explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1247: The Mother of All Suspicious Files

2013-08-05T23:09:25Z

Daemonf: Formatting

LNK and ZDA...Link and Zelda? [[Special:Contributions/76.64.65.200|76.64.65.200]] 13:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

http://www.ip-tracker.org/locator/ip-lookup.php?ip=65.222.202.53, some place in the USA. Looks random, but still...

The IP address 65.222.202.53 geolocates to a Starbucks just outside the beltway in Washington. DC.

Someone mentioned you see the word Hackers as well as a pirated movie... In fact the pirated movie is the 1995 movie named Hackers. Edited it to make the reference clear.{{unsigned|Sonofaresiii}}

I am missing DMG or other "Mac" suspect executable{{unsigned|145.64.134.242}}

WRBT.OBJ.O.H WhiteRabbit.obj from Jurassic Park. Not sure about the O.H [[User:Andym|Andym]] ([[User talk:Andym|talk]]) 14:56, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Fixed .O.H - these are file extensions with C compilers and C headers, respectively.[[User:blackhatm|BlackHatm]]

.tar.gz stands for tarred and gzipped (archive) files; here .co. was introduced to make it look like a domain name
.obj can also be a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relocatable_Object_Module_Format
cia-bin is a play on cgi-bin Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 15:06, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

After the reference to the FBI in the (currently) final paragraph I was thinking of adding something like the following:
:This would also 'explain' the initial directory structure of "/PUB/CIA-BIN/ETC", something like an FTP /pub/ directory for publicly open files, and conflating the CIA with /cgi-bin/ as a somewhat common location for {{w|Common Gateway Interface|dynamic web-pages}}, then /etc/ which is another Linux/Unix directory reference, strangely stored underneath a doubley-referenced 'tilde' directory, what with ~foo as the root directory generally redirecting to the home directory for user "foo". These are all usually lower-case (and case-sensitive), but if the INIT.DLL has anthing to do with it it might mean it's an uppercase-dominated and yet actually case-insensitive Windows-based system, with that Windows Dynamically Linked Library as a dynamic responder.
...but I've rushed that and it looks messy/may have errors in it, so feel free to clean it up if it inspires you. Or not... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.215.19|178.98.215.19]] 16:34, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

I think [SCR] actually refers to a screener.{{unsigned|83.160.118.125}}

> Agreed. The capitalization and brackets are the standard formatting in pirated movie titles, and before a movie release, Screeners (much better quality than theater cams) are excellent bait on fake downloads. Updated in the wiki. [[User:Daemonf|Daemonf]] ([[User talk:Daemonf|talk]]) 23:09, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Of course, if the user is on Windows, the only extension that matters is the last one which is ".exe" - an executable. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 16:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Talk:1247: The Mother of All Suspicious Files

2013-08-05T23:08:24Z

Daemonf:

LNK and ZDA...Link and Zelda? [[Special:Contributions/76.64.65.200|76.64.65.200]] 13:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

http://www.ip-tracker.org/locator/ip-lookup.php?ip=65.222.202.53, some place in the USA. Looks random, but still...

The IP address 65.222.202.53 geolocates to a Starbucks just outside the beltway in Washington. DC.

Someone mentioned you see the word Hackers as well as a pirated movie... In fact the pirated movie is the 1995 movie named Hackers. Edited it to make the reference clear.{{unsigned|Sonofaresiii}}

I am missing DMG or other "Mac" suspect executable{{unsigned|145.64.134.242}}

WRBT.OBJ.O.H WhiteRabbit.obj from Jurassic Park. Not sure about the O.H [[User:Andym|Andym]] ([[User talk:Andym|talk]]) 14:56, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

Fixed .O.H - these are file extensions with C compilers and C headers, respectively.[[User:blackhatm|BlackHatm]]

.tar.gz stands for tarred and gzipped (archive) files; here .co. was introduced to make it look like a domain name
.obj can also be a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relocatable_Object_Module_Format
cia-bin is a play on cgi-bin Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/178.26.118.249|178.26.118.249]] 15:06, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

