Network Security & Hardware - eWeek

Network Security & Hardware: Symantec Showcases Digital Malware Snapshots for 2009 RSA Conference


Ever try to draw a picture of malware?

eWEEK never has, but artists Alex Dragulescu and Julian Hodgson both have. Using digital imagery, the duo has crafted a showcase of art depicting three-dimensional images of virus code. The pictures will be displayed at an art show hosted April 22 by Symantec as part of this year's RSA conference in San Francisco.

To bring the malware to life, the artists used a special application to analyze virus code that uses the code's values to create a 3D image. From there, the image is transferred to modeling software, where it is positioned and lit to best capture the aesthetics of the model. The final image is then rendered for presentation.

There will be a total of 20 pictures on display, including six new additions to the threat art collection as well as a new visual synopsis collection depicting the services of Symantec's MessageLabs. Here is a sneak peek at some of the sights visitors can expect. (All photos courtesy of MessageLabs, now part of Symantec.)
 
  • Symantec Showcases Digital Malware Snapshots for 2009 RSA Conference
    by Brian Prince
  • Sexdating1
    Text/HTML spam started in late 2007 and promoted "adult dating" or "extreme dating"' Websites. The content of the spam, and the Website that it links to, is typically sexually explicit.
  • Phishing1
    This image depicts a phishing attack, still among the banes of e-mail users. According to MessageLabs' latest threat report, one in every 284.6 e-mails last month constituted a phishing attack.
  • Huigezi Trojan
    Huigezi is a targeted Trojan dropped via PDF exploit that spied on audio and video communications most commonly used for industrial espionage.
  • Cutwail
    An installer Trojan. Cutwail is currently one of the world's largest botnets, controlling more than 1 million zombie computers.
  • Archiving Solution
    This is a depiction of 24 hours of typical usage of MessageLabs' Archiving retrieval, search and recovery tools. The layered sphere shows the most recent archived e-mails stored near the surface (blue) and older e-mails toward the core (red). The attachment size determines the volume and shape of the three-dimensional form.
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