Second Life Forums Archive - SL Virus

Zero Therian

Registered User

Join date: 12 Jul 2004

Posts: 37

08-22-2005 05:21

I was just sitting around and this thought hit me so I thought I'd throw it out there and ask if such a thing could happen.....

We have a rather powerful scripting language available to us ingame. As such is there anything to stop someone creating a virus that when picked up from say an object for sale could activate and transfer to the avatar and attach to say a prim and wreck havok with control etc?

Personally I know nothing about scripting so don't know if this is possible now or in the future and if so how we could protect ourselves from it if it was!

First thread started by me ever so be nice

_____________________

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of java that thoughts aquire speed,
the hands aquire shaking,
the shaking becomes a warning.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

Jillian Callahan

Rotary-winged Neko Girl

Join date: 24 Jun 2004

Posts: 3,766

08-22-2005 05:26

Short of some exploit waiting to be discovered, that's not possible with LSL. Moving a script to the inventory of an object halts the script, and the method for moving a functioning script over requires the object to be waiting for it, access restricted by a PIN.

Snowcrash hasn't been written yet.

_____________________

Jsecure Hanks

Capitalist

Join date: 9 Dec 2003

Posts: 1,451

08-22-2005 05:27

No LSL is really poor as a viral medium. If someone bought a prim with a viral script in it, they'd have to manually place it in prim after prim for it to spread, as no script can put itself in a prim. However one thing a script can do is rezz new copies of a prim with it in, so it could eventually make lots of itself. But putting a prim inside a scripted prim, which had a script in it, with a prim, which had a script in it, with a prim... leads to infiniteness, so I'm not sure that would be so viral.

Jesrad Seraph

Nonsense

Join date: 11 Dec 2004

Posts: 1,463

08-22-2005 05:33

Scripts can't send themselves anywhere on their own.

Annoying/dangerous/stupid things scripts can do:
- spam chat
- spam notecards to everyone around continuously (this one is NASTY)
- spam objects to AVs around
- spam Dialog boxes or permission demands (that's stupid and mostly harmless though)
- autoreplicate as fast as possible until prim allotment is expended (NASTY, automatic ban guaranteed)
- toss everyone out of the sim
- induce lag to bring the sim down to a crawl (nasty too)
- spy on people (their position, key, discussions, etc)
and a few others that are out of my mind ATM.

_____________________

Either Man can enjoy universal freedom, or Man cannot. If it is possible then everyone can act freely if they don't stop anyone else from doing same. If it is not possible, then conflict will arise anyway so punch those that try to stop you. In conclusion the only strategy that wins in all cases is that of doing what you want against all adversity, as long as you respect that right in others.

Eggy Lippmann

Wiktator

Join date: 1 May 2003

Posts: 7,939

08-22-2005 05:48

From: Jesrad Seraph

- spam notecards to everyone around continuously (this one is NASTY)
- spam objects to AVs around
- autoreplicate as fast as possible until prim allotment is expended (NASTY, automatic ban guaranteed)

Continuously rezzing or passing assets around from object to object forces the asset system to create new assets, which can make all the sims in all the grids grind to a halt.
Recently, someone was instantly permabanned for trying this, no questions asked

_____________________

Help us document Second Life history at http://slhistory.org!

Khamon Fate

fategardens.net

Join date: 21 Nov 2003

Posts: 4,177

08-22-2005 07:04

From: Eggy Lippmann

Continuously rezzing or passing assets around from object to object forces the asset system to create new assets, which can make all the sims in all the grids grind to a halt.
Recently, someone was instantly permabanned for trying this, no questions asked

Not the grids Eggy, it's The Grid All Hail The Central Grid.

Thank Heaven we don't have multiple grids with connecting corridors and firewalls in between. That would wholly thwart the poor viral cracker types once monocode was introduced.

/me slaps hand over mouth

_____________________

Visit the Fate Gardens Website @ fategardens.net

Psyra Extraordinaire

Corra Nacunda Chieftain

Join date: 24 Jul 2004

Posts: 1,533

08-22-2005 07:59

From: Jsecure Hanks

No LSL is really poor as a viral medium. If someone bought a prim with a viral script in it, they'd have to manually place it in prim after prim for it to spread, as no script can put itself in a prim. However one thing a script can do is rezz new copies of a prim with it in, so it could eventually make lots of itself. But putting a prim inside a scripted prim, which had a script in it, with a prim, which had a script in it, with a prim... leads to infiniteness, so I'm not sure that would be so viral.

Actually, Rickard gave me a nice script that is designed to delete all scripts in an object. However, no, it is not automatic.

- You place it in the root prim of the object, and wait..........

- Over the course of a minute or so (Takes about a minute for a 20-prim item) the script generates a Destroy-Contents script in all linked prims.

- It announces when finished and then self-deletes the original script.

- You then select the object and select 'Recompile all scripts in selected'. THis takes even longer than the generation listed above.

- Every prim gets its script run, and it deletes the contents of each prim. Leaving you with an empty scriptless husk object.

Now this is certainly not a virus of course, and would be poor as one since....

1. It only works in a single item. You can't have to rez from one object to another that isn't linked.
2. You have to manually recompile the scripts to make them run, as Jillian said, they're set "Not Running" when they are placed in.