After the reference to the FBI in the (currently) final paragraph I was thinking of adding something like the following:
:This would also 'explain' the initial directory structure of "/PUB/CIA-BIN/ETC", something like an FTP /pub/ directory for publicly open files, and conflating the CIA with /cgi-bin/ as a somewhat common location for {{w|Common Gateway Interface|dynamic web-pages}}, then /etc/ which is another Linux/Unix directory reference, strangely stored underneath a doubley-referenced 'tilde' directory, what with ~foo as the root directory generally redirecting to the home directory for user "foo". These are all usually lower-case (and case-sensitive), but if the INIT.DLL has anthing to do with it it might mean it's an uppercase-dominated and yet actually case-insensitive Windows-based system, with that Windows Dynamically Linked Library as a dynamic responder.
...but I've rushed that and it looks messy/may have errors in it, so feel free to clean it up if it inspires you. Or not... [[Special:Contributions/178.98.215.19|178.98.215.19]] 16:34, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

I think [SCR] actually refers to a screener.{{unsigned|83.160.118.125}}
> Agreed. The capitalization and brackets are the standard formatting in pirated movie titles, and before a movie release, Screeners (much better quality than theater cams) are excellent bait on fake downloads. Updated in the wiki.

Of course, if the user is on Windows, the only extension that matters is the last one which is ".exe" - an executable. [[User:Hax|Hax]] ([[User talk:Hax|talk]]) 16:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

1247: The Mother of All Suspicious Files

2013-08-05T23:03:56Z

Daemonf: Due to the brackets and capitalization, it is much more likely that [SCR] refers to a pirated screener dvd than a windows screensaver.

{{comic
| number = 1247
| date = August 5, 2013
| title = The Mother of All Suspicious Files
| image = the_mother_of_all_suspicious_files.png
| titletext = Better change the URL to 'https' before downloading.
}}

==Explanation==
The save dialogue shows a download from [http://www.utrace.de/?query=65.222.202.53 65.222.202.53] with a very long file title. Many of the extensions used inside there indicate executable code. You also see common download syntax for a pirated movie, {{w|Hackers (film)|Hackers}}, likely included to appear malicious to anyone skimming but is actually a movie about hackers, making it a benign reference rather than malicious.

The {{w|URL}} contains the path "~tilde/pub/cia-bin/etc". The first part is a public folder of an user named tilde, "cgi-bin" is a common folder on a Web-Server for server side executables ([[Randall]] jokes with the name), and "etc" is a standard folder for configuration files. The program "init.dll" isn't executable at all, it's a {{w|Windows Dynamic Link Library}} which can't be run standalone. The question mark indicates the start of a parameter list, in this case we have only one named "FILE".

The "Save" button is disabled, you still only can click the "Cancel" button. Maybe this will be different on a secure https connection.

