The Hacker Project - a free online game

so, i was brousing wikipedia, and i came upon this type of program, a fork bomb. as i thought about it, i formulated this idea: how about a "malware fork bomb". the bomb, like any other malware, first sits, "collecting data about host system", then when fired, creates 1 more process. this process would be a duplicate fork bomb. 
P.S. i wrote this just before going t
o bed, so if the idea has holes, that's why.
P.P.S. fixed holes.
read below for more details

If I understand correctly:


This virus, when installed, would start ticking.

After a given amount of time, based perhaps on version, you could activate it. Activating it would add more tasks from the same file, eating up more resources.

And each of those tasks could be activated later, to further eat up resources.

Killing the original file would wipe out all of the processes.




Perhaps as an additional rub, you could activate it while bouncing THROUGH the server it is installed on to another server, and add a task to the server you are connected to. And the only way to get rid of it is to find the original virus and AV it. If this were to happen, changing IP would kill all the associated tasks on all remote servers.

yes, the first part is correct, and i like the second part, too! i hope this gets implemented!
also, the first one could be activated repetedly.
also, the others would be installed immediately, and start ticking
yes, the others would be "subprocesses", and killing one would kill all of it's subprocesses.
also, any of them could be killed
however, by "killing", i meant disinfecting

for an example, look at this tree:
(each level represents 1 hour, these are all v0.1)
[brackets represent all processes running]
start install a [a install]
complete install a [a]
a BOMB!(b) [a, b]
a BOMB!(c) b BOMB!(d) [a, b, c, d]
a BOMB!(e) b BOMB!(f) c BOMB!(g) d BOMB!(h) start b disinfect [a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, b disinfect]
b disinfected, all subprocesses cleared, a BOMB!(i) b BOMB!(neutralized due to disinfect) c BOMB!(j) d BOMB!(neutralized due to disinfect) e BOMB!(k) f BOMB!(neutralized due to disinfect) g BOMB!(l) h BOMB!(neutralized due to disinfect)  [a, c, e, g, i, j, k, l]
etc...
make sense?
yes, you could activate it like that,  but it would still be able to be removed by disinfecting it, or by disinfecting the processes above it.
yes, an ip change would kill all remote subprocesses, but any remote subprocesses on the changing server would no longer be subprocesses, and could still be activated by the VC.
on that note, if you VC a subprocess, it remains a subprocess, and you also get control of all of its subprocesses
to determine the version of the new process, you would use the formula: version*hours run, and the minimum run time, in hours, by: 1/(version*10), which would create a version 0.1, the minimum. any more time increases the version, and thus the resources of the created subprocesses. however, to prevent abuse, all processes could be disinfected by an AV that could disinfect the first one, or, if their level is lower, by their corresponding malware AV. in other words, a v0.2 created from a v0.1 could be disinfected by a v0.1 AV, but, as another balancer, the AV time should be: v0.1 disinfect time*(level of process to be disinfected+sum of all levels of subprocesses).
also, a v0.1 made from a v0.2 could be disinfected by an AV v0.1.

any other ideas?
one last thing, (i forgot)
P.S. i know this is long.

Fork Bomb?  :confused:

what will the AV be called? A sp0on bomb  :16:

(P.S. sp0on is blocked)

:13:
(P.S. that was my first smiley)

Ive taken time enough to read this topic (my newly patched NWN Platinum straight after this!) and I support this idea. I just disagree with the name. I think something like Malware Cluster Bomb sounds better and more in touch with the other MWs.


That could become really heavy. Lets say someone planted that virii (v.1) on a public server (lets say TL). TL spawn disinfect missions as usual but this would cause extremely long AV times if the subprocesses reach the limit of the hardware.

This could be countered by letting the subprocesses affect the payment. This raises even more problems:
-Will the NPC change the payment after subprocesses spawn?
 *Will you have to take the mission again to gain the extra HPD?
 *Will the mission youve alreday taken change while you have it?
-Will the payment be static by letting the payment be based on the resources? (Not for a fully infected but only half infected gateway if so.)
 *How are we going to get rid of the virii on fully infected servers?
-Will the subprocesses spawn missions as well?
