Instead of the proverbial "gotcha letter" via your ISP, a mysterious copyright holder has created a trojan that overwrites P2P users program files with popular comic book character images warning them not to use P2P.An odd tale of "cat and mouse" is being reported from Japanese users of the Winny P2P file-sharing network, in that a particularly lethal form of malware is being distributed that overwrites their program files with a popular comic book star who scolds them for illegally downloading files. One of the images, which oddly enough sings a song about fish-shaped pancakes filled with bean jam, includes a phone number, though it has yet to be checked to see if it belongs to the real malware author. Apparently not content with the ubiquitous "Dear Mr. John Doe" letter, somebody has taken the fight against illegal file-sharing nuclear. The Trojan poses as a harmless screensaver, though why anybody would want to download a screensaver in the first place is beyond me. "This is one of the most bizarre pieces of malware we have seen in our labs for quite some time, but it's data-destroying payload is no laughing matter," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "But it acts as a timely reminder to companies that they may want to control users' access to P2P file-sharing software not just because they can eat up bandwidth, but also because they can present a security risk to your corporate data." It reportedly targets programs, music files, and e-mail boxes, affecting files the following types of files: EXE, BAT, CMD, INI, ASP, HTM, HTML, PHP, CLASS, JAVA, DBX, EML, MBX, TBB, WAB, HLP, TXT, MP3, XLS, LOG, BMPThe notion of somebody going to such extremes to target illegal file-sharers actually makes me kind of laugh but, I'm sure the poor fellows who are now staring at some creepy singing anime character aren't laughing one bit as the PC files are slowly eaten away. Maybe that's where the "pancakes filled with bean jam" song comes in, people's files have become a digital breakfast. Here's one of the Trojan images below. It reads: "Ah, I see you are using P2P again...if you don't stop in 0.5 seconds, I'm going to kill you." Talk about a threat boy, jeeze.Say what? "I'm going to kill you?" That's just plain wrong and borderline sadistic.
"This is a visit from the prevealant Piro virus! Stop P2P! If you don't I'll tell the police!""Even though Kaneko-San was found guilty, you're still using Winny aren't you. I really hate such people!""Ugu! It's me, Ayu Tsukimaya! I think I might start destroying downloaded files and P2P software now...""Taiyaki, taiyaki, oh I'd liek to eat some...If you don't bring me some, I'll destroy your files...If you don't stop using Winny, I'll expose you to the police....My phone number is XXXXXXXX...."So I think this Trojan is obviously part of some sort of plan to scare the dickens out of young, impressionable, Japanese schoolchildren, who are fans of these comic-book characters and are also likely to scare easily with threats of "I'm gonna kill you" or of "calling the police" I'll admit it may be effective with young kids, it might've even scared me straight I think but, in reality it will most certainly only backfire as parents have to soon start consoling their children over how their favorite comic book character is dancing on their PC screen, deleting all of their kids files,and threatening to "kill them" or "turn them in to the police." I wonder how you say lawsuit in Japanese. Threatening to kill P2P users is taking the war against illegal file-sharing to a hole new level. Have Japanese copyright-holders in fact gone "nuclear" in their fight? RELATED NEWS AND "HOW TO" GUIDES:3 quick ways to watch TV shows for FREETop 50 ISOHunt search queriesVideo 9 - FREE video conversion tool for your Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3BitTorrent torrent sites & search enginesAzureus - A Beginner's Guide to BitTorrent DownloadinguTorrent - A Beginner's guide to BitTorrent downloadingPUBLIC vs PRIVATE - BitTorrent download sites exploredAuto Download Movies, Music, and TV Shows with AzureusTVU Player gives you FREE Cable TVWatch Tons of Your Favorite Movies On-Demand for FREE!Watch The Simpsons, The Office, Jackass, South Park, Lost, X-Men, and More On-Demand For FreeSOULXTC: "walkin' the streets of P2P"
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it is probably a terrorist trying to extort moneo or something
But I also think lawsuits are probably comming, so if someone does not get this guy one way, it will probably be the other.
I hope so.....its clearly targeted at little kids....now Ive seen copyright holders do some f-d up stuff but, this has got to take the cake,. Its like some "scared Straight" series gone sadistic.
Telling a kid "you're going to kill them and/or call the cops on them using their favorite comic book characters is just flat out wrong, pure and simple.
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