Fujitsu Cyberweapon Developed In Japan: 'Good' Virus Created For Cyber Defense

The Japanese Defense Ministry is developing a computer virus aimed at seeking and destroying cyber attacks launched against the country, according to local media reports.

The malware-fighting cyberweapon, which is being created by defense contractor Fujitsu for an estimated $2.3 million, has the ability to identify the source of a cyber attack with a high level of accuracy, then replicate itself from computer to computer, cleaning up viruses across the network, according to the Japanese new site The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The cyberweapon, which has been in development since 2008, has been tested in a closed network environment and was developed for defense, but Japanese lawmakers must create new legislation allowing for its use because it would appear to violate current Japanese law, the site reported.

News of the effort comes amid growing concern over cyber attacks in Japan. Last year, Japan's parliament, Japanese defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy and several of Japan's overseas diplomatic missions were targeted by hackers, according to local media.

Japan's development of a cyberweapon is part of what some experts see as a growing cyber arms race. The Stuxnet computer virus, which damaged Iran's nuclear program in 2010, was one of at least five cyber weapons developed on a single platform, according to Russian computer security firm Kaspersky Lab. Security experts believe the United States and Israel were behind Stuxnet, though the two nations have not accepted responsibility.

In a blog post, Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant for security firm Sophos, said there have been other attempts to create viruses designed for benevolent reasons, such as a computer worm designed to combat child pornography.

But Cluley said the effort in Japan could have unintended consequences, such as being difficult to control or destroying evidence needed to locate the infection on the network.

"An out-of-control 'good' virus could spread randomly or unexpectedly from machine to machine, meaning it may be hard to contain," he wrote in a blog post.

Comments

[jsgaetano]

06:58 AM on 01/06/2012

"Good" viruses have been tried in the past. The problem is always unforseen issues. How do you defend releasing something, and saying "oh I'm sorry it screwed up your computer, but you see, it was a 'good' virus..." Such a thing always falls to being unethical. If the user doesn't want it on their computer, the virus has no right (legal or ethically) to spread itself.

[phatemu]

06:36 AM on 01/06/2012

If it isn't open source then it's a threat.

[iamwired]

09:38 AM on 01/05/2012

If it finds Malware, does it speak to me in Japanese?

[Lucy Beck]

08:04 AM on 01/05/2012

"The virus also has the ability to disable the attacking program and collect relevant information. "

Depending on the type of cyber attack, this could be possible. If its a phishing attack for example, the information being stolen needs to be sent to a computer under the hackers control. If you can attach some means to piggy back on this info and then send details back of the hackers computer back to the "good guys", then you have your working system.

Additionally, even if a botnet is being used, if you can trace back to the infected zombie computer then installing another program on to the zombie is probably less difficult then you would think (the zombie computer probably isnt very well defended in the first place if its already in a botnet). Once on the zombie, it could be possible to trace back to the command and control computers of the botnet.

So frankly whilst being very difficult tfrom a technological point of view, and difficult from a legal point of view, the truth is that anytime you want information from someone, you need a return path and that leaves open a door for someone else to trace you.
http://www.sciaticnervepainblog.com/

[iamwired]

09:30 AM on 01/05/2012

If it disables any installed malware, and determines the point of entry plus traces back to an IP, even if it is from some proxy, it can go a long way. And a good start to building on auto defences. Difficult to trace back to the actual attacker though, I agree.

[GOP Lie Detector]

06:55 AM on 01/05/2012

Remember Welchia? That was a so-called good virus too. But it wasn't so good once it devoured your network looking for Blaster.

[dsync]

02:56 AM on 01/05/2012

So wait, their going to write a self replicating, distributed backdoor that modifies files on a users system without permission....

What a great idea, this couldn't be misused, or abused at all.

[netzwerg]

05:47 AM on 01/05/2012

They are not going to, they already have.

Japan can developy cyber weapons if they want, just like any other country or individual can.

[Desolati0n]

07:49 AM on 01/05/2012

Stuxnet.

[jsgaetano]

07:00 AM on 01/06/2012

Exactly. All computer viruses are unethical, even those created with the intention to do "good" things. There are actually people sitting in prison who thought they were writing "good viruses".

[opprobrious]

01:47 AM on 01/05/2012

Sure hope my Avast can handle that.

[El Machina]

10:28 PM on 01/04/2012

SkyNet

[iamwired]

09:35 AM on 01/05/2012

Haha, that's what I thought. This will soon become self aware and defend itself.

[db316]

09:51 PM on 01/04/2012

And the virus would be called skynet.

[Desolati0n]

07:50 AM on 01/05/2012

We need Arnold.

[jsgaetano]

07:01 AM on 01/06/2012

We need Batman.

[eric14]

09:03 PM on 01/04/2012

Could it be captured and turned?

[Vampy1]

07:26 PM on 01/04/2012

so uhh, will this be for macs or pcs?

[opprobrious]

01:48 AM on 01/05/2012

Well at least someone on this thread has a sense of humor.

[greekfish101]

08:31 AM on 01/05/2012

Don't forget Linux!

[iamwired]

09:47 AM on 01/05/2012

Will SOPA prevent me from downloading it?

[jsgaetano]

07:01 AM on 01/06/2012

We're trying to.

[Alexander FestivalHalle]

07:11 PM on 01/04/2012

Wow - are we still just copying out the press releases?! This entire article is based on a "news site" or "new site"? In either case it's appalling journalism...

[Vampy1]

07:25 PM on 01/04/2012

link it, or it didn't happen....also don't shoot the messenger, someone had to say it. just back up ur claim, i want to read it. maybe there is more tech news :)

[Jarhead Vet]

06:46 PM on 01/04/2012

A lot of people pointing out that 2.3 million dollars isn't that much.

Bioware and LucasArts just dumped somewhere between 135 and 300 million on their new Star Wars game!

They invested more in voice acting for this game in a single month than your whole damn budget start to finish.

Tell me again how technologically advanced and amazing your super virus is? I'll wait...

Honestly... Tech is moving so fast now that this thing was out of date before we even started talking about it.

[Vampy1]

07:26 PM on 01/04/2012

Code needs no stinking money...

[dsync]

02:54 AM on 01/05/2012

Just remember part of that 300 million dollars goes to paying their pot bills from all those years when they were supposed to have been working on neverwinter nights ;p

[dpcemker]

06:46 PM on 01/04/2012

O still say that kidnapping the hackers, sending me to Gitmo, beat them up for a few month than put them to work for us is a better way.

[eric14]

09:02 PM on 01/04/2012

Tell them it's a virtual reality experiment.

[iamwired]

09:37 AM on 01/05/2012

They will all get their onw "hack" saws..... ok corny I know.

[somnus00]

06:38 PM on 01/04/2012

They really want to make SkyNet a reality? Didn't they watch the Terminator movies?

[Dnietz]

07:10 PM on 01/04/2012

Lack of vision and ethics/selfishness is a common problem in humanity, throughout all of our history.