ICQ Trojan Bomb
by
It has recently been brought to our attention that a popular ICQ
program had a time bomb installed in it. It seems that the time bomb was planted by the
software creators and the upon triggering, the software destroyed both itself and other
programs on the computer.
Not all users of this program were effected by it. Before going into a destructive spree, it brought up a message asking the user to forward a message. Those who did forward it don't seem to have had any problems. People with antiviral protection could block some of the vandalism. This program was one of the more popular ICQ programs and when it struck, a large number of users were effected by it. Some users spent days without internet computer access until they fixed everything up. Non techies (those who only know the position of the power on switch on their PC) had to take their computer back to dealers. While some software will either stop working or nag after the trial time, this one adopted a very unethical approach.
It took some time to figure out what had happened (as one of our sources put it, "at first you think something has freaked out and you try rebooting your computer again and again"). Once they pinpointed the culprit, many used internet cafes to contact people in different time zones who also used the same product.
From a legal stance such an action, could make the company liable for damages by effected users. A company has every right to install into trialware software self-destruct routines provided that:
- It informs the user;
- It does not damage data generated by the user;
- It does not directly destroy other programs. An exception to this could be a case where other software utilizes features of the trialware software and therefore upon self-destroying, the host software will no longer be operational (although it must not be binary changed).
MWM is attempting to contact the software manufacturer for further clarification on the matter but have to date not received a reply. The URL from where users could download this software now has changed into a dating agency for oriental girls. We will keep you posted.
"The authors could be in BIG trouble for destroying data not belonging to them"
