Chapter 8: The Flames of War Spread (Part 1)
Guan Pingchao was once the technical director of a large domestic security company, and his computer skills were basically top-notch in China. But just a few months ago, Guan Pingchao gave up his generous salary to join a newly established software company... Qihoo 360 Security Guard, which caused a sensation in the industry.
To many, the birth of 360 Security Guard was a joke, because 360 claimed to eliminate rogue software on the Internet, but the company's boss was Zhou Hongwei, the founder of 3721 Internet Assistant, who is known as the father of rogue software in China and the originator of the first incredibly powerful rogue software in China.
Zhou Hongwei made a lot of money with 3721 Internet Assistant back then. Later, 3721 was acquired by Yahoo. Zhou Hongwei had a falling out with Yahoo executives and then came up with Qihoo 360 Security Guard... Isn't this just the thief crying "stop thief"?
Of course, some people believe that if the father of malware leads the charge in eliminating malware, then the software must be very effective.
Regardless of Zhou Hongwei's character, under his leadership, 360 Security Guard quickly amassed a large user base and received high praise within just a few months. This success is undoubtedly due in part to the "father of malware"... his vision and ability to manage the situation enabled 360 Security Guard to provide user-friendly services. Of course, the development team led by Guan Pingchao also deserves significant credit.
People like Guan Pingchao often have another identity online: hackers who are both unfamiliar and familiar to people.
But Guan Pingchao is not a hacker; to be precise, he is a "red hacker."
He was one of the earliest members of the China Red Hacker Alliance.
The Chinese Red Hacker Union (HUC) was founded after the May 8 Incident in 1999, which occurred after the US bombing of the Chinese embassy in the former Yugoslavia. Chinese hackers spontaneously formed an alliance to organize members to use their hacking skills to launch attacks on some US websites, especially government websites, in order to express patriotism and national consciousness.
These hackers changed their name to "Red Hackers" and put forward slogans such as "We must be patriotic" and "Learn to be a good person before learning technology." Moreover, in May 2001, they launched the Sino-US hacker war that shocked the world.
The Sino-US hacker war at the time was fierce and intense. Guan Pingchao, as a core member of the "Red Hackers" group, participated in this battle, and ultimately, they breached the White House website and successfully displayed the bright red Chinese flag. Chinese Red Hackers shocked the world.
Although LION, the founder of the Red Hacker Alliance, announced its dissolution on the last day of 2004 due to certain pressures, the spirit of Red Hackers lives on. In 2005, a new Red Hacker Alliance was formed, with the core members of the original alliance at its core. The alliance's homepage declaration was based on the quote from the Tao Te Ching: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name."
Unlike some nerdy hackers who neglect their health, often staying up late or living a completely reversed day-night cycle, Guan Pingchao usually goes to bed promptly at 10:30 pm, drinking a glass of warm milk before sleep. Before bed, he often uses a special communication tool to access the Red Hacker Alliance's core chat room to discuss current industry news, explore technical issues, or simply chat casually.
But after Guan Pingchao joined the Red Hacker Alliance today, the atmosphere in the chat room felt particularly tense. Everyone was discussing a problem called "Beacon Fire Virus Killer"... Beacon Fire Virus? What kind of virus is that?
Upon seeing Guan Pingchao online, someone immediately exclaimed, "Brother Gaochao, you're finally here! Hurry, something terrible has happened!"
The speaker was a young man who had become obese prematurely. This guy was a clownish animal, so Guan Pingchao was usually referred to as Guan Gaochao.
While Guan Pingchao was still wondering, Yingnian Zaofei sent him an EXE file and said, "Brother Gaochao, come and take a look. The Red Hacker Alliance is in an uproar. My apprentice saw someone post a special removal tool on a trash forum. It says that websites and computers all over the world have been infected with this 'Beacon Fire' virus. We are discussing it right now."
"The whole world has been infected?" Guan Pingchao chuckled. "Is there such a powerful virus? Or is it just a prank?"
"That's what we all thought. We were all saying, 'Which idiot released this so-called special removal tool? How could there be such a powerful virus?' But just now, Sister Baby popped up and said that it might be true because she has already found the virus using the special removal tool and is dealing with it with all her might. Now we're all dumbfounded!"