Just my $.02

_____________________

E-Mail Psyra at psyralbakor_at_yahoo_dot_com, Visit my Webpage at www.psyra.ca

Visit me in-world at the Avaria sims, in Grendel's Children! ^^

Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive

SL Virus - The future?

SL Virus - The future?
Zero Therian Registered User Join date: 12 Jul 2004 Posts: 37	08-22-2005 05:21 I was just sitting around and this thought hit me so I thought I'd throw it out there and ask if such a thing could happen..... We have a rather powerful scripting language available to us ingame. As such is there anything to stop someone creating a virus that when picked up from say an object for sale could activate and transfer to the avatar and attach to say a prim and wreck havok with control etc? Personally I know nothing about scripting so don't know if this is possible now or in the future and if so how we could protect ourselves from it if it was! First thread started by me ever so be nice _____________________ It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion, It is by the beans of java that thoughts aquire speed, the hands aquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
Jillian Callahan Rotary-winged Neko Girl Join date: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 3,766	08-22-2005 05:26 Short of some exploit waiting to be discovered, that's not possible with LSL. Moving a script to the inventory of an object halts the script, and the method for moving a functioning script over requires the object to be waiting for it, access restricted by a PIN. Snowcrash hasn't been written yet. _____________________
Jsecure Hanks Capitalist Join date: 9 Dec 2003 Posts: 1,451	08-22-2005 05:27 No LSL is really poor as a viral medium. If someone bought a prim with a viral script in it, they'd have to manually place it in prim after prim for it to spread, as no script can put itself in a prim. However one thing a script can do is rezz new copies of a prim with it in, so it could eventually make lots of itself. But putting a prim inside a scripted prim, which had a script in it, with a prim, which had a script in it, with a prim... leads to infiniteness, so I'm not sure that would be so viral.
Jesrad Seraph Nonsense Join date: 11 Dec 2004 Posts: 1,463	08-22-2005 05:33 Scripts can't send themselves anywhere on their own. Annoying/dangerous/stupid things scripts can do: - spam chat - spam notecards to everyone around continuously (this one is NASTY) - spam objects to AVs around - spam Dialog boxes or permission demands (that's stupid and mostly harmless though) - autoreplicate as fast as possible until prim allotment is expended (NASTY, automatic ban guaranteed) - toss everyone out of the sim - induce lag to bring the sim down to a crawl (nasty too) - spy on people (their position, key, discussions, etc) and a few others that are out of my mind ATM. _____________________ Either Man can enjoy universal freedom, or Man cannot. If it is possible then everyone can act freely if they don't stop anyone else from doing same. If it is not possible, then conflict will arise anyway so punch those that try to stop you. In conclusion the only strategy that wins in all cases is that of doing what you want against all adversity, as long as you respect that right in others.
Eggy Lippmann Wiktator Join date: 1 May 2003 Posts: 7,939	08-22-2005 05:48 From: Jesrad Seraph - spam notecards to everyone around continuously (this one is NASTY) - spam objects to AVs around - autoreplicate as fast as possible until prim allotment is expended (NASTY, automatic ban guaranteed) Continuously rezzing or passing assets around from object to object forces the asset system to create new assets, which can make all the sims in all the grids grind to a halt. Recently, someone was instantly permabanned for trying this, no questions asked _____________________ Help us document Second Life history at http://slhistory.org!
Khamon Fate fategardens.net Join date: 21 Nov 2003 Posts: 4,177	08-22-2005 07:04 From: Eggy Lippmann Continuously rezzing or passing assets around from object to object forces the asset system to create new assets, which can make all the sims in all the grids grind to a halt. Recently, someone was instantly permabanned for trying this, no questions asked Not the grids Eggy, it's The Grid All Hail The Central Grid. Thank Heaven we don't have multiple grids with connecting corridors and firewalls in between. That would wholly thwart the poor viral cracker types once monocode was introduced. /me slaps hand over mouth _____________________ Visit the Fate Gardens Website @ fategardens.net
Psyra Extraordinaire Corra Nacunda Chieftain Join date: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 1,533	08-22-2005 07:59 From: Jsecure Hanks No LSL is really poor as a viral medium. If someone bought a prim with a viral script in it, they'd have to manually place it in prim after prim for it to spread, as no script can put itself in a prim. However one thing a script can do is rezz new copies of a prim with it in, so it could eventually make lots of itself. But putting a prim inside a scripted prim, which had a script in it, with a prim, which had a script in it, with a prim... leads to infiniteness, so I'm not sure that would be so viral. Actually, Rickard gave me a nice script that is designed to delete all scripts in an object. However, no, it is not automatic. - You place it in the root prim of the object, and wait.......... - Over the course of a minute or so (Takes about a minute for a 20-prim item) the script generates a Destroy-Contents script in all linked prims. - It announces when finished and then self-deletes the original script. - You then select the object and select 'Recompile all scripts in selected'. THis takes even longer than the generation listed above. - Every prim gets its script run, and it deletes the contents of each prim. Leaving you with an empty scriptless husk object. Now this is certainly not a virus of course, and would be poor as one since.... 1. It only works in a single item. You can't have to rez from one object to another that isn't linked. 2. You have to manually recompile the scripts to make them run, as Jillian said, they're set "Not Running" when they are placed in. Just my $.02 _____________________ E-Mail Psyra at psyralbakor_at_yahoo_dot_com, Visit my Webpage at www.psyra.ca Visit me in-world at the Avaria sims, in Grendel's Children! ^^