This simulation system is a completely closed, XP-like system. Although it was provided by Xiaomin, there are many such virtual operating environments on the market nowadays. Simply put, it's a software program that, when opened, generates an operating system similar to a Chinese operating system. Viruses are then placed inside for analysis and tracking to determine their attack process and create a dedicated removal tool. Because this software is sealed, even if infected, it doesn't matter; the computer's main system remains completely unaffected.
Of course, this isn't absolute. Take the Beacon virus, for example. It possesses powerful penetrability and destructive capabilities. Simply put, it's possible under certain technological conditions, but if the virus creator's technology surpasses that of the virtual system, and they add special code to the virus specifically targeting that system, then there's nothing they can do.
Chen Xu had been infected with viruses online quite a few times, but this was the first time he had tried to find a way to crack such a virus, which made it particularly meaningful.
After Chen Xu ran the "svch0st.exe" file in the virtual system, he quickly saw the detection results... After running, this virus automatically generated a file with the same name under C:\SYSTEM32, and another database file named strm.dl. Both were hidden. Furthermore, it added a registry key to automatically run at startup.
Then, every time the desktop window is searched, the antivirus software is automatically closed, and then the registry keys are searched and deleted, making the antivirus software unusable.
The system modifies the registry's hidden file key value, preventing the system from displaying hidden files. It then removes some system security services and corrupts files with the .GHO extension… These files are GHOST system backup files; corrupting them will prevent users from restoring their system via System Restore. Furthermore, it can infect application software.
It checks the network every three seconds, and if it finds an internet connection, it automatically downloads a Trojan virus package and spreads it throughout the computer.
"Damn, that's really vicious!" Chen Xu couldn't help but curse as he watched the virus infect the computer. The sole purpose of this virus was destruction. It was the kind of virus that took pleasure in maliciously damaging other people's computers. Honestly, Chen Xu had no idea what benefit this kind of virus could bring to its creator.
So Chen Xu wasn't in a hurry to crack the virus; instead, he quickly logged into the website's backend to check.
It was obvious that the perpetrator was a novice. Chen Xu quickly found an unfamiliar senior administrator account, and the system logs showed that the account had made some changes to the website.
There was no time to reverse-track; Chen Xu first needed to remove this damned Trojan. After searching carefully, Chen Xu indeed found a piece of JavaScript code, a common trick hackers use to inject Trojans into websites. This script automatically downloads the Trojan from a specified server; once a user clicks on the infected webpage, the script automatically runs in the background to download the Trojan.
Chen Xu deleted the script code, but noted down the server's IP address. He thought to himself, "Damn it, they dare to bully me! I'll beat them until they're covered in bruises!"
Just as Chen Xu was preparing to counter-track and use this guy as practice, the door creaked open.
Chen Xu turned his head and was immediately stunned.
Gao Xiaojie stood gracefully at the door, wearing a winter shirt and trousers pajama set. Her bare feet were on the carpet, and she tilted her head, using a bath towel to tidy her wet hair. Her face was flushed red from the hot water, like an apple, which was very cute. Her two fair and tender little feet were flawless, making people want to touch them.
Chen Xu quickly told himself, "I'm not a creepy uncle, I'm not a foot fetishist..." He repeated it several times before calming down a little, and then asked meaninglessly, "Finished washing?"
While drying her wet hair, Gao Xiaojie said, "Oh my god, this is so damn refreshing! I haven't had such a comfortable bath since I came to university. It feels so good, I wish I could stay in it for hours and never come out."
That's true. Although the dormitories in the new buildings at Hefei University of Technology all have water heaters, the problem is that those water heaters are terrible. It takes forever to heat a bucket of water, and it gets cold after only fifteen minutes of showering. In winter, you have to be quick when you take a shower, let alone have a proper, thorough wash.
Actually, this is considered relatively good. Those brothers and sisters living in the old tenement buildings had it much worse... They didn't have private bathrooms or toilets, and had to go to a public bathhouse to shower, which was quite bizarre. Men and women shared one large bathhouse... Of course, "shared" doesn't mean they showered together, otherwise it wouldn't be suffering but rather enjoyment... at least that's how it was for the animals.
The term "public" means that the bathhouse is open to men on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and to women on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Furthermore, there are no bathing tubs inside; it's all showers, and if you arrive late, you might not even be able to get a showerhead. Therefore, there's a long-standing rumor at Hefei University that if you want to see beautiful women, you have to arrive outside the bathhouse before 5 PM on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, because a group of women will be queuing there.
