Malware Assaults Related To Hardware Specific Expected

According to Ecole Superiore d'Informatique, Electronique, Automatique (ESIEA) a security company, virus authors and malware developers can start attacking specific hardware. The Paris (France) located security company reports that it has found a method for detecting separate chips along with the weaknesses they have. The PC Pro published this on November 11, 2010.

Traditionally, the majority of PC assaults have aimed at systems based on the operating systems they run like Windows, alternatively less frequently Apple's Mac OS or Linux. This implies that users must maintain and run anti-virus software and install security patches frequently, alternatively substitute the popular Microsoft Windows.

Nonetheless, security experts at ESIEA currently believe that based on the knowledge of hardware the computer operator runs, hackers can execute targeted attacks of high intensity depending on the processors.

It doesn't matter if the attack distinguishes the hardware or operating system for, the basic method remains the same i.e. hunting out a security vulnerability within the system followed with abusing it. Further, processors are recognized via determining the way the chip deals with mathematical computations as also the method through which it programs numerals.

Nevertheless, for malware attackers this method is not sufficiently fine-grained. The experts based on their researches acknowledged that their detection methods weren't capable of specifying the particular processors.

They remarked that with the current method the attacks could be far more targeted as well as precise on numerous heterogeneous systems forming a network though with the help of general malware. The PC Pro reported this.

Additionally, the researchers stated that if hackers managed to strike particular processor subgroups, then they'd be able to execute surgical attacks against computers that could say halt computers with DOS (denial-of-service) assaults.

Meanwhile, the ability to attack a particular hardware was especially risky since some industries told the configurations of their hardware which had been duly tested. And unlike the ease with which OSs were patched, hardware replacement consumed more money and time.

Hence, hardware-based assaults were expected to prove more successful in targeted computer attacks as it wasn't necessary for the attackers to determine precisely the software the target PC ran.

Related article: Malware Authors Turn More Insidious

» SPAMfighter News - 11/22/2010