Upon seeing this, Guan Pingchao shuddered. The "precious older sister" that Yingnian Zaofei mentioned was an even more formidable figure in the Red Hacker Alliance than him, a true world-class hacker, but now she was working for the country.
Baby's full name is Blue Baby (BULEBABY), and her real name is Xiao Lingran. At the age of 11, she displayed extraordinary talent. Finding the then-advanced Windows 3.0 operating system inconvenient to use, she independently modified the source code to make it more user-friendly and efficient. When Microsoft programmers discovered this modified product, they were astonished and offered her a full scholarship to study at the company's headquarters in the United States while developing software, but Xiao Lingran refused.
When Xiao Lingran heard that Gates had staged a withdrawal from university, he actually commented, "Sigh, he just loves to fool around," leaving Microsoft staff both amused and exasperated.
In early 1996, Xiao Lingran, only seventeen years old, single-handedly solved the "redsweet" virus, which many Chinese experts could not solve, and became famous. She also rejected invitations from many large foreign companies and stayed in China.
Guan Pingchao admired Blue Baby's research on viruses; if even she said that the virus really existed, then it was definitely not unfounded.
Guan Pingchao quickly opened the dedicated removal tool, and after scanning, it indeed indicated that his computer was also infected with a virus. He also received virus infection alerts when he opened several major domestic and international portal websites... The alerts were issued by the dedicated removal tool, but his own firewall did not react at all!
This is unbelievable!
Suddenly, messages started popping up like crazy on his messaging app, and then Guan Pingchao found his phone ringing. He opened it and saw messages from the "Emergency Meeting Room." This "Emergency Meeting Room" was a gathering place for the absolute elites of the Red Hacker Alliance, who knew each other inside and out. Generally, they wouldn't discuss anything in this chat room unless it was an absolutely urgent matter.
Once the emergency chat room is opened, messages are automatically sent to everyone's phones, and all group members must log on immediately unless there are special circumstances... even if they are chatting with their girlfriends!
Within five minutes, all the avatars in the emergency chat room lit up. The first to speak was Blue Baby: "I can vouch for this removal tool; it's definitely not fake. I found this virus on my computer—a very powerful, hybrid, and mutable embedded virus. Unfortunately, before using this removal tool, I fought against it but failed. The virus broke out after being attacked, and although I took protective measures, the computer's hard drive was still destroyed."
This statement caused an uproar. Blue Baby, hailed as a "professional sniper," possessed world-renowned skills in attacking and defending against viruses, yet she had failed?
Blue Baby: Based on my analysis, the power of this virus lies in its exploitation of a vulnerability in current computer hardware, a vulnerability present in the vast majority of PCs and servers. Therefore, when this virus truly erupts, it will be able to damage computer hardware. Furthermore, because this virus does not have a fixed virus code, traditional antivirus methods are ineffective against it. It can easily penetrate any firewall and silently infiltrate our computers. Moreover, it targets not only Windows operating systems, but also Linux, and even operating systems we develop and use ourselves; it can embed itself into critical system processes.
Furthermore, this virus is a hard drive-resident virus, so formatting the hard drive won't help. I've already contacted my sister Sigma, and her organization is also trying their best to research this virus. Sigma's virus attack and defense skills are far superior to mine; I wonder if she can solve it…
At this moment, Blue Baby's words suddenly stopped. After a few seconds, another line of text appeared on the screen: It seems that it is no use. Sigma's team has also been wiped out.
The chat room erupted in uproar, and Guan Pingchao felt a cold sweat break out on his back.
Who is Sigma? Guan Pingchao, who is familiar with the well-known hackers whose information has been exposed internationally, would certainly know her. This young woman is the Argentine "Virus Queen," ranked high on the FBI's wanted list. At 3 PM, she single-handedly broke into the core computer network of the U.S. Department of Defense, causing panic within the Pentagon. Moreover, she developed the "Red Sweetheart" virus. Furthermore, in her subsequent struggle demanding the release of her idol, the world's top hacker Kevin Mitnick, she repeatedly threw the U.S. government into disarray.
How could such a person, and such a team led by him, be defeated by this virus?