Chen Xu checked the time and said, "You're pretty quick. I thought you'd be showering for hours. Only half an hour has passed."
"It was a bit stuffy in the steam, and I didn't dare open the door to let in some fresh air, so I had to come out first." Gao Xiaojie fanned herself with her hand and said, "It's so hot! I just took a shower and I'm all sweaty. My cold is much better now. What are you doing?"
Chen Xu said that some scoundrel planted a Trojan horse on our Jin Yong Heroes website, and I'm thinking of getting rid of him now.
Gao Xiaojie immediately became interested and trotted over to the computer, asking, "Where? Where? Let me see what kind of Trojan it is? Has it been deleted?"
As soon as she got closer, Chen Xu immediately smelled a fragrance... Hmm, what did the books say about it again?
It resembles musk but is not musk, it resembles orchid but is not orchid.
Of course, Chen Xu had never seen, let alone smelled, musk. He had also rarely seen orchids, and thought the most fragrant flowers were osmanthus and gardenia. But the shampoo, shower gel, and a hint of girlish body odor on her... oh dear, and because Gao Xiaojie was so close, the collar of her winter pajamas easily drooped down, and Chen Xu caught a glimpse of a patch of fair skin peeking through. Uh, and white straps too—this girl was wearing a bra, but he could still vaguely see the curves...
Gao Xiaojie noticed Chen Xu's silence, so she turned her head and saw Chen Xu's shifty eyes staring intently at her collar...
Chapter 90: Varied Attack Methods
What would a girl do if she discovered a man peeping at her under her collar?
The shy ones would let out a loud "Ah!" followed by a blush of anger; the more violent ones would slap one across the face and yell, "How dare you peek at me?"
And what about Gao Xiaojie?
This woman was neither shy nor violent; she was a bit quirky and a bit flamboyant. Then she calmly asked, "Is it pretty?"
Chen Xu answered instinctively, "It looks good!"
As soon as he said that, Chen Xu knew he was doomed. Sure enough, Gao Xiaojie looked at him with a cold smile. Chen Xu chuckled awkwardly, "Hey, you must be really hot after taking a shower. Want some ice cream? What flavor do you want? Strawberry or cream?"
Gao Xiaojie chuckled and asked, "What did you see?"
Chen Xu quickly shook his head and said he didn't see anything! Then, looking at the girl's eyes, he unconsciously lowered his head and said timidly, "Um... the white clothes were covering it."
Gao Xiaojie then asked, "Do you want to see what's inside?"
Chen Xu really wanted to say yes, but he knew that saying so would probably get him beaten to death. So he shook his head and said, "Uh, no."
"You're smart enough to know your place!" Gao Xiaojie didn't pursue the matter further, giving him a sidelong glance. "Tell me to behave next time, and I'll let it go this time. It was my own carelessness." Then she ran to the box, grabbed her notebook, and lightly kicked Chen Xu with her bare feet, saying, "Move aside, don't you have any sense? I'm here to catch a thief."
"Catch a thief?" Chen Xu made room for her. Then he handed her an extra network cable... because he had also brought the dormitory router and network cable, so four computers could connect to the network at the same time.
When Chen Xu saw Gao Xiaojie turn on the computer and open an unfamiliar software, he asked, "What are you trying to do?"
"Give me the address of that virus-infected server! Hmph, daring to act wildly on my turf, they really have a death wish!"
Seeing her scanning IP ports, Chen Xu finally realized and said, "So you're going to hack him! You can do intrusion?"
Gao Xiaojie smiled smugly: "Of course, I just became an apprentice of a master. This is a perfect opportunity to practice my skills! Hmm, this looks like a virtual system, I didn't expect you to know how to play around with this kind of thing?"
Chen Xu chuckled and said, "I'm more interested in antivirus. You deal with this server first. I'll crack the virus's shell and then create a dedicated removal tool."
Hearing this, Gao Xiaojie's eyes widened again, because solving a virus wasn't an easy task. Developing a dedicated removal tool? That meant Chen Xu's programming skills were already quite advanced. However, considering how easily he passed the C language exam, he probably had some prior knowledge of it before university, so the surprise was somewhat limited.
Actually, removing this virus isn't difficult. Because viruses are also a type of program, they follow a fixed path.
Under the virtual system provided by Xiaomin, the virus's every move was under Chen Xu's surveillance, including how it copied, where it was installed, which registry key it modified, and how it was opened. All of this was completely under Xiaomin's monitoring.
