Trojan Horse – One Mans Worse Case Scenario Prediction
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This is a fictional article about a Trojan Horse Virus, or you could say it is one mans prediction of a worse case scenario. Because of the field Im in, I maintain a personal list of my top 10 worse case scenarios. Every time I perform a security assessment I run into something new or identify a situation that is ripe for a potential vulnerability. I think we could all agree that no respectable or ethical company would intentionally deliver a malicious piece of code as part of a helpful update solution. However, the reality is that human beings are behind technology and human beings are unpredictable and fallible.
Many major operating system vendors have automatic update services. Many hardware vendors and other software packages have followed this trend, incorporating automated update services into their products. In some cases, the services for automatic updates run as the local system account. This account has the ability to access and modify most of the operating system and application environment. When automatic updates were...