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40Hex Issue 11 File 004
40Hex Issue 11 Volume 3 Number 2 File 004
40-Hex Editorial
Virus Censorship
by DecimatoR
Recently in the comp.virus echo of Usenet there was a discussion
entitled "40 Hex Censorship". A few people were complaining about this
magazine being censored by the anti-virus community, and on Internet
itself. I found this thread interesting, and figured I'd voice my opinions
on it here, where it counts.
As many of you know, 40-Hex is one of the most popular underground mags.
I was actually told by a European Anti-Virus researcher that 40-Hex was
regarded as the best VX magazine in existance by most of the anti-virus
community. Of course, I was quite happy to hear this. (Who wouldn't be?)
But I also couldn't help wondering, how could a magazine like 40-Hex, with no
real distribution system, be the most popular? It got me thinking, and I
realized that we provide, in great detail, some of the most recent news, and
developments in the virus community. Anyone can publish source code and
hex dumps, but we take it a bit further. 40-Hex is more than just a how-to
magazine, it's a publication which delves into details, world wide
developments, and never-before distributed source code with new and
interesting programming techniques. It's more than a source of viruses; it's
a source of _information_.
This also got me thinking, about the actual distribution system of
40-Hex. Each issue is distributed on two, and ONLY two bulletin boards -
Digital Warfare and Liquid Euphoria. From there, it is passed rapidly across
the country, and, soon after, around the world. Unfortunately, 40-Hex never
seems to make it to a LARGE portion of the population who want it - the folks
who hang out on in the comp.virus echo of Usenet. A few issues back, I
posted a note there, asking for input on a survey I was conducting. Over
half of the replies I received didn't even answer my questions - all the
folks wanted to know was WHERE could they get their hands on 40-Hex? After a
little digging, I found 2 sites which allowed 40-Hex to be posted for
anonymous FTP. Within a month, both sites had removed the magazine.
Censorship? You bet. See, the anti-virus folks on Usenet feel that this
magazine is BAD. After all, we publish source code which any virus author
can learn by. We encourage people to learn new programming techniques. We
tell the truth about how viruses work, and we're not afraid to give people
code which shows HOW viruses do what they do, so that anyone who wishes to
write a virus has the KNOWLEDGE to do so.
But does this make us bad? Let's look at it again, in a slightly
different perspective:
We publish source code which any anti-virus author can learn by. We encourage
people to learn new programming techniques. We tell the truth about how
viruses work, and we're not afraid to give people code which shows HOW viruses
do what they do, so that anyone who wishes to write anti-virus software has the
KNOWLEDGE to do so.
Hmmm... now do we seem so bad? With the addition of a few "anti"s in that
last paragraph, we turned 40-Hex around - from a bad underground magazine to
a beneficial wealth of information. Interesting, eh?
This seems to be where the Vesselin Bontchev's of the world have a serious
problem seeing the forest, because of the trees. Bontchev has often
proclaimed, quite loudly, and in no uncertain terms, that virus code should
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, UNDER _ANY_ CIRCUMSTANCES, BE DISTRIBUTED TO ANYONE!
Anyone, that is, except an anti-virus researcher like himself.
Double standard? Yes.
A typical scenario on the newsgroup reads like this:
Joe Unknown: Hi, I'm interested in writing an anti-virus package, and need
to obtain viruses which I can experiment and work with. Where
can I find them?
Joe Established-AV-Person: You can't. I don't know you, and no one else does
either. Therefore, you cannot be trusted, and you
may not recieve virus code. You should be ashamed
for asking! You probably just want to learn to
write viruses so you can wreak havoc on all
computers everywhere! Hmmmph!
Yes, folks, it IS this bad. The anti-virus guys talk of "ethical
standards" which say that they just can't give out virus code, except to
other established AV people. Ethical standards? DOUBLE STANDARDS!!! What
would happen, if they DID give their viruses to "unknown" people who wanted
them? Would massive virus infections result? Maybe. Would new anti-virus
software packages be created? Probably. But will the AV guys give anyone a
chance? Hardly.
It's this attitude which upsets a lot of people. And one of them was
upset enough to finally ask WHY 40-Hex was so censored on the net. Of course,
he got the "ethical standard" reply. But the true fact is - people WANT this
(and any other) fine VX magazine! The Nuke Infojournals, ARCV newsletters,
the Crypt newsletters... I've had people ask me time and time again WHERE
they can find them on the Internet. And I've told them, time and time again,
"You can't. Sorry."
Most of you who read this mag are involved in either of 3 groups:
The Virus underground, System Security, or Anti-Virus research. Where did
YOU obtain your copy of 40-Hex? A BBS? A friend? A disk you found lying in
the computer room? Probably a BBS. Certainly not Internet. The poor folks
on Internet are missing out on a LOT of good information, all because a
handful of self-appointed experts decided that CENSORSHIP was better than
KNOWLEDGE. Of course, if I were to post this fact in comp.virus, my message
would never get out. Why? Because the group is moderated by an individual
who ranks right up there with the rest of the Censors. Any message even
vaguely requesting a source for viruses is killed before it gets out. And
certainly, any post containing source code, or a way to obtain viruses is
nuked before it's ever seen by anyone. THE COMP.VIRUS ECHO IS ONE OF THE
MOST HEAVILY CENSORED NEWSGROUPS ON USENET! Does this bother you? It
certainly bothers me! INFORMATION IS POWER, FOLKS! Stupidity is NOT!
Recently I had a long conversation with Alan Solomon, head of S & S
International, publisher of Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit. It was a
pleasant conversation, and Dr. Solly is a very nice person to talk to.
Although we obviously don't see eye-to-eye on certain topics, we came to a
general understanding - he does anti-virus work to help other people and to
make a living. I run a virus board to pass on information and to fight
censorship. I respect him for his ideals, and I believe he respects me
for mine. Of course, he doesn't approve of what I do, but he respects my
reasons for doing it. Was an interesting conversation, I'm glad we had it.
Thanks, Alan - for everything.
Censorship of viruses, virus code, and virus mags is quite strong. Those
in the underground often don't realize how censored this material really is,
or how lucky they are to be able to obtain it with a phone call. It really
bugs me to think that people out there WANT the information contained inside
this very issue, but are unable to get it because of the closed minds of a
handful of "experts".
Wake up people! This is the 90's! This is the INFORMATION AGE!
Censorship doesn't HELP! It HARMS! Keeping people ignorant doesn't help
them, it HURTS them! Knowledge is power! FREE INFORMATION IS WHAT CYBERSPACE
IS BASED ON! Anything else is simply _wrong_.
--Dec