This virus is quite simple; it merely replicates and infects. Then it modifies the registry's startup options. At most, it might infiltrate critical processes, allowing it to revive even after being deleted in normal mode… These things are very easy to detect and remove. Forget using specialized removal tools; even someone with basic computer knowledge can easily kill it by entering safe mode. It's a very simple matter.
This virus was so simple it could only be described as ordinary. Chen Xu was just using it to practice, but first he wanted the system to analyze the virus's details and capabilities, such as what would happen when it was attacked. Then, Chen Xu watched, rather bored, as Gao Xiaojie hacked into the system.
Chen Xu hadn't seen Gao Xiaojie's software before, but after a few glances, he immediately recognized it as similar to his own, integrating vulnerability scanning, handshake techniques, and other common hacking methods. It was well-suited for novice hackers, but for more advanced users, it was rather rudimentary.
However, seeing Gao Xiaojie's attack method really broadened Chen Xu's horizons.
Chen Xu had always been learning from Xiao Min, and his attack methods were the most conventional: requesting a connection, bypassing the server firewall, obtaining administrator privileges... basically, it was all similar. The method was simple, but easy for the opponent to discover and counterattack.
Gao Xiaojie's attack method involved making a connection request on one side, putting on a grand show, while she silently slipped in from another port disguised as a data stream. It's like a thief breaking into someone's house; first, she has an accomplice knock on the door openly, and while the homeowner's attention is focused on the door, she sneaks in through the back window.
Although this attack method wasn't particularly novel, it immediately gave Chen Xu a new understanding of attack, defense, and intrusion.
Judging from Gao Xiaojie's performance, her skill level is actually not as good as Chen Xu's. Her reaction time to data streams and her proficiency in using various commands are not very strong. This is probably because Gao Xiaojie's basic knowledge is not solid enough, at least not as solid as Chen Xu's... This basic knowledge mainly refers to her understanding of computer and server hardware and software, as well as operating systems. Chen Xu has been self-studying Chinese for several months, and although she has only learned the basics, the easy-to-understand language has left a deep impression on her. She has not only learned it, but now she can also apply it to her own work.
Seeing Gao Xiaojie's methods, Chen Xu finally understood why Xiaomin refused to teach him hacking techniques. While hacking might seem tedious to outsiders, it's undoubtedly an art form for hackers themselves. And art can never be mastered simply by rote memorization. Gao Xiaojie's attack methods were essentially the same few commonly used by ordinary hackers, but the problem was her unpredictable and versatile approach, which allowed her to maximize her skills beyond what was initially considered a perfect 10!
Chen Xu made this judgment in his mind.
Gao Xiaojie's basic skills are probably only 10 points, while I am 15 points. However, if both sides use the same hardware, I am likely to lose, and the reason I lose will be due to my poor performance.
Chen Xu never imagined that there would be so many variations in a way of disguising data streams. To be honest, he should have been able to think of Gao Xiaojie's attack method, but in fact, this kind of "thinking" is the most difficult.
There's a saying, "Nothing is impossible, only unimaginable." It's like how Watt invented the steam engine after seeing the kettle lid pop open with steam, and Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation after being hit on the head by an apple. Chen Xu felt his imagination was indeed limited; seeing the kettle lid pop open with steam, he would simply put it back on, and if he were hit on the head by an apple, he would just eat it.
The same applies to hacking techniques. Compared to Gao Xiaojie's unpredictable and ever-changing style, Chen Xu felt that his attack methods were too simplistic.
So Chen Xu asked, "Who did you learn this offensive style from?"
At this moment, Gao Xiaojie had already obtained administrative privileges and began to obtain the other party's IP address. Since this server was clearly just a stepping stone, and the other party was managing it remotely just like him, Gao Xiaojie casually uttered a single word: "Jing..."
Then she immediately realized what she meant, chuckled awkwardly, and said, "After many experiments, I created this myself. How about it, pretty good, right?!"
Her words were clearly an attempt to cover up her true intentions. The moment she mentioned the word "Jing," Chen Xu immediately thought of Zhan Jing—the girl with light blue hair, the girl who was always so quiet.
Recalling what Zhan Jing had said to him when they ate at the buffet that day, Chen Xu tentatively asked, "Zhan Jing? Is her cooking very good?"
Gao Xiaojie waved her hands repeatedly to cover it up, saying, "Oh no, don't ask anymore! Oh no, that guy got away! It's all your fault!"
Chen Xu checked the screen and, sure enough, the other party had disappeared. She was probably too nervous to find out the other party's real IP address before he got away. Seeing Gao Xiaojie pouting, looking displeased, Chen Xu chuckled and said, "Never mind, never mind, just a petty thief."
