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MP3 Files Targeted Across P2P Networks
David Utter
Staff Writer
2005-04-25
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A recent outbreak of the Nopir worm takes aim at file-swappers, but does not discriminate between illegal swapping and legitimate music files created by owners.
 | | Protect Your MP3s |  |
A French programmer appears to be the source of a new Internet worm. The W32/Nopir-B worm masquerades as a DVD copying utility being distributed across peer-to-peer networks. When launched, the utility attempts to delete MP3 and .com files, and to gain access to the registry and install itself there.
This anti-piracy vigilantism appears to be the work of a single programmer. But could this programmer be working at the behest of music industry interests? Internet speculation on message boards points a finger or two at music-swapping foe the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The RIAA would seem to gain little in sponsoring this sort of activity. They have an enforcement arm and have spent a lot of effort in bringing lawsuits against file-swappers. The type of file Nopir pretends to be, a DVD copier, really seems easy to avoid on the networks where the most widely swapped files are MP3 format. A well-financed organization would certainly spend its money and efforts on a more effective and better-disguised crack.
Other worms similar to Nopir have appeared over the past few years. W32/Bibrog.a@MM showed up as a shooter game and deleted MP3 and other files while the user was busily playing the game. A Visual Basic script threw a bunch of text boxes on the user's screen while performing its nefarious acts.
Though all of these worms are low-risk and essentially a nuisance, the possibility of a Melissa-style MP3-attacking worm certainly exists. All it would take would be a file carefully crafted to imitate the latest single from Usher to cause widespread havoc.
For businesses, the obvious measure should be to ban users from using P2P clients. If a corporate firewall is in place, block the ports used by common P2P programs. A little prevention can save a great deal of IT administrative headache.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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