In May of 2010, a Japanese file sharing website found a
virus that has been named the Ika-tako virus. This virus has reportedly
infected over 50,000 computers. It was able to infect so many computers because
it was disguised as a music file. Users would search for a song they wanted,
but instead of getting the song it was secretly the Ika-tako virus. (Fish, 2010)
Once downloaded by the user, it goes through picture files
on the computer’s hard drive and replaces them with a picture of a squid or
octopus. This is where it got the name Ika-tako, which is Japanese for
octopus-squid. The original pictures were sent to the hacker’s personal server.
(Fish, 2010)
The hacker, Masato Nakatsuji, was caught a month later and
was convicted for this attack. In 2008, he was caught and convicted for a
similar attack where he used a copyrighted picture from the show Clannad. When asked why he performed the
most recent attack he stated, “I wanted to see how much my computer programming
skills had improved since the last time I was arrested”. The conviction he received
in 2010 was for property destruction since he used an image he made, while the
2008 conviction was for copyright infringement since he used an image from a
show. It is thought that his motives may be more than what he said, since the
virus has affected thousands of people and their systems. (Fish, 2010)
As of August of 2010, none of the original files had been
returned or restored. As of the last report, police were working with Masato
Nakatsuji to enter his server and retrieve the information. (Fish, 2010)
Fish, E. (2010, August 18). Ika-tako Virus
Replaces Your Files With Octopus Photos. Retrieved from PCWorld:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/203570/the_s_files_ika_tako_virus_replaces_your_files_with_octopus_photos_lolwut.html
Comments
Post a Comment