Chapter 646 Logic Bomb Incident

News came from the capital that there was something wrong with the software division under the Fans Club.

A programmer from the Fans Company was bored and because of the recent severe piracy of the Perak Beibei anti-virus software. When he saw Microsoft's heavy-handed approach to rights protection, he was inspired and wrote a logic. The bomb was conveniently loaded into the beta version of Perak Beibei anti-virus software.

This beta version of the software is released to netizens free of charge through an online download link to solicit opinions on use for later improvements in order to launch the official version.

The problem is that every time Club S launches a new anti-virus software version, it will be immediately obtained by several competitors, and then cracked and analyzed to find their leading advantages, and then used as an important reference for their own anti-virus software improvements. .

This time, software staff from several companies discovered that the beta version of the S Club software was actually loaded with a logic bomb!

Regarding the use of logic bombs, in fact, anti-virus software companies have a history of doing so.

In mid-1997, five computer anti-virus manufacturers, including Xinyuan, Rising, and Jingwei, held a joint press conference in Beijing, claiming that the anti-virus software launched by Jiangmin New Technology Co., Ltd. contained a logic bomb, that is, under certain conditions Downloading this software will damage the user's computer system, causing data loss, inability to boot, etc.

As soon as the news was released, it immediately caused an uproar in the society. After the final appraisal, the Beijing Computer Security Supervision Department determined that Jiangmin Company violated the Computer Information System Security Protection Regulations and intentionally entered harmful data, endangering the security of the information system, and Jiangmin Company was punished in accordance with the law. Jiangmin Company's excessive defensive measures have also led many software manufacturers to choose legal and rational ways to combat piracy.

The crisis faced by S Club this time was exactly the same as that of Jiangmin Company at that time.

A logic bomb in a computer refers to a computer program that performs destruction when specific logical conditions are met. When the program is triggered, the computer data is lost, the computer cannot boot from the hard disk or floppy disk, or even paralyzes the entire system and causes physical damage. False phenomenon.

The symptoms of a logic bomb are similar to those of certain viruses, and will cause associated disasters to society. Compared with viruses, it emphasizes the destruction itself, and the program that carries out the destruction is not contagious.

In the words of Jiangmin Company at that time, the reason for the use of logic bombs was that for several months, a self-proclaimed independent Internet website poison island forum ignored the international standards for protecting intellectual property rights and competed against the world. The public downloading of decryption tools for major domestic anti-virus software, including kV300, has revived piracy activities that were once restrained.

In order to stop the spread of piracy, Jiangmin Company did not hesitate to fight with its meager strength.

Since the Busudao Forum was established as a free domain name on the Internet through the server of a company in the United States, and then automatically connected to the free homepages of two other companies through this domain name, the issues involved are relatively complicated.

The practice of providing pirated tools on the Dudao Forum does violate Chinese laws or international treaties to which China has signed commitments. However, judging from the objective effects of Jiangmin Company’s behavior in this case, Jiangmin Company has not been able to pursue the island owner and the producers and disseminators of pirated tools. Instead, the users of pirated tools were held accountable. Doing so may harm end users among pirate tool users, and may also harm dealers among pirate tool users who further produce pirated software.

Under China's national conditions, if end users who use pirated software are targeted for attacks, software manufacturers need to be cautious. Let’s not talk about whether software manufacturers can act as law enforcers on their own. Software manufacturers whose interests have been infringed can take self-protection measures, but they cannot play the role of law enforcers.

At that time, one of the debates about Jiangmin Company's installation of a logic bomb was whether Jiangmin Company's behavior was setting up a logic bomb?

At that time, Jiangmin Company also explained why it set up a logic bomb, saying that it had added a "logic lock" program with highly intelligent logical judgment to the kV300. When a pirate uses the decryption key provided by the Busudao Forum to copy the pirated disk and runs it on a computer, the strict logic judgment program with "logic lock" can accurately identify the pirated disk, start it immediately, and lock the program. The pirated computer hard drive forced the computer to stop working and the hard drive data was temporarily unusable.

Therefore, Jiangmin Company believes that this "logic lock" with highly intelligent logical judgment conditions will not destroy hard disk data. Pirate users only need to admit their piracy to the headquarters of Jiangmin New Technology Co., Ltd. and register with the relevant departments through Jiangmin Company. Registration will help track down piracy dens, and you will be able to obtain unlocking conditions and resume hard drive work.

