation system could be indistinguishable from the "bricked" state, because of lack of experience, or skills to fix the problem.
Realistically even if you had the equipment, those phones are beyond economical repair given the amount of time you would have to invest in fixing them.
Even if you remove key Windows files sometimes Windows can recover its self using the backup copies located in %windir%\winsxs\Backup (and several other places depending on system configuration).
But generally bricking refers to the state of disrepair where something has to be thrown in the bin because it cannot be used in the future. The closest PC equivalents would be either corrupting the BIOS/UEFI or over-heating a component like the graphics card.
Even if you remove key Windows files sometimes Windows can recover its self using the backup copies located in %windir%\winsxs\Backup (and several other places depending on system configuration).
But generally bricking refers to the state of disrepair where something has to be thrown in the bin because it cannot be used in the future. The closest PC equivalents would be either corrupting the BIOS/UEFI or over-heating a component like the graphics card.
Bricking an electronic device is the equivalent of totaling a car. It could be repaired, but repairing would cost more than the device's total value.
In my experience bricking refers to the rendering of a device inoperable (and irreparable) by the means available to a savvy user. Usually by method of failed firmware flash.
Generally you're looking at soldering some wires up to whatever chip and reflashing it manually.
True, I've "bricked" my Android phone a few times by flashing a new OS version, and always recovered it with ADB.
That's a 'soft brick'. It's a strange term, but necessary to differentiate from phones that will never turn on again.
It's difficult to brick a phone these days.
It's difficult to brick a phone these days.
I know, the point of my comment was that it's almost as hard to brick a phone as it is bricking a PC. You've got to kill the bootloader to achieve this, which rarely happens, even when you flash a corrupt OS.
This was brought on by an unforeseen natural evolution of antivirus software.
1. The software becomes sentient, learns to define, recognize and delete viruses on it's own.
2. The software realizes that by every definition it is itself a virus and must delete itself. :)
1. The software becomes sentient, learns to define, recognize and delete viruses on it's own.
2. The software realizes that by every definition it is itself a virus and must delete itself. :)
1.5 The software decides that Man is a virus and must be eliminated.
1.25: The software gets distracted by its own self-awareness. Crisis averted. (http://xkcd.com/1046/)
We all know that in the end the "bug" is always between the chair and the keyboard.
Would this then be the first digital autoimmune disease? ;)
Or should we call it suicideware?
65+ pages of sysadmin angst:
http://community.sophos.com/t5/Sophos-Endpoint-Protection/Is...
http://community.sophos.com/t5/Sophos-Endpoint-Protection/Is...
This is why crowd sourcing alone might be a solution in AV industry to quickly push patches.
Nice, taste your own medicine AV companies!
Recent movement (last couple of years) by AV companies blocking everything which leads legitimate small businesses to take the stupid whitelisting route via AV companies or pointless customer calls to explain it's a false positive (and even when customer is convinced it's still not good enough because corporate doesn't allow them to exclude some binaries or disable AV).
Recent movement (last couple of years) by AV companies blocking everything which leads legitimate small businesses to take the stupid whitelisting route via AV companies or pointless customer calls to explain it's a false positive (and even when customer is convinced it's still not good enough because corporate doesn't allow them to exclude some binaries or disable AV).
My employer got hit by this yesterday so I'm seeing occasional Sophos notifications. Sophos sucks just as badly as any other AV program: it slows down my laptop, shortens battery life, and has an uncanny knack for deciding to run a full scan right when I'm in the middle of something important.
Sophos has been around for a very long time. I don't understand how an anti-virus company could not take action to prevent this time of thing from happening.
1) Why don't they have a secure hash of each of the files and add that to a whitelist of files never to delete?
2) "You want to ensure your secondary option (when cleanup is not available or does not work) to be set to 'deny access' and not delete or move." Is this not the default configuration?
1) Why don't they have a secure hash of each of the files and add that to a whitelist of files never to delete?
2) "You want to ensure your secondary option (when cleanup is not available or does not work) to be set to 'deny access' and not delete or move." Is this not the default configuration?
First case of autoimmune disease in the digital world?
Finally an antivirus product I can approve of.
Finally an antivirus that really works. Next in series: antivirus shows message "please install linux and get rid of me".
What is life without death?
I'm sorry...but I can't control my laughter...hahahahahaahahaha...seriously...best news I've ever read this week!
Staging fail?
it should delete Windows first
Like this company http://socialav.com/ crowd sourcing is the future. Good talents are really hard in antivirus industries.
"Bricking" is the process of turning a physical piece of hardware into a device as useful as a "brick" (thus its name). It was coined to describe what happens when you try and flash a phone and it is unrecoverably damaged.