>> ^longde:

Well, I would say this is more engineering than science. But if it was really feasible it would have great applications. You could embed triggers in popular photoscapes, for example.

or better yet, embed malware that will destroy TSA porno-tron machines the moment they take a picture of you!

>> ^longde:

-Pretty sure embedding a fractal pattern on realistic bones would cost more than $1M
-Computers that combust at a critical temperature? Nope. They're made of balsa wood? Plus, a CPU would lock up at a critical temperature.
That said, props for a vivid imagination. I think its a cool concept.


But wouldn't you love to be the guy that just walks up and pulls out the plug, police squad style?

>> ^Drachen_Jager:

>> ^mxxcon:
>> ^Drachen_Jager:
No scanner would see a program in an image, realize it's an executable and execute the program all without the user's knowledge.
It's barely possible that you could transfer a workable program that way through fractals, and the people on the other end would have to spend weeks or months decoding the program before they could make it run IF they could figure out what it was in the first place.
pattern might be constructed in such a way that when scanned it can confuse any piece of software in the chain to cause a buffer overrun, at which point they could craft the following data to actually be executable and contain malware payload.
This is kinda what happened in a few instances of MP3-based viruses. MP3 file's metadata was malformed in such a way that it would crash the player and execute trojan payload that was embedded in that MP3 file.
Look up information about MP3Concept(MP3Virus.Gen)
There was another incident that involved MP3 file played in Winamp player. I can't find link about it now.
So while realistically unlikely, it's possible.

The main difference there being that the MP3 was a digital file which had been manipulated, not a sound recording. The file was corrupted in a very clever way. In the show the bone 'picture' was taken by the forensics team. They did not bring in a file the guy had created, they took a photograph. You can't insert corrupted data, because the data is coming from the camera they own.
you've never had a legitimate program crash while working with a legitimate file? this is when malware gets to do its stuff.

>> ^mxxcon:

>> ^Drachen_Jager:
No scanner would see a program in an image, realize it's an executable and execute the program all without the user's knowledge.
It's barely possible that you could transfer a workable program that way through fractals, and the people on the other end would have to spend weeks or months decoding the program before they could make it run IF they could figure out what it was in the first place.
pattern might be constructed in such a way that when scanned it can confuse any piece of software in the chain to cause a buffer overrun, at which point they could craft the following data to actually be executable and contain malware payload.
This is kinda what happened in a few instances of MP3-based viruses. MP3 file's metadata was malformed in such a way that it would crash the player and execute trojan payload that was embedded in that MP3 file.
Look up information about MP3Concept(MP3Virus.Gen)
There was another incident that involved MP3 file played in Winamp player. I can't find link about it now.
So while realistically unlikely, it's possible.


The main difference there being that the MP3 was a digital file which had been manipulated, not a sound recording. The file was corrupted in a very clever way. In the show the bone 'picture' was taken by the forensics team. They did not bring in a file the guy had created, they took a photograph. You can't insert corrupted data, because the data is coming from the camera they own.

>> ^Drachen_Jager:

No scanner would see a program in an image, realize it's an executable and execute the program all without the user's knowledge.
It's barely possible that you could transfer a workable program that way through fractals, and the people on the other end would have to spend weeks or months decoding the program before they could make it run IF they could figure out what it was in the first place.
pattern might be constructed in such a way that when scanned it can confuse any piece of software in the chain to cause a buffer overrun, at which point they could craft the following data to actually be executable and contain malware payload.

This is kinda what happened in a few instances of MP3-based viruses. MP3 file's metadata was malformed in such a way that it would crash the player and execute trojan payload that was embedded in that MP3 file.
Look up information about MP3Concept(MP3Virus.Gen)
There was another incident that involved MP3 file played in Winamp player. I can't find link about it now.

So while realistically unlikely, it's possible.

I don't know, Windows might manage it>> ^Drachen_Jager:

No scanner would see a program in an image, realize it's an executable and execute the program all without the user's knowledge.

DICOM doesn't allow execution of modalities. Bones has just called mutiny on the faleboat.

>> ^Sagemind:

It's like a QR code engraved in the bone. Scan it in and it links to a website, downloading the virus/malware.
It's a neat concept but they would have had to scan it knowing that it was there and scanned it with the right software, not just any scanner would understand and execute the command.