After a long pause, Blue Baby finally spoke: "This was pretty much expected. It's not because the virus is too powerful, but because we know nothing about it. We have absolutely no idea what hardware vulnerability it's exploiting. And the person or group that released this kill device is incredibly powerful—at least I'm certain of that. This person or organization's understanding of hardware and software far surpasses ours, perhaps even comparable to Kevin Mitnick back in the day? If he were a single person during Mitnick's most glorious era, he would be terrifying!"
Everyone understood what Blue Baby said. Although Kevin Mitnick, who can no longer touch computers, is no longer the world's number one hacker, he proved the power of hacking to the world single-handedly when the world's hacking level was not advanced. At only 15 years old, he broke into the US air defense command system and reviewed the information on US nuclear warheads at the time. If he wanted, he could even press that terrible button and destroy the whole world.
In that era, no one could surpass Mitnick.
And in this era, yet another terrifying person or organization has emerged... They are even more terrifying and powerful than the organization that developed this virus!
To use a simple analogy, it's like Chinese literati composing couplets. The real test of skill isn't how to create the first line, but how to create the second line. Of course, those who can perfectly create the first line are also very capable, but those who can perfectly create the second line are probably even more capable!
If nothing unexpected happens, the person who developed this super virus likely discovered and exploited a hardware vulnerability by accident. This is not only due to technical reasons, but also largely due to a matter of luck. The person who released this removal tool, thus fixing the virus, cracked it without any prior knowledge – it's practically a miracle!
The world's top hackers don't have a large circle. Overnight, almost all of the world's top hackers received this removal tool and identified the virus. Without exception, these self-proclaimed exceptional hackers, whether working alone or in groups, attempted to combat the virus without using the removal tool, but all of them failed.
In the end, these hackers had to admit that if they had enough time, enough manpower, and worked together, they might have been able to completely crack the virus within a week or two, but that was impossible at the moment.
Of course, many foreign hackers, especially the most self-important top hackers from the United States and Russia, believe that this virus actually appeared a long time ago, and that it was definitely not cracked by one person, but by a team, a very powerful team that is proficient in both software and hardware!
As for why this anti-hacking tool appeared in China, and with a completely Chinese interface at that, self-important foreign hackers wouldn't believe that such a top-tier entity could exist in China. Therefore, they all maintain the same argument… This is clearly a smokescreen. This organization is definitely not Chinese. The reason it's in Chinese and posted on a small Chinese forum is simply to conceal its identity, nothing more.
Many hackers have also discovered that the earliest known site of this anti-virus software is a small forum in China called "Anti-Virus Paradise". When they tried to find the IP address associated with the login, SMMH, they found nothing, as expected.
The last glimmer of hope was extinguished, and even the hacker who went to investigate couldn't help but despise himself. How could someone with such expertise make such a mistake? What truly terrified hackers worldwide was that while they had located the Beacon virus using the dedicated removal tool, not only could they not crack the virus, but they couldn't even decompile this seemingly ordinary removal application!
Why decompile?
Decompilation means using certain methods to crack existing software and deduce its structure or even source code. Because this virus's spread and destructive power are so immense, to an unimaginable degree, major security companies worldwide, as well as Microsoft, had to quickly upgrade their antivirus software or release system patches to nip it in the bud.
However, they couldn't solve the virus with their current capabilities, so they could only use the removal tool released by SMMH... But the problem was that this removal tool wasn't released by these companies, so they tried to crack it and remake it into something produced by their own company, but they all failed!
Of course, these two points were also unexpected by Chen Xu.
First and foremost, the most important thing for a hacker is to know how to protect themselves. Chen Xu foolishly logged into that forum and posted a removal tool without taking any precautions, making it easy for the attacker to trace him back to him.
Fortunately, he had a supercomputer and a very smart grandson.
Before sending the computer, Chen Xu's grandson had already set the highest level of security measures for Xiao Min. In other words, unless Chen Xu made special requests, his use of the computer would be under the highest level of security.
Website logins and software creation all use the most powerful encryption algorithms available in 2086. What hacker today could possibly crack them?
Of course, some people are happy, some are surprised, some admire, and some are worried and angry.
