Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!peter_alau@playstation.sony.com From: Darco Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.freetalk Subject: Re: A new type of security threat? Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 17:33:17 -0500 Organization: SCEA News Server Lines: 26 Message-ID: <3638ED2D.848A957A@datasys.net> References: <36383b30.79566@news.scea.sony.com> Reply-To: darco@bigfoot.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 157.dialup.datasys.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (Win95; U) Matthew Hulett wrote: > > I just came across this in cyberspace. I thought I would ask the > computer sauvy members in this group for any elaboration of this new > threat to our computers, and would provide a heads-up. Is this true? > Yes, unfortunately, it is true. Back Orifice is a very nasty program that can be attached to any windows executable file. It was released by a hacking group called the "Clut of the Dead Cow" or something. The threat is VERY real. If you have Back Orifice on your computer, someone can even seize control of all input devices (mouse, keyboard, whatever) and do whatever they want as long as their connection is fast enough! They can take screen shots, download files, erase files, etc........... The scary thing is that there have probably been several programs like this around for a while now. Back Orifice was made public only to identify the security holes in Win95 and Win98. (This tends to make Microsoft work faster) The concept behind the program is incredibly simplistic, yet extremely effective. Be careful. 'Darco