Logic bombs are programs or parts of programs that are inserted into legitimate software systems and will conduct a malicious action once preconditions are met. These preconditions could be a certain date, time, or action conducted by the end-user. Many times, computer viruses or computer worms will contain a logic bomb that will then deliver a malicious payload at a pre-determined time or set of circumstances. For example, Friday the 13th is a popular date for logic bombs to be set off as well as political dates and anniversaries. A Trojan Virus that is activated on a set date is considered to be a variant of a Logic Bomb…sometimes called a Time Bomb.
What Does Code Have to Have to be a Logic Bomb?
To be considered a logic bomb, the offending piece of software has to be unknown to the user of the computer not be desired in the program or code. A logic bomb could be made to wait until a remote hacker sends a network message to program telling it to do malicious actions on the end-user’s computer, or it could simply be set to read the system date and time of the infected computer and conduct its malicious actions once those pre-conditions are met. It can also be designed to activate when a computer database exceeds a pre-defined size or to go off if a computer user doesn’t log in to a system for a set amount of time. This is a popular variant of a logic bomb used by disgruntled computer developers who want to get back at the company that fires them. These types of logic bombs are dangerous and hard to defend against, because they go off when something does not happen. They don’t spread to other computers, but they will normally do greater damage than those designed to start on pre-conditions of action or time. Sometimes logic bombs are used to bribe a company into payment to prevent significant damage to their Information Technology resources.
How to Defend Against Logic Bombs
Professionally targeted logic bombs are very hard to defend against. They are normally personalized programming code inserted by a company insider and require other programmers to detect. Cloud computing-based computer defense systems show promise at being able to prove more effective at defense agaist this type of logic bomb in the future, but for now the most effect defense is relying on prudent management techniques of immediately removing employee access to computing systems that could be capable of planing logic bombs in the event of their dismissal. For the normal computer user, you are most at risk of computer spyware and malware that contain logic bombs as part of the malware. The best defense in this case is to keep your computer anti-virus program up to date and adhere to good computer security practices.
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