The virus developers are furious; they're beyond angry, they're absolutely enraged!
This virus was indeed created by them through a hardware vulnerability they discovered by chance, and it took them a full six months of hard work to create it! But they didn't expect that just three days after they released the virus on a website that ranks highly in Alexa's global website traffic rankings, it was cracked and a near-perfect removal tool was released!
Six months of hard work have all gone down the drain. How can they bear this?
But along with their anger, they also felt a deep sense of fear. Who, or what organization, could possibly crack their seemingly perfect virus? And how could they discover and develop a perfect solution in such a short time?
Nobody knew. They racked their brains, desperately trying to think of world-renowned hackers or hacker organizations, especially Chinese hacker organizations... Although they believed that China did not have top-level hackers with such capabilities, the thought that this special weapon originated from China made them take it to heart.
But after thinking for a long time, they still couldn't figure out which hacker they knew had such powerful abilities, and what such a powerful person was doing.
Chen Xu rolled over in bed, picked his nose, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, chuckled like an owl, mumbled something, and then turned back to sleep. In his dream, he saw that elegant girl with curly hair, and he stood behind her, quietly watching her…
Chapter 9: The Flames of War Spread (Part Two)
"Classmates, I have some shocking news to tell you today!" Getting up in a daze, washing his face, brushing his teeth, and going to the toilet in a daze, rushing downstairs and wolfing down two steamed buns and a spring roll, and then sitting in the classroom in a daze—this is Chen Xu's daily morning routine, a dazed life.
The class was on C programming, taught by a PhD graduate who had returned from overseas. He was young, surnamed Jiang, just over thirty, and rather handsome. His lectures were witty and down-to-earth, often including international news and jokes, making them anything but boring. Chen Xu quite enjoyed his classes. Upon hearing the shocking news, Chen Xu immediately perked up.
Many students were quite familiar with this teacher, Ms. Jiang, and one of them laughed loudly, "Ms. Jiang, are you going to announce your marriage?"
Normally, Teacher Jiang would definitely say, "You should introduce me to a beautiful wife first!" But this time, he just quietly glanced around and, seeing that everyone's curiosity had been piqued, said, "Now, please raise your hand if you have a computer."
Many people raised their hands, including Chen Xu and Wu Yuan. Looking around, wow, out of the three hundred or so people in the large classroom, a third of them had raised their hands. No wonder it's the Department of Information Science.
"Raise your hand if you've recently used a computer to go online." Not many people put their hands down; it seems everyone's in the same boat. However, Chen Xu noticed that Zhan Jing, the delicate girl with dark blue curly hair in the front row, had put her hand down.
Seeing that there were quite a few people, Teacher Jiang smiled smugly, then deliberately put on a sorrowful expression and said, "Then congratulations, your computers are all infected with viruses."
"ah?"
Ignoring the uproar below, Teacher Jiang took out a piece of chalk and quickly wrote two words, "Beacon Fire," on the green blackboard. Then she said, "Congratulations again! You have all become witnesses to history because you have witnessed the most powerful, most terrifying, and most awesome virus of the 21st century so far!"
After seeing those two words written by Teacher Jiang, Chen Xu's head felt like it had been struck by lightning, and a buzzing sound filled the air! He couldn't hear anything else after that!
Teacher Xiao Jiang continued, "This is the news I saw this morning when I just woke up. Yahoo, NetEase, Sohu, Sina, Tencent, and all the major international portals have been infected with this virus called 'Beacon Fire.' It's sweeping across the entire global internet like wildfire! According to reports, this is an extremely powerful virus developed by exploiting hardware vulnerabilities. It has terrifying transmissibility and mutability, and current firewalls and antivirus software are completely ineffective against it. It can spread rampantly through web browsing, chat, and email. A Microsoft spokesperson declared that any computer connected to the internet during this period could potentially be infected."
"Whoosh!" The entire classroom seemed to have been doused with a bucket of water while boiling oil, and it suddenly became noisy. Teacher Jiang said "Quiet down, everyone" several times before it gradually quieted down.
