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Cake day: June 30th, 2023

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  • Yeah, I think there is a lot of potential for code analysis. There’s a limited cross section of ways malware can do interesting things, but many permutations of ways to do that.

    So look for the interesting things, like:

    • accessing other programs’ address spaces
    • reading/writing files
    • deleting/moving files
    • sending/receiving network traffic
    • os system calls and console commands
    • interacting with hardware
    • spawning new processes
    • displaying things on the screen
    • accessing timing information

    Obviously there’s legitimate uses for each of these, so that’s just the first step.

    Next, analyze the data that is being used for that:

    • what’s the source?
    • what’s the destination?
    • what kind of transformations are being applied to the data?

    Then you can watch out for things like:

    • is it systematically going through directories and doing some operation to all files? (Maybe ransomware, data scrubbing, or just maliciously deleting stuff?)
    • is it grabbing data from somewhere and sending it somewhere else on the internet? (Stealing data?)
    • is it using timing information to build data? (Timing attacks to figure out kernel data that should be hidden?)
    • is it changing OS settings/setup?

    Then generate a report of everything it is doing and see if it aligns with what the code is supposed to do. Or you could even build some kind of permissions system around that with more sophistication than the basic “can this app access files? How about the internet?”

    Computer programs can be complex, but are ultimately made up of a series of simple operations and it’s possible to build an interpreter that can do those operations and then follow everything through to see exactly what is included in the massive amount of data it sends over the network so that you can tell your file sharing program is also for some reason sending /etc/passwords to a random address or listening for something to access a sequence of closed ports and then will do x, y, z, if that ever happens. Back doors could be obvious with the right analysis tools, especially if it’s being built from source code (though I believe it’s still possible with binaries, just maybe a bit harder).



  • IMO Bethesda games are perfectly positioned to get a lot of initial interest because they look great and seem like they are full of depth, especially when in the midst of the opening quest chain, but the longer I look around, the more disappointed I end up with it all and then lose interest.

    It’s this weird mix of deep and shallow. Like in starfield, I walk up to a building and see a rich interaction between an NPC that wants to go in to talk with someone but the guard won’t let her in because he’s busy and no one can see him but then doesn’t bat an eye as I just waltz right past him and talk to whoever I want in there.

    Or I watch a confrontation between other NPCs and then try to interact with them after and it’s just generic responses, not a word about the heated argument that just ended.

    It’s like it’s in the uncanny valley, where it looks good enough to think you can RP at a certain level, but when you try to do so, it turns out to be all a facade unless there’s a quest.

    And in Skyrim, the NPCs were completely unable to handle stealth characters. You’d figure someone would have a magic spell or think to use a torch or raise an alarm when they get shot with an arrow. Nope, must have been the wind or my imagination that killed my buddy over there. I didn’t try stealth in starfield to see if they had improved on that at all.

    Each of their games feels like the same game with a new skin. It was fun for a while, but I’m over it now. I tried starfield on xbox game pass but have since cancelled. It’s on my steam wishlist but I won’t be grabbing it without a heavy sale, and even then I’m not really sure I want to allocate the disk space it wants to it.



  • The way I see it, sovcits want it for themselves to have freedom to do what they want (which can include imposing on others). “Constitutional” sheriffs want it for themselves to expand their power over others because police can do very well under a fascist system (until they do something against the party and then disappear… Or someone more connected in the party wants their power themselves… Or someone less connected wants their power and can act before the better connections come into play).

    I wonder how many of the ones who want a fascist system for their own power realize how much of a target getting that power puts on them from pretty much all sides.





  • I want to see some videos of salesmen trying to sell touchscreens like they are cars of the future and so great. Followed by the same salesman selling the return to tactile buttons as a big step forward because of how bad of an idea the touchscreens are.

    Most likely the first one will be older, but I bet there’s many that could be lead to do both in the same day by two different people showing interest in the same model but different year of a vehicle.