Your video, A new low for TV science: Malware Fractals in Bones, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I've burnt up a few computers - releasing the magic smoke, as they say. Computers tend to run quite hot, and even a few minutes with a faulty fan can do it, particularly in essential components with less heat-sink like the southbridge. But, like @swedishfriend said, there's no reason it should light on fire like that.
>> ^longde:

Interesting. I've heard of batteries combusting, and CPU packaging melting, but never heard of combustion of a CPU or its packaging. How would this happen? What material in the packaging would be susceptible to becoming inflamed?
Also, I know some CPUs have thermal sensors built in to "lock up" at a particular temperature (at least some Intel CPUs). Why wouldn't these kick in? >> ^swedishfriend:
CPUs do combust. It happens all the time. Don't know why there would be more than some smoke though as it wouldn't be surrounded by many materials that would fuel a fire like that. Reading malformed data may cause a system to malfunction which may leave it open for someone to attack it but as stated before there is no reason the data on its own would be executed as a program. Pretty dumb overall. Is this from a spoof type show, I didn't recognize it at all.

Interesting. I've heard of batteries combusting, and CPU packaging melting, but never heard of combustion of a CPU or its packaging. How would this happen? What material in the packaging would be susceptible to becoming inflamed?

Also, I know some CPUs have thermal sensors built in to "lock up" at a particular temperature (at least some Intel CPUs). Why wouldn't these kick in? >> ^swedishfriend:

CPUs do combust. It happens all the time. Don't know why there would be more than some smoke though as it wouldn't be surrounded by many materials that would fuel a fire like that. Reading malformed data may cause a system to malfunction which may leave it open for someone to attack it but as stated before there is no reason the data on its own would be executed as a program. Pretty dumb overall. Is this from a spoof type show, I didn't recognize it at all.

a new low

I did initially think so too, but on reflection it's not entirely true. I was even sure I had voted up one or two of his comments, but got to page 6 of that and didn't find one.

In reply to this comment by VoodooV:
QM sinks to new lows every day. Seriously, how is what he does not trolling/hijacking? He doesn't contribute AT ALL

QM sinks to new lows every day. Seriously, how is what he does not trolling/hijacking? He doesn't contribute AT ALL

Texas has open primaries. I've decided if I might actually get off my ass and vote for Paul this year, even though I think voting is completely pointless and stupid. But... I might feel like a vote for Paul is a way for me to register my dissatisfaction with the corporately owned toads on the rest of the ballot. I haven't decided.

i'm also making up a ton of campaign signs that say "nobody for president 2012". everyone should do the same. i want to see these fuckers everywhere.

btw, don't let the hype about perry fool you, everyone in texas FUCKING HATES HIM. he's the worst governor in history, and he's only in power because he is entirely funded bt big oil and gas and the evangelicals who've silently taken over all of our local elections in the last decade or so. seriously, i have no idea how he actually pulled off winning the R gubernatorial primary, other than voting is totally rigged. i do not know one single person who approves of him. luckily, the governor of texas doesn't actually have a whole lot of power. id say the primary is totally between him and romney. and id also say romney actually stands a chance against obama (because EVERYONE HATES rick perry). but then again, id also say it doesnt really matter who wins because theyre just 2 public faces of the same corporately owned and minted coin. theyre going to talk about how wonderful the economy in texas is! its kind of bullshit. we might have more jobs readily available than most states, but they're minimum wage jobs and rent (not property values, rental values) is skyrocketing because everyone is moving here rapidly. soooo you can't afford to rent an apartment with your fancy new low wage job so you have to come live on my couch for a while. we also have a regressive taxation system and a subsequent $27 billion budget gap, which we're making old people and poor people and young people pay for. oh and we have worse air quality than all the other 49 states AND puerto rico... AND we have the most uninsured people... and possibly one of the fastest growing drop out and teenage pregnancy rates... oooh and we teach our kids a batshit evangelical version of history, math and science. we also refuse to teach our kids about sex. so when they go off to college they have no idea how condoms work and think if you have unprotected sex you need to drink bleach afterwards.

also, all of the above horrible things i've said about texas..... all happened under consecutive bush-perry leadership.

everyone in texas mourns the death of ann richards on a daily basis. we're thinking of digging her corpse up and making it run for office next election.

My God Fox news reaches a new low every few weeks. This whole interview was absurd and a disgrace. The people that actually believe any of this shit are just as lost as the perpetrator that killed 90 plus people, just less fanatical, for now...