How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps [LWN.net]

How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 12, 2009 18:49 UTC (Thu) by mikov (subscriber, #33179)
In reply to: How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps by efexis
Parent article: How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

I think what you guys are forgetting is that the virus doesn't even need to run gksu/kdesu. It can display a window of its own that looks like the one from gksu and ask you for your password. Simple and effective! :-)

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How to write a Linux virus in 5 easy steps

Posted Feb 12, 2009 19:26 UTC (Thu) by efexis (guest, #26355) [Link]

Which is why I have a process running, inspired by phish filters and early viruses, that detects whenever I enter the key sequence that is my root password, and kills the process that's recieving those keys before I have chance to hit enter...

...I can't disable it...

I really didn't think that one through.

What I should've done was make the su app give *me* a system identifying password, which I then respond with the second half. Imitation *su apps wouldn't be able to read the challenge string, so I would never be fooled by something that merely asked me for a password.