"However, there's no need to worry. Special removal tools for this virus have already been released on major websites. Moreover, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that this virus is benign until it is attacked or the perpetrator issues instructions, meaning it won't affect anything on your computer. But once it truly breaks out, congratulations, your hard drive will be damaged beyond repair, even by the top security experts."
Upon hearing this, everyone became anxious. After all, a computer is not cheap for students, and it would be really frustrating if a virus ruined it!
"Don't rush, don't rush!" Teacher Jiang waved his hand: "Young people, you just can't keep your tempers up. You came to class so early in the morning, and the computers weren't even turned on or connected to the internet. What's there to be afraid of? Even if the virus creator ordered it to explode, it would be too late by now."
The people below all said, "Damn, look at his calm and collected demeanor. It's obvious he killed the virus early this morning. He's a typical example of someone who talks without understanding the situation!"
However, two boys stood up at this moment and stammered, "Teacher Jiang, can we go back for a bit? My computer is on."
"Damn it!" Teacher Jiang said, "Why are your computers still on? You know the school cuts off the power at 11:30 p.m., and you can't leave them on all night. What are you doing with your computers so early in the morning?"
"Um...we're downloading something."
Upon hearing this, all the boys in the class let out a knowing "Oh," while the girls seemed quite puzzled and kept whispering among themselves: "What are they putting down? It looks so lewd."
"Oh dear," a clear and pleasant voice rang out, "What kind of things can a guy download? Probably just porn!"
The voice was quite loud, quickly echoing throughout the classroom. A group of men turned their gazes in surprise, wondering which girl was so fierce. After taking one look, Qin Xiaoan quickly tugged at Chen Xu and whispered, "Third brother, this is the girl who was late when we came back last time. Her name is Gao Xiaojie. Damn, I didn't expect her to be so tough."
Chen Xu felt a bit calmer now. Following everyone's gaze, he noticed a girl with short, ear-length hair sitting upright in the second row, as if nothing had happened. Because Chen Xu was sitting at an angle, he could vaguely see her profile. She was very pretty, especially with her fair and delicate skin, which looked like a baby's, making one want to pinch it.
However, she was sitting right next to Zhan Jing, and she saw Zhan Jing lying on the table, chuckling softly, her face completely covered by a book.
Teacher Jiang coughed twice, waved to the two clueless guys and told them to get lost, and then said, "For viruses caused by vulnerabilities, Microsoft usually applies patches first. Of course, viruses caused by hardware vulnerabilities can be solved through software, but it's more troublesome. And basically, once the vulnerability is known, the manufacturer has to improve the manufacturing of the hardware. Just like the CIH virus back then, it was a hardware virus that targeted BIOS vulnerabilities."
"Of course, these things are irrelevant to us for now. What I'm about to say is the truly shocking part of this news."
It has to be said that Teacher Jiang is quite good at keeping people in suspense. Seeing that everyone's appetite was whetted, he laughed and said, "This time, the special removal tool released worldwide is very, very interesting. You know, when a popular computer virus that targets a vulnerability is discovered, Microsoft will release a patch, major security companies will upgrade their antivirus software, and some, like 360, will release a targeted removal tool. And these removal tools will definitely have their own company's name on them."
"But this time the removal tool is different. The same removal tool is being released all over the world. It's exactly the same, not even a single word has changed!"
At this point, Teacher Jiang deliberately paused, and someone immediately asked, "Teacher Jiang, what's going on?"
Teacher Xiao Jiang laughed and said, "This is because this extremely vicious virus was discovered last night, or rather, last night. In those few hours, although security experts around the world discovered this virus, they hadn't yet developed a corresponding countermeasure. At that time, a very perfect anti-virus tool had already appeared. Everyone knows how terrifying a virus capable of damaging hardware can be when it goes off. Therefore, security companies and major websites around the world had no choice but to use the anti-virus tool made by that expert before they could develop their own anti-virus methods!"
"Whoosh!" Another uproar erupted.
Those who get into university aren't fools, so they naturally understood this implication from Teacher Li's words... In other words, the expert who created the killer's weapon was more skilled than the world's top experts. Because, you know, it's incredibly shameful for a company to use a similar product developed by another company and prominently display it on its homepage. It's like a man who can't satisfy his wife, so he asks a muscular man to come and cuckold him!