"You make it sound so simple!" Gao Xiaojie puffed out her cheeks cutely. "This was my first time officially fighting someone, and he just got away like that! I'm so upset! Oh dear, it's all your fault for asking me that question all the time. Okay, okay, I'll tell you. Jingjing is very skilled. I learned everything I know from her. But you can't tell anyone else, okay?"
"I promise I won't tell anyone." Chen Xu waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Uh, then could you teach me? I really want to learn."
Gao Xiaojie looked at him and said, "You want to learn too? Sure, let's start by looking at assembly language."
Chen Xu chuckled and said, "I already have a basic understanding of those things. My biggest weakness right now is my hands-on skills. You're really good at hands-on skills, so teach me. Look how generous I am to take you in, I even gave you my bed."
After he said that, Gao Xiaojie really had no way to refuse. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly pointed at Chen Xu's computer screen and exclaimed, "Oh dear, what happened to your system?"
"What?" Chen Xu turned around and saw that all the application file icons on the screen of the virtual system he had opened had turned into the same shape.
The shape is that of a black and white panda holding three incense sticks.
"Panda Burning Incense?"
Chapter 91 Red Hacker Battlefield
The infected system is a virtual system, which is not a problem; a simple restore will fix it. However, Chen Xu kept inhaling deeply as he stared at the screen filled with panda burning incense icons.
The people who developed this virus are utterly shameless!
By examining the virus's execution logs, Chen Xu could see that the virus had actively modified the system's HOSTS file, redirecting all web pages to a single address: 3348.com. It then automatically launched Internet Explorer and began clicking frantically.
This is clearly a scheme to exploit a viral outbreak to generate clicks!
Furthermore, the virus's outer shell uses rootkit technology for encryption and protection, allowing it to hide and lock itself and designated files to prevent detection and deletion. It also maliciously downloads Trojans from servers to steal account passwords, disables antivirus software, and compromises all system protection. Additionally, it spreads rampantly within the local area network.
It's easy to imagine that this virus has an extremely high transmissibility and will likely spread across the entire internet in a very short time.
However, this virus is not difficult to crack. With Chen Xu's novice level of skill and Xiao Min's assistance, he can quickly create a dedicated removal tool, not to mention those large security companies.
However, one thing to be aware of is that many novice users online these days are slow to react. They might not even realize their computers are riddled with viruses. Of course, if it's a malicious virus like the Panda Burning Incense virus that completely crashes the system and renders everything unusable, they might realize it, but they might not know how to remove it… because many people probably don't bother downloading dedicated virus removal tools from professional websites, and many use pirated antivirus software that isn't up-to-date. Some even don't use antivirus software at all. In that case, there's not much that can be done.
Just like the Beacon virus from last time, you could still find it on some newbie's computer. Chen Xu once found the Beacon virus while fixing the computer of a non-IT major. This guy was in the same Jin Yong Heroes game group as Chen Xu, and he mentioned that his laptop was terrible; it was okay when he first bought it, but became extremely slow after a while.
Gao Xiaojie, upon seeing the report on the virus, exclaimed, "Who's this crazy these days?" Then, looking at Chen Xu's virtual system, he said, "Hey, where did you get this virtual system? The report is so detailed! I've never seen it before."
Chen Xu chuckled and said there were plenty of things you hadn't seen before, so Gao Xiaojie eagerly leaned over and said, "Hey classmate, how about sharing some?"
Chen Xu rolled his eyes and said, "Of course not! You're living in my house and sleeping in my bed, and you still want to steal my software? There's no such thing as a free lunch! Do you really think I'm a sucker?"
Gao Xiaojie pouted and said, "Don't be so stingy!" Then she chuckled and said, "It's just sharing! It's just sharing, you're not getting nothing in return." Chen Xu asked what the benefit was. Gao Xiaojie chuckled, "Don't you also want to learn hacking techniques? Then let's share. I'll teach you everything Jingjing taught me. You give me this software."
Chen Xu said, "I'm really at a disadvantage! You just said you would teach me, which was considered rent for living here. Why are you suddenly saying you want to exchange and share with me?"
"You stingy person. Drink cold water!" Gao Xiaojie pouted and sat down, her eyes darting around as she said, "Fine. I'll add another condition... Move aside, move aside, I'll take you somewhere."
Gao Xiaojie snatched the mouse from Chen Xu, entered an IP address, and logged into a website. Once inside, it seemed to be a gaming platform like HaoFang. There were various rooms with different levels, and at the top of the page were four large characters: "Red Hacker Battlefield."
What's this place for?