At that time, Jiangmin Company also proposed the concepts of "active logic lock" and "passive logic lock". An "active logic lock" is placed in the software, and after the software is stolen by a "thief", once the "thief" uses the software, the "active logic lock" immediately locks the memory of the computer, just like the "thief" is stolen by the "thief". Locked in the house, only the copyright owner can unlock it with a "key." If the "thief" cares about face, he can only destroy the "door" to unlock it.

But this has caused great indignation among many users who take the use of pirated software for granted. Some people have suggested that there is no problem with installing anti-theft doors in every household. However, if someone electrifies the anti-theft door, or if the residents on the lower floors install anti-theft electric grids on the walls of their own courtyards, serious problems will arise.

First, the installer of the electrified anti-theft door or the installer of the electric grid on the wall has no right to carry out such behavior that may endanger public safety. Second, innocent people may be harmed. Third, even if it is a thief, if he is electrocuted to death, on the one hand, the thief does not deserve death, and on the other hand, the "installer" himself has no right to replace the law enforcement agency to enforce the law. Fourth, taking a step back, even if the person who was electrocuted to death is indeed "guilty of death" according to the law, the installer has no right to lynch him, which is the minimum requirement of a legal society.

Therefore, as the installer of the logic bomb, the legal responsibility that Jiangmin Company should bear is obvious.

The reason why there are disputes and differences among relevant circles in China in understanding the logic bomb case of Jiangmin Company is how to understand the conflict between social public order and the interests of copyright owners, and how to deal with the conflict between the two.

Generally speaking, the basic function of copyright law is to maintain a balance between the rights of authors and other copyright holders and the interests of the general public, especially education, research and access to information.

A society should maintain normal public order, which is an important part of the public interest and the minimum condition for the healthy development of the country and the people to live and work in peace and contentment. Compared with the copyright rights of a certain person or a certain unit, the social public order is a public interest and the latter is a private interest. The question is not whether to protect private interests, but that the effect of protecting private interests should not and is not allowed to harm public interests.

Assuming that the software copyright owner learns from Jiangmin Company's practice and sets logic bombs in his own software in order to protect his copyright, then what basic security can the computer information system have? What normal public order can society have? What normal social management order can the country have?

This time, the programmer of the S Club was discovered by several anti-virus software companies because he added logic bombs in the beta version, which immediately caused a lot of discussion in the society. Several companies filed a lawsuit, saying that the S Club installed logic bombs in the beta version of the software, which posed a great threat to public information security.

Fan Ting has been very troubled by this matter recently, so she asked Fan Wubing how to resolve this matter?

Fan Wubing was also scratching his head after hearing this, but it was obvious that this matter would not make a fuss. At most, it would just let a few companies hype it up. He still had to do what he should do, but he certainly could not install logic bombs in the software.

"Where is the programmer now? I should ask about the specific situation before making a decision." After thinking about it, Fan Wubing felt that the person who tied the bell should be the one to untie it. It would be difficult to deal with it without first-hand information.

"He is an employee of our company abroad and now lives in Malaysia. That part of the program was transmitted through the Internet, and then the programmers on the company's side linked it according to the module." Fan Ting explained to Fan Wubing.

"Oh, he is abroad--" Fan Wubing patted his head, and suddenly a light bulb flashed, and he immediately had an idea, "Ha, I have a way to do this!"

"There is a way so quickly?" Fan Ting was immediately very surprised, thinking that Fan Wubing's brain is too useful, right?

This incident has a greater impact on the Fans Club. As for the economic compensation, it can be ignored. According to the current domestic laws, the most it can do is to fine a few thousand yuan, which is not a big deal. The biggest problem is the damage to the reputation, which is the most critical.

The S Club has not had such a disgusting thing for so many years. It was caught by the competitor and appealed to the court. This is the most embarrassing thing. If it wins, it doesn’t matter. If it loses and has to be fined, it will be a shame.

At least everyone will use this incident as a negative example. When they see their friends, they can’t help but say, look, even the S Club is unreliable, it’s a logic bomb! In the future, everyone should use some foreign antivirus software, at least they are more professional!

Whether it is for Fan Ting or Fan Wubing, this kind of thing cannot happen anyway!