Since when is shoplifting worse than home invasion?

Sorry I haven’t gotten a post up today, but I have spend most of the day batting a virus in vain. I’m hardly a novice and I know enough to have good anti-virus and to not download things, but last night a mere click to a contaminated website (a mom and pop business in the area I will not name) resulted in an instant flag from Vipre antivirus that a Trojan had been stopped, and within seconds of that a maniacal “program” (in quotes because it is anything but that) festooned with clever Windows imitative gifs, and bearing the name of “Security Defender” basically took over my computer.

I realized what was happening, and I was not dumb enough to fall for its “instructions” telling me how to rid myself of viruses, but it seemed the more I tried to avoid it, the more aggressive it got. I ran Malwarebytes, which soon indicated that I had seven dangerous Trojans. Deleting them did nothing. This thing had caused my browser to redirect Google searches so that every one of them told me I had typical virus patterns and only “Security Defender” could help me. This thing was so smart and so fast that it not only made it appear that “Security Defender” was a program (it was in the Start > Programs list), but it even made the Windows security shield icon warn me that “it” had to be updated. I was furious, and I battled it. (I ran Malwarebytes over and over, and each time it found more. I also ran Windows Defender, whose icon is imitated by “Security Defender,” but that found more Trojans every time I ran it. Tracur and Bamital and Sirefef oh my!)

What I did not know then but now now (thanks to Dean Esmay) is that I should have immediately turned off my computer, and carefully gone through everything later in Safe Mode, and even then only after creating a new user account and signing in as that.

It’s all part of the Zero Access virus, (“a compartmentalized crimeware rootkit that serves as a platform for installing various malicious programs onto victim computers“) and I can assure you these people are smart and aggressive. As if they know that nothing will really be done to stop them. Seriously, like the AIDS virus, what gives this thing “life” are the very attempts to remove it. It is evil and malevolent by any standard, and could almost be called diabolical (were I religiously inclined to believe that evil was created by a benevolent deity).

My friend asked me where the collective outrage is, and where’s the reporting?

I remembered that I had already written about the double standard in law enforcement. Our government (including the FBI, Homeland Security, and even the CIA) has no problem going after copyright pirates, do they? They are even willing to scrap the Constitution to do so. But where it comes to viruses that wipe out individuals’ computers, forget it.

This is not to say that I am in favor of DVD piracy, but I fear home invasion more. And let there be no question about it, this is home invasion. My computer was disabled by this attack, but I’m savvy enough not to cooperate with the attackers, though not as savvy as I should be. (My networking was permanently, irreversibly ruined, and there was no way to reinstall TCPIP, not even by this “force” method.)

Live and learn. After all, I’m just an individual, as are most of the victims. The big companies can afford better protection. Which is their right.

But take their analogy to shoplifting. Take Lamar Smith. (Please!)

“The online theft of American intellectual property is no different than the theft of products from a store.  It is illegal and the law should be enforced both in the store and online.

“The Committee will continue work with copyright owners, Internet companies, financial institutions to develop proposals that combat online piracy and protect America’s intellectual property.  We welcome input from all organizations and individuals who have an honest difference of opinion about how best to address this widespread problem.  The Committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

Online piracy is bad, but so is, um, online virusy.

Why is nothing being done?

And just what is piracy? I don’t want pirates coming into my computer and ruining my carefully (and often lovingly) saved personal data any more than the executives at the RIAA want their latest rap video downloaded. The difference is that unlike them, I don’t have Congress at my disposal.

Such a double standard stinks, and I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage.

MORE: As to where stuff like this comes from, the capital seems to be in Shaoxing, China:

On March 29, 2010, Symantec Corporation named Shaoxing, China, as the world’s malware capital.^[9]

You’d think they’d be ashamed to be the malware capital of the world.

(And I thought totalitarian states* controlled what went on inside them…)

* Not to sound like a paranoid nut, but if governments and businesses like computer viruses, we little guys are so screwed.