Motive?

Question

The two most annoying things about the internet are being subjected to spam and to virus attacks. I can understand why the spammer spams: he/she is trying to make money by selling something. As annoying as it is, the motivation is perfectly legitimate and as honest a profession as being, say, a personal injury and wrongful death attorney that runs ads that encourage people to seek deep pockets.

I don't understand the motivation of the person that creates a virus or a worm or something that is destructive to someone else without providing a benefit to the creator. I suppose the motivation is "I'll do it to prove I can", but that's kind of thin.
The only people that I can think of that would have a motive to create a virus are people like Symantic that sell programs to defeat a virus. Without the virus, they have no strong reason to stay in business. I hardly think, though, that this is a reasonable guess.

What could be the motive?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]What could be the motive?[/nq]
It's just an online form of that common phenomenon, vandalism.

Paul
Walking in the Lake District:
http://paulrooney.netfirms.com
Updated 17 August 03

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]The two most annoying things about the internet are being subjected to spam and to virus attacks. I can understand ... reason to stay in business. I hardly think, though, that this is a reasonable guess. What could be the motive?[/nq]
Have you ever seen an episode of "Pinky and the Brain"?

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" (Email Removed) Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]What could be the motive?[/nq]
[nq:1]It's just an online form of that common phenomenon, vandalism.[/nq]
Or graffiti - recognition of an ability by whoever it is one wants to impress.

David
I say what it occurs to me to say.
==
The address is valid today, but I change it periodically.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]The two most annoying things about the internet are being subjected to spam and to virus attacks. I can understand ... to the creator. I suppose the motivation is "I'll do it to prove I can", but that's kind of thin.[/nq]
I've seen articles by journalists who have tracked down and interviewed virus creators. Plus some of them have been tracked down by law enforcement agencies and subject to criminal proceedings.
Mainly, they do it to show they can. Like a lot of small-time criminals, they often have little understanding of the wider implications of their acts or the effect they have on others. Some of them are genuinely astonished at the speed with which their offspring reproduce.
A lot of virii are written in technology-poor countries, like the former Iron Curtain bloc. Gifted programmers there often have major resentment that they are obliged to work with inferior, out-of-date hardware like Intel 486 processors while a teenage kid living in Ofefenokee Swamp or Moss Side Manchester gets a Ninja Pentium Umpteen for getting 5 Bs and a C in his exams. They take a certain pride in being able to frustrate such kids - like David vs Goliath.
[nq:1]The only people that I can think of that would have a motive to create a virus are people like ... reason to stay in business. I hardly think, though, that this is a reasonable guess. What could be the motive?[/nq]
Symantec may have a logical motive for creating virii, but these kids have sufficient motive in their own eyes. It's not the kind of motive that is likely to motivate you or me ('I'll show them how powerful I am - look, they couldn't use their computers for a whole six hours) whereas the notional Symantec motivation ('We'll sell another 10,000 units @ 39.99 lemme see that makes ..'') might well appeal to the shrewd business person. But I don't think so. Symantec produce all kinds of techie stuff. They produce AV software because there's a demand. Like they produce software to fill in the gaps left by Microshaft in such areas as disk cleaning, system maintenance and the like.
Though I hear that Sobig F (sixth in a series that started with Sobig A) is the precursor to Sobig G which will be even more devastating, and which may be a product of spammers who can use it to harvest email addresses direct from unprotected machines and thus get an even better return on their spamming ventures.
So once we've separated out the 'logical motive that sensible people can understand' from the 'motive that people who should get out more regard as sufficient', I think we've addressed the issue

John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Cui prodest? Who benefits from the virus? The people who sell anti-virus devices, so I believe your guess is right and the motive is purely lucrative.[/nq]
Right after I sent this message, I received the following Email that proves my point:

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Cui prodest? Who benefits from the virus? The people who ... your guess is right and the motive is purely lucrative.[/nq]
[nq:1]Right after I sent this message, I received the following Email that proves my point: [/nq]
I don't see that as proof. I see that as seizing the opportunity by marketing a product. The area just south of here is having a very serious flooding problem. The residents of that area are now being flooded with telephone solicitations by companies that do water damage restoration and companies that sell carpeting. These companies couldn't have instigated the excessive rain we've been having, but they are seizing the moment to benefit by it.
The above does not mean that I reject the theory. It just means that proof has not been provided.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]It's just an online form of that common phenomenon, vandalism.[/nq]
[nq:1]Or graffiti - recognition of an ability by whoever it is one wants to impress.[/nq]
Vandalism isn't a motivation. Something motivates the vandal to commit the vandalism.
The graffiti artist is recognized by his peers. Most observers don't know who the graffiti artist is, but his peers recognize his tag.

Is the same true for the virus creator?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I don't understand the motivation of the person that creates a virus or a worm or something that is destructive ... reason to stay in business. I hardly think, though, that this is a reasonable guess. What could be the motive?[/nq]
I couldn't figure it out either. Which is why I interviewed a virus writer. Here's the result:

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Or graffiti - recognition of an ability by whoever it is one wants to impress.[/nq]
[nq:1]Vandalism isn't a motivation. Something motivates the vandal to commit the vandalism. The graffiti artist is recognized by his peers. Most observers don't know who the graffiti artist is, but his peers recognize his tag. Is the same true for the virus creator?[/nq]
Here's one of them :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk news/story/0,3604,879631,00.html

>

And an overview :
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,1028370,00.html

>
and
>

John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]writes: lucrative.[/nq]
You're absolutely right and I stand corrected. It's not proof, just circumstantial evidence.
[nq:1]I see that as seizing the opportunity by marketing a product. The area just south of here is having a ... do water damage restoration and companies that sell carpeting. These companies couldn't have instigated the excessive rain we've been having,[/nq]
Of course not, but the sellers of anti-virus devices are able to generate a virus, since a virus, AFAIK, is not an act of ***.
[nq:1]they are seizing the moment to benefit by it.[/nq]
I understand that seizing the opportunity is not tantamount to creating the opportunity, although they may overlap at times.
[nq:1]The above does not mean that I reject the theory. It just means that proof has not been provided.[/nq]
We were only exploring the motive.
If proof were provided, it would no longer be a theory.

Motive?

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