The content of the parameter is shown here:
* {{w|AUTOEXEC.BAT}} - a file which is automatically run during startup on Windows/DOS operating systems.
* MY%20OSX%20DOCUMENTS - referencing the {{w|OSX}} operating system ({{w|URL_encoding#Character_data|%20}} is a representation of a space in a URL, i.e. it reads as "MY OSX DOCUMENTS").
* INSTALL.EXE - a typical {{w|Installer#Installer|installer}}
* {{w|RAR}} - a compressed archive file type
* {{w|INI_file|INI}} - a configuration file type
* {{w|Tar_(computing)|TAR}} - a file archive popular in UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. TAR has been mentioned [[1168:_tar|before]].
* DOÇX - {{w|docx}} is an Office Open XML file, i.e. a word processing format used by Microsoft Word 2007 and above, but has no cedilla (¸)
* PHPHPHP - a play on {{w|PHP}} files, a kind of server-based web page file type. PHP is a recursive abbreviation ("PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor")
* {{w|XHTML}} - another web page file type
* TML - stands for Transducer Markup Language, an XML based markup language that specifies how to capture, time-tag and describe sensor data
* XTL - another play on {{w|XHTML}}?
* TXXT - a play on {{w|Text_file|TXT}} file types
* 0DAY - a reference to a {{w|zero-day exploit}}
* HACK.ERS_(1995)_BLURAY_CAM-XVID - a reference to the 1995 Hackers movie, but pirated movies would either be a BlurayRIP/DVDRIP or CAM, but not both at the same time unless you used a camera to recored the Blueray movie as it played?
* {{w|EXE}} - an executable file type used by Microsoft Windows
* [SCR] - a tag used by movie pirates to denote a 'Screener', the DVD copy of films given to critics prior to theater relase. Usually the highest quality available at this time, rare, and therefor good bait for a virus laden download
* {{w|Lisp (programming language)|LISP}} - programming language
* {{w|Windows_Installer|MSI}} - an installation file used by Microsoft Installer
* {{w|.lnk|LNK}} - an extension used by Microsoft Windows for shortcuts. The extension is normally hidden to the user.
* LNK, ZDA, GNN - references to {{w|Link_(The_Legend_of_Zelda)|Link}}, {{w|Princess_Zelda|Zelda}}, and {{w|Ganon|Ganon}}, important characters from {{w|The_Legend_of_Zelda|The Legend of Zelda}} video game franchise
* {{w|White_Rabbit#Television_and_films|WRBT OBJ}} - A reference to the line of code Dennis Nedry used in {{w|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}} to shut down key systems
* {{w|Object_file|O}} - The extension for a linker file, an intermediary created when compiling C code.
* {{w|Header_file|H}} - The file extension of a header file in C code.
* {{w|SWF}} - Shockwave Flash file type
* {{w|Dpkg|DPKG}} - The Debian package management, although the package files use the file suffix ".deb"
* APP - an application on Mac OS X operating system
* {{w|ZIP_%28file_format%29|ZIP}} - compressed archive file type
* CO - looks like a {{w|List_of_Internet_top-level_domains|top-level domain}}. Many countries use .co.''tld'' in front of their main TLD, e.g. ''.co.uk''. ''.co.gz'' doesn't exist.
* {{w|Gzip|GZ}} - a compressed file using GNU zip
* {{w|A.out|A.OUT}} - Default filename when creating an executable on Linux or other UNIX-like operating systems if none was specified for the compiler.

The title text suggests changing from http to https, as if encrypting a suspicious file before downloading it is somehow better than downloading it unencrypted. http (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and https (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol - Secure) are the two common protocols for getting web pages and web downloads. http is the simple download, whereas https adds an SSL encryption layer so the item being downloaded cannot be viewed unencrypted by anyone except the end recipient. Changing "http" to "https" is a common suggestion to improve security when browsing the web from an insecure network (such as a public wifi hotspot) to avoid surveillance or hijacking to a malicious website; Google automatically switches to https for all mail accounts and is starting to do so with searches. The end recipient will still get whatever nasties were in the original, however - encrypting it doesn't change the content at all.

The IP address referenced in the comic, 65.222.202.53, is currently being used by the shellcode of a Javascript 0-day exploit for the Tor Browser Bundle being run by the FBI to phone home over the clearnet and de-anonymize visitors to websites on Freedom Hosting that are serving child pornography. [http://www.reddit.com/r/onions/comments/1jmrta/founder_of_the_freedom_hosting_arrested_held/]

==Transcript==
:[A save dialogue popup with an alert sign.]
:Warning!
:This type of file can harm your computer! Are your sure you want to download: <nowiki>http://65.222.202.53/~TILDE/PUB/CIA-BIN/ETC/INIT.DLL?FILE=__AUTOEXEC.BAT.MY%20OSX%20DOCUMENTS-INSTALL.EXE.RAR.INI.TAR.DOÇX.PHPHPHP.XHTML.TML.XTL.TXXT.0DAY.HACK.ERS_(1995)_BLURAY_CAM-XVID.EXE.TAR.[SCR].LISP.MSI.LNK.ZDA.GNN.WRBT.OBJ.O.H.SWF.DPKG.APP.ZIP.TAR.TAR.CO.GZ.A.OUT.EXE</nowiki>

:[Two buttons:]
:Cancel Save

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Computers]]