Do computer viruses damage hardware?

The Stuxnet virus program that attacks computer hardware can cripple your business by physically destroying network devices and storage resources in the data center. But unlike the Stuxnet program, this type of virus program is easier to create.

A software attack can cause physical hardware to fail to start due to a known persistent denial of service attack. The Stuxnet virus attacking Iran's nuclear facilities is so complex that many security companies have concluded that this must be done by one or more government agencies, rather than by a few hackers.

However, this does not mean that all permanent denial of service tools are very difficult to develop. Think about it, when you try to escape from the iphone or ipod, there are occasional anomalies, security and Web applications are threatened by malicious viruses that will download toxic firewalls and flash memory to the utility, causing the hardware to be unusable. Therefore, it is becoming a trend to ensure that the application software firewall upgrades with the manufacturer's electronic signature.

It is not only the utility that is threatened by the phlashing permanent denial of service attack. As you know, defective software can also be infected by a permanent denial of service attack. Or the router will be compromised by a permanent denial of service attack or a garbage-filled BIOS that infects the CPU or the virus's micro-code. Although it is often possible to refresh the BIOS to restore the system normally, Kotler points out that if the 5000 units that use one network suffer from a permanent BIOS denial of service attack, the consequences for businesses that fall victim to the attack are still devastating. Other hardware such as graphics cards, hard disks, and high-end network interface cards with a TCP offline engine can never be used because of the firewall paralysis caused by a persistent denial-of-service attack.

But what caused real physical damage to computer hardware? Software attacks can easily lead to hardware paralysis, and we are familiar with software damage to other software, but everyone forgets that software can control hardware. That means you can change the software to require the hardware to perform the instructions that will slowly damage the hardware over time, and you can also require hardware to destroy other parts of the hardware

Some simple ways in which malicious virus software destroys hardware include:

One, overclocking:

Gamers often perform overclocking on their hardware to improve performance, but they know that the overclocking system requires an effective refrigeration system to emit too much heat from overclocking. Software or BIOS changes caused by overclocking the system without additional refrigeration can cause permanent damage to the system's CPU or random memory. Even if the damaged hardware parts are replaced, the system will soon fail.

Second, the voltage is too large:

This is a brother who is as dangerous as overclocking. By substantially increasing the voltage on the motherboard, the hardware components overheat and immediately paralyze. Small range of pressurization will lead to a slight increase in the heat of hardware components, triggering the phenomenon of electrical migration. Over time, this phenomenon can cause the CPU or random memory chip pins to be burned and crushed to make the system unusable. It is to be reiterated that replacing the failed component allows the infected system to resume operation until the same component or other component fails again.

Third, the use of excessive (mechanical):

Mechanical parts will wear or overheat when used frequently, and the hard drive will be damaged due to excessive read and write operations or head pauses. For example, enter the command line: while true; Do DD if=/dev/xxx of=/dev/xxx conv=notrunc; Create an infinite loop of read and write instructions to the hard drive, which will cause the hard drive to fail due to heat loss, and enter the command line: Hdparm-s 1/dev/xxx while true; Sleep 60; DD If=/dev/random of=foobar count=1; This command can cause the hard drive to slow down, wait a minute, restart, write random information, and then lower the speed again in an infinite loop. Kotler explained that "Soon the hardware will start annoying noises, and similar attacks will soon result in the wear of mechanical parts".

Iv. use of excessive (electronic):

Flash memory does not move parts, but it also fails due to persistent write instructions. The applicable code is also simple, enter the command line: DD If=/dev/urandom of=/dev/xxx, once the flash failure, can no longer store information. At the same time, this is just the annoying USB flash, if the problem of the flash is used on the router, then the real loss, because the failure of the flash memory can no longer store logs or receive updates, so must be replaced.

V. Excessive circulation:

A system-uninterrupted power cycle is also a very fundamental attack that can lead to the same result, Kotler explains. This is because a system becomes hot when it is turned on, it cools off when it is turned off, which results in variations in temperature and voltage, which in turn results in unpredictable damage to various parts of the system.

Many companies in the world are suffering from the threat of distributed denial of service attacks, resulting in a lot of money loss. Super hacker groups such as Anonymous also use distributed denial of service attacks to punish businesses they see as deserving. Since the advent of firewall upgrades with electronic signatures, some enterprise users have started using this approach to defend against permanent denial of service attacks, and Kotler said he believes that permanent denial of service attacks as a more common choice for hackers is only a matter of time.