PocketMatrix

I've recently became interested in writing viruses. I know most viruses are coded in assembler so if one was to make a Pocket PC virus, it would have to be processor specific. Either that, or it would have to be able polymorph itself to each processor. Now I'm not talking about a harmfull Pocket PC virus, that would be illegal.

I'm talking about a virus that would do something harmless (although annoying) like diplaying a banner and playing a sound whenever you opened an .exe file. Somehow it would have to be able to copy and hide itself on a storage card or get into flash rom, so when the user hard reset their device, it would not be deleted. The reason why I'm interested in a PPC virus, is because their seems to be none.

It amazes me that no one has made a PPC or general Windows CE virus. Oh, and don't worry if I do decide to make a PPC virus, I will keep it contained on a PC and Pocket PC with no access to the internet. What are all your thoughts on this?

As a didactic activity, I have no problem with people programming virii - they can teach you a lot about low level stuff.

The main thing with a PPC virus is that it can't really spread itself, other than on the device. You could get it to send people infected exes, but how many people would actually have a PPC device and run it? It would be pointless "releasing" a virus at this stage in the PPC market (if somebody was that way inclined) - it simply wouldn't spread.

I'm sure you could get it to bury itself into flash ROM, but that would take a good deal of knowledge about the *individual* ROMS, and about how the ROM is processed on boot-up.

Hiding in every EXE you can find would probably be more effective, as you'll inevitably hit a CF card or similar. Again, though, you need *detailed* information about the format of EXE files, and how they're processed on execution (incidentally, if anybody finds that sort of information, please let me know).

I assume the 'Forgotten Files' website put up by TechMage is just a way of infecting our PocketPC's with his new 'hobby' ???

I for one won't be risking any downloads.

My opinions on people who write viruses are too strong to repeat here. Do something worthwhile for Pete's sake.

I have a problem with the idiots who *release* virii. Programming one, however, is an interesting activity.

heh, haven't had a serious virus since 1987 or so, these days you only get lame virusses created by scriptkiddies or hoax virus emails saying you should delete some important file from your harddisk.
We really need some good virii, just for old times sake