Chapter 227 Chen Xu Fishing for Chickens (Part 2)
Chen Xu ultimately gave John a firewall, which was indeed much better than those firewalls on the market. Whether in terms of security or the accompanying antivirus software, this firewall was undoubtedly a top-notch product.
Of course, this new device is far inferior to the firewall Chen Xu gave to the military last time; at best, it's only one level better than current mainstream firewalls… Of course, Chen Xu might not care about this small difference, but that doesn't mean others don't. As the saying goes, "one should strive for even greater heights," and many firewalls have already reached their limits.
The firewall is named "Glacier," a name Chen Xu came up with on the spot. But it has one major drawback… its hardware requirements are extremely high!
Its basic configuration requires 128MB of RAM and a dual-core 2.0 CPU... This doesn't seem like much, right? But this is just the basic configuration!
In other words, running this firewall with this configuration will nearly saturate the system resources, making it impossible to perform any further tasks! Therefore, ordinary consumer computers simply cannot run this "Glacier" firewall perfectly. High-end configurations are required!
As you might have guessed, a backdoor was automatically opened in this firewall.
This backdoor is completely embedded within the firewall and cannot be patched. Furthermore, it's extremely well-hidden; even a skilled user wouldn't be able to detect it. This is because firewalls are inherently connected to the network, meaning they are simultaneously defending and transmitting data for Chen Xu.
Therefore, any computer with this firewall installed will become Chen Xu's botnet! It's important to know that installing such backdoors in firewalls or other system software is a major taboo and despicable. So this time, Chen Xu didn't use the SMMH identity at all… anyway, if anything goes wrong later, it won't be his problem.
However, Chen Xu did tell John about the backdoor installation in the firewall. His meaning was clear: this firewall was an opportunity. But he wasn't going to help him for nothing. He didn't want John's money; he just wanted the firewall distributed so John could use it to make money without worrying about piracy… What a joke! Xiao Min's stuff, while the firewall's technology wasn't advanced, it used a double helix structure, making it difficult for ordinary people to crack.
"This firewall is unique on the market, and you'll soon see its superiority. If you have skilled hackers, it's an incredibly powerful shield." This statement reveals how Chen Xu kept it hidden. The firewall he provided to the military with withstood attacks from a top global cybercrime organization for a full month, but this Ice River firewall still requires human operation to defend against hackers… Of course, its automatic defense is very effective against viruses embedded in the network, but based on current TCP/IP rules, the Ice River firewall cannot completely defend against many common hacker attack methods on its own.
After Chen Xu made his statement, John also fell silent.
He knew perfectly well what a blow it would be to a company's reputation if its firewall contained a backdoor. Once discovered, the company would inevitably face intense public condemnation. In the media-driven UK, such an incident would almost certainly result in the company's bankruptcy… there was no other choice.
So John asked, "So, is this backdoor program you've created discreet enough? Won't others discover it?"
Chen Xu replied, "Although the backdoor is well-hidden and rarely used, there's still a possibility it could be discovered. After all, this firewall is based on the rules of the current operating system, so it's still possible for someone to find out that your computer is sending data out on its own."
John was now in a real bind. The implication was that another expert might discover the backdoor… something he was certain of. Since the other side wasn't confident, the outcome wasn't just a possibility, it was a certainty!
Because he could foresee the effects of releasing the Ice River firewall. It was a product a whole level above current mainstream firewalls worldwide. While it would bring the company substantial profits, it would also undoubtedly attract many envious enemies.
Among these people are many experts and masters from large security companies. They will definitely try to crack this firewall. But if they discover a backdoor while cracking it, they will definitely pay the media to launch a verbal attack against them... That's for sure!
It's not worth it; it really will be a case of losing more than you gain!
But John didn't want to let this opportunity slip by.
This is a dilemma!
Chen Xu knew this was a difficult situation. But he also knew that the problem lay with John, not him. All he needed now were bots, lots and lots of bots… not too many, a few thousand or tens of thousands would be enough.
So he wasn't worried at all.
Based on the information, John wouldn't let such a golden opportunity slip by!
Because if he missed this opportunity, Liam's company would be finished, and with the company's demise, his life of extravagance would also come to an end.
Many people are like this; they aren't blind to the present or future crises. However, they often develop a mindset of simply getting by, much like the Southern Song Dynasty, clinging to life in a state of decline. They aren't unaware that without effort they will become beggars, but perhaps they are lazy, or perhaps they tried and failed, so they prefer to drift along, numbing themselves with a life of extravagance and debauchery.
That's a form of escapism.
It's like smoking opium.
But subconsciously, they know their money will eventually run out. Once the money is gone, they won't have the chance to smoke opium again. The problem is they don't have a good way to make money, so they can only drift along day by day. But when they are suddenly given a sure way to make a lot of money, enough to make them rich for a lifetime... they will unleash amazing potential and passion.
This is not contradictory.
Chen Xu finished his work and went to sleep, leaving the rest of the mess to John. John immediately convened an emergency meeting with his think tank to discuss the firewall.
At the same time, we will also conduct a test on this firewall.
After all, if the firewall wasn't as valuable as the mysterious person claimed, they wouldn't even need to consider it. They could simply refuse!
But the test results surprised everyone.
After various tests, the final result is that, apart from consuming too many resources, the stability and defense of this firewall are truly amazing!
It's fair to say that this Ice River Firewall is an impenetrable fortress!
Compared to ordinary firewalls commonly found on the market, it boasts higher stability and security, making it far more powerful. Its filtering of viruses and Trojans, and its screening of data streams, far surpass those of ordinary firewalls!
But it's ironic that a firewall could become a hacking tool. John and his team couldn't help but think, "Wouldn't it be great if this firewall had absolutely no backdoors?"
Liam can use this firewall to make a comeback, surpass other companies in the same industry, and even qualify to climb into the ranks of first-class companies and gain more market share!
So someone suggested unpacking the firewall and patching the backdoor ourselves, wouldn't that make it perfect?!
They acted on it without hesitation, but after a full three hours, all the programmers at Liam Corporation had to abandon this "foolish" idea... It was foolish because they realized the gap between them and their counterparts was too vast! They couldn't even get through the firewall's outer shell, let alone understand its workings!
This firewall program differs from other software. Other software comes in an installer containing various system files. For example, an .exe file is the executable program, and there are other files with their own functions… But this firewall consists entirely of a single .exe file – a complete, unified whole!
This overall structure meant that Liam's programmers couldn't even penetrate the outermost shell, let alone modify or patch it.
Only a few top programmers discovered that this firewall was constantly connected to the outside world, possibly using this method to open a backdoor. However, because Chen Xu was asleep at this time, they couldn't find out how the backdoor actually worked. This single backdoor, however, was a thorn in the side for everyone at Liam Corporation, causing them immense distress.
Many people in Liam will have trouble sleeping tonight.
"This is drugs!" After all other methods failed, John couldn't help but complain, "God, why use drugs to lure us? You know we're just mortals, we have no resistance to temptation! God! Why are you torturing us like this?!"
"How about we try a different approach?"
At this point, one of the think tank members offered an opinion: "First, we need to figure out, Mr. John, what that mysterious person's intention is. What is his or their purpose in creating such an advanced firewall with a backdoor? Does he want to steal user data, or does he want to control user computers? Or perhaps he just needs some high-quality botnets to provide data flow support for future hacking battles?!"
"What's the difference between these?"
"Of course there is a difference. If it's the first two possibilities, then we absolutely cannot agree to it, because once it's discovered, it will be a scandal, an absolute scandal! But if it's the third possibility, then I think we have a way."
Chapter 228 The Willing to Take the Bait (Part 1)
John became interested: "Tell me your thoughts."
“Yes,” the aide named Carter said after organizing his thoughts, “We know what a firewall does. It’s to prevent viruses and Trojans, ensure user network security, and protect user data from being stolen. Right? So, if the purpose of this firewall is to steal user data, then I’m sorry, no matter how well it’s done, we can’t accept it. Because that goes against the very purpose of firewall software.”
"That's right, let's continue, focusing on the third scenario!"
"The third scenario is that the attacker simply wants to use this software to acquire botnets—high-quality botnets! In the experiment just now, you've already seen the advantages of this firewall. A major feature is its stability! We know that when a firewall is attacked, it consumes a lot of system resources, causing it to crash. But this firewall won't!"
"Everyone here is a professional, and you should understand the significance of the data I just saw. This firewall consumes resources equivalent to those of an XP operating system! But whether it's in normal or working condition, its resource usage doesn't increase much! As you just saw, even when this firewall was subjected to a flood attack, its CPU usage remained high. That means it's incredibly stable, more stable than you can imagine. But because it's so stable, low-end computers simply can't run it! But why don't we think about this? Perhaps this is something that mysterious hacker deliberately set up?"
"What are the advantages of his setup?" someone asked. "His setup will lose him the vast majority of his user base!"
“But he doesn’t need those junk computers!” Carter glared at the guy who had contradicted him without any politeness, and said, “As you all know, one high-end computer and an efficient network are worth ten or even more low-end computers… I’m referring to attacks. Besides, controlling botnets is a real pain! You might have 100,000 junk computers, but the effect might not be as good as 5,000 high-end computers. I think everyone here understands that!”
Everyone nodded in agreement. After all, they were experts and knew that the higher the quality of the botnets, the better. Otherwise, if there were only quantity and no quality, controlling so many botnets would be a huge problem. And just issuing commands was already maddening! One hundred thousand computers! That was definitely a troublesome matter!
Therefore, hackers now demand the highest performance and the fewest number of botnets possible!
Less is more!
John glanced at Carter: "You continue."
Carter nodded smugly. He continued, "So I'll assume he's just trying to acquire high-end computers to use as botnets. That's quite possible. If that's the case, assuming he doesn't steal user data, the purpose of these computers with the IceRiver firewall installed is to sacrifice some resources and bandwidth in exchange for greater security!"
"If we are honest with our user base, I think a group of users will be able to accept this approach! Of course, we may have to make some concessions on the price..."
How to make concessions?
Carl shook his head at the question. He was a computer scientist, not an economist. He could think of the problem, but he didn't have a proper solution.
"Boss, what I mean is, shouldn't you contact that mysterious hacker to confirm our thoughts?"
“No need!” John said decisively. “Carter, your analysis was absolutely right. He told me this. He said that on computers with this firewall installed, user data won’t be stolen. It will only consume some bandwidth. There won’t be any problems with system resources… because as long as a computer has this firewall installed, it automatically allocates a portion of system resources to the firewall. Then, when that mysterious person uses the botnet, the botnet’s system resource usage will not exceed the firewall’s limit! In other words, what we see as the firewall’s utilization rate is completely fake! It doesn’t use all of these resources at all; it just allocates them like dividing up territory! The user only pays for a little bandwidth. The firewall won’t monitor any of the user’s private information!”
Upon hearing John's words, everyone couldn't help but gasp.
Is this even possible?
No wonder the system only used slightly more resources than usual when the firewall was under attack. That means that the resources it "claimed" to use were not used up at all when the firewall was running normally, and were only used a little bit!
In other words, it claims to use 128MB of system memory, but in reality, it probably only uses tens of MB or even just a few MB! The extra resources are not used at all. They are only reserved for use as a botnet!
This method of resource utilization has never been used before, nor has anyone even thought of using it!
Because all antivirus software faces the same problem... that it consumes too many system resources during virus scanning, leading to complaints from low-end users. Therefore, in China, Kaspersky has a special meaning: it's like a slow, clattering bug, and then the computer crashes...
For many firewalls and antivirus software, 128MB is more than enough under normal circumstances. But once they start running at full capacity... it won't be enough.
However, if this is the case, it means that this Ice River firewall is only causing trouble within its own designated area and will not infringe on user data. At most, users will have to pay some bandwidth and resources in exchange for their network security... For some users, this may not be unacceptable, but it's not something they'll easily accept either.
If it's really that easy to accept, Chen Xu might as well just put this firewall on the internet for anyone to download, let those who are willing take the bait!
But then another problem arises.
So how can we get users to spend money?
In fact, when users pay money to buy your antivirus software, it is a transaction in itself.
I give you money, and you protect my computer's security... It's a fair deal.
However, once users have already paid for their bandwidth and system resources, asking them to pay more is something few would be willing to do. But if they don't charge, how will they make money?
Then this firewall is even more pointless!
This is a problem that needs to be addressed by the think tank.
A complete think tank requires talent from all fields, and naturally, sales talent is indispensable.
At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on a black man who was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
This black man is named Fabiano. Although he recently joined Liam's company, his experience is so impressive that no one dares to underestimate him. His resume is truly remarkable: he's worked as a salesman, selling everything from toothbrushes to computers and even servers; he's sold insurance, worked as a ticket seller, and even participated in multi-level marketing…
Fabiano is probably the one in the think tank who understands customer psychology best and is the best at selling things.
At this point, he voiced his opinion: "We'll distribute this firewall completely free of charge." "Are you crazy?"
"Oh my god?! The company isn't making any money?!"
"Did a donkey kick you in the head?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room erupted in noise. Fabiano, however, remained calm. After John shouted "Quiet!" several times, he slowly said, "It's not that free things can't make money."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately fell silent.
We're all IT experts, so we naturally know what the so-called "free" things on the internet really mean. Of course, many free things are genuinely free, unlike some in China. They claim to be free... eliminating game time, but then add paid items, and even those require real money. This immediately disrupts the entire game's balance!
But like many portal websites, which update news daily and provide email addresses to users, they offer almost no paid services. So how do such large websites make money?!
Traffic, advertising!
The profits in this area are staggering!
Many websites survive entirely on advertising revenue, and they thrive and make more money the longer they live!