By silicon.com, 5 January 2004 09:20
COMMENT We've all been there. Your name appears in the CC field of an email which is replied to by one recipient, then the sender, then the original recipient and so it goes - back and forth, back and forth, clogging up your already overcrowded inbox.
Eventually you are stuck as an awkward cyber-hanger-on, bearing witness to a conversation you don't want to be a part of, just because somebody felt the need to 'reply all'.
Perhaps eventually you get to the point where you chip in. Something along the lines of "Please, please, please remove me from the CC field of these emails and conduct your private conversation in private".
And that's where we find ourselves now with the slightly strange dialogue which exists between a virus writer calling herself Gigabyte and outspoken anti-virus expert Graham Cluley.
For the past two years Cluley-themed emails have been arriving in users' inboxes bearing some form of malware.
Gigabyte also rarely passed up an opportunity to slag off Cluley on her personal website and even contacted silicon.com last year to spark a war of words with the Sophos man claiming he "continues to talk shit about viruses".
Whatever it is about Cluley that has Gigabyte so angry has apparently yet to ease, because late last week she launched her latest attack. And this is where the rest of us find ourselves feeling like awkward hangers on to a conversation we'd really rather not be a part of.
We can all assume that virus writers don't like those working in the anti-virus field but what the aggrieved Belgian thinks she is achieving - other than confirming the stereotypes she claims to be attempting to debunk - is anybody's guess.
In July last year the teenaged Belgian virus writer release a piece of malware which launched a game on infected PCs.
The game showed the head of Graham Clueless [Gigabyte's pet name for Cluley] mounted on a coconut shy. The more users hit Cluley the less damage was done to their PC.
At the time the Sophos man made matters worse by cheekily suggesting Gigabyte carries some kind of flame for him.
So now she's back. This time with a virus which launches a quiz. Answer enough anti-Clulely questions correctly and you limit the damage done.
Cluley claims virus writers such as Gigabyte have some growing up to do. It would seem he has a point.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
No wonder Gigabyte has taken a dislike to a self-publicist like Cluley if he can promote himself to a "position of authority" simply because IT journalists are too lazy to think for themselves. Yeesh, the amount of times you've swallowed his rubbish... although to be fair, he's not the worst!
HINT: in future try visiting www.vmyths.com before ringing up the Sophos PR department.
2. LC
it's easy to examine viruses, detect and delete them. to create ones that work to a well enough extent take some skill. gigabyte has that skill, and if she wants to demonstrate her programming skills via viruses, games or any other type of creation she should be free to express herself. if people are stupid enough to click on a suspicious file, shame on them.
3. Svenborg
I liken this argument to the flaming bag of crap on your front step. Do I step on it to put it out....knowing full well the consequences of this...or do I let it burn and have my front porch, and most likely my house go up in flames. Why the hell do I have a flaming bag of crap on my front step?......is it funny...perhaps if you are a 12 year old hiding in the bushes across the street...but if my house burns down is that funny? We have a whole lot of people who figure that hacking, making virii and and generally being a friggen intrenet nusience is socially acceptable behavior....well guess what...its not. I did my fair share of goofin around when I was young and brainless....but you know what...I grew up!!! and you will have to do the same some day...like it or not. I suppose you could choose not to and raise your hell spawn in your likeness....but do you think they will change your diapers for you when you get to the point when you can't do it for your self. Sometimes I really wonder how the hell we got to the top of the food chain?
4. anonymous
I have to take offence at the comments made by LC of Boston. His statement that "..if people are stupid enough to click on a suspicious file, shame on them." is ridiculous. If somebody sent you a letter bomb and you opened it would that be your own fault? To follow LC's argument further, it takes some skill to make an effective letter bomb and if a terrorist wants to demonstrate their ability to do so "she should be free to express herself". What nonesense!