On Jun 3, 2012 12:05 PM, "Tedd Sperling" <tedd@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On May 31, 2012, at 7:45 PM, Ross McKay wrote:
>
> >> He said that this was unusual because typically such viruses are
> >> written in languages like Ruby-on-Rails and such.
> >
> > Um, really? I very much doubt that. AFAIK, most true viruses are written
> > in a compiled language, and many trojans as well. RoR websites would
> > definitely be a vulnerability target though...
>
> Yeah, that's what I thought, but this guy was held out to be one of the
foremost experts on cyber-warfare. So, I listened and asked.
Actually, that's not true anymore. Flame was indeed written in Lua (and
you can find the source if you look), and while that choice of language is
a bit surprising, since it's a gaming language, the choice of distributing
a script-based virus/worm is not unique. Remember, WSH viruses and worms,
though not as prevalent today, were some of the most widespread and
destructive forms of malware in history --- a la
Loveletter/Lovebug/ILOVEYOU.
