It recently came to the attention of boinc staff that a multi-project cruncher called Wate who occupied a very high position in the boinc and project stats had reached this exalted position by dishonest means.

In early June 2006 he appears to to have released onto the internet a link purporting to provide Windows updates including now for Vista. Some 1500 members of the public worldwide downloaded these 'updates' which in fact consisted of a trojan application that downloaded boinc.exe and attached the person's computer to Wate's account, giving him the subsequent fraudulent credits.

About 90% of the people affected appear to have uninstalled or disabled the unwanted boinc installation, but some compromised computers are still running and crashing climate models. Boinc and project staff have no means of contacting the owners of these computers.

The problem came to light when an affected member of the public noticed the heavy drain on his laptop's battery, looked in Task Manager at the running processes, identified boinc and contacted a group of genuine boinc members in Italy.

Carl deleted Wate's cpdn credits last Friday. An unfortunate side-effect of this was that cpdn credits did not update over the weekend. This problem is now sorted. The managers of most of the other projects Wate was attached to have chosen a different course, altering his registration details.

Wate's method of hijacking computers via a dishonest download is one of the classic methods used by spammers.

Boinc staff, the ClimatePrediction programmers and your moderators stress that boinc and project software was never at fault, nor was there ever any breach of Windows XP or Vista security. The dishonest application was Wate's trojan. Boinc and project software were never infiltrated and remain secure.

How can we prevent our own computer being similarly compromised by frauds and spammers?

*Use legitimate software (it is said that half the illegal copies of Windows sold in China come with a virus pre-installed).

*Download updates for your operating system and other programmes via the tools on your computer, not through links in emails or links on web pages.

*Download new programmes only through links on websites you thoroughly trust, or type the address yourself.

*Keep your AV and firewall up-to-date and scan regularly. Install and use malware cleaners such as Spybot and Adaware.

*Look at Task Manager from time to time to see all the running processes on your computer. Right-click on the digital clock and select it. The processes whose names you don't recognise can be identified through a search engine. If you suspect a rogue application, download HijackThis and post your log there. You will be told what can be safely deleted.

*If your computer behaves unexpectedly, post on the forums.


Here is Wate:

http://www.boincstats.com/stats/boinc_user_graph.php?pr=bo&id=873722

http://climateapps2.oucs.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/show_user.php?userid=188887

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/chart_list.php

http://burp.boinc.dk/forum_user_posts.php?userid=100 - appears to be the same member.

This thread can be used for discussion, reprobation and ridicule.

Saenger - The admins at predictor have hidden the new thread you created!

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Saenger - The admins at predictor have hidden the new thread you created!

Who needs a trojan to put boinc on unsecured computers?

Someone, who cares about his/her credits more than about science

Allthough I would totaly condem the use of trojan software on boinc clients I believe their is nothing wrong with someone caring more about credits than the science, the only reason I participate in seti is for the competion, and anyway there is very little, if any scientifc benefit to be gained from seti. For Pure science and benefit to humanity I crunch for projects like LHC, protien folding malaria@home and before the censorship outrage, predictor. Holding these opnions dose not put me in the same catorgory as some one who uses dishonest means to obtain credits.

m4rtyn

You're right, I used the wrong expression...
The right answer should be: "Someone, who cares about his/her Cobblestones much more than about everything else."

[quote][quote][quote][quote]Who needs a trojan to put boinc on unsecured computers?

you too can have 30 systems. Just ask me how.

No viruses, no trojans., just using windows programs.

Well and a good IP scanner.

hey lookhere Goku you dragonballsy a** little punk, you think your all so secure., you think this guy wate is done and over with?

You use your brain, you think someone this sophisticated will simply stop runnin boinc?

Im sure hes one of the top competitors right now and you dont know it, he just created a new email account! lol, idiots. You cant stop a cracker!

So I will let go of your ears and eyes and let your head slide back into your ****** where you like them to be.

Just thought Id try and enlighten you a bit.

So, you think your gonna be the new wate. he was an idiot but at least he had the sense not shoot his fat mouth off about what he was doing. And for your enlightenment it do'nt matter how many computers you crack, you'll still have a small dick.

M4rtyn

And ANOTHER THING, I NEVER SAID I HAVE DONE ANYTHING IN VIOLATION OF BOINCS TERMS OF USE, I SIMPLY HAVE IMPLIED THAT IT IS POSSIBLE.

SHOW ME THE TEXT WHERE I OPENLY ADMIT TO ANY WRONG DOING?

Look here you english tea sipping , crumpet eating, snagletoothed son of a bitch, howd you like some good old Alabama blacksnake?

USA, and we all know you english boys got three inch peters. Everyone knows that, Want a number to a good dentist?