Frankenstein Lives! (As Malware)

Category: Science & Technology
Posted: August 23, 2012 07:01PM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus is a classic story in which a doctor creates life through technology in the form of a creature assembled from the parts of dead men. While this biological idea exists only in fiction, researchers have recently used it to craft a very ingenious piece of malware.

The Frankenstein malware is a simple program that on its own, is not a threat, but one it is exposed to other programs, it can become quite malicious. You see it takes gadgets from software and assembles it into a monster which will then wreak havoc on your computer. As it uses gadgets from safe programs, it has the potential to get around anti-malware software which is not able to recognize it as dangerous. Also it will differ from machine to machine because the computers' installed software will be different.

Just as Victor Frankenstein had the knowledge of the human body to guide him though, so too does the Frankenstein malware have a blueprint, and this may be what enables a defense to it. The blueprints tell it what kinds of gadgets it will need, along with the ultimate goal of the malware. Anti-malware software that monitors the actions of software, instead of just searching for malicious code, may still stand a chance at catching and defeating Frankenstein.

• Email Link
• Print News

This news has comment postings disabled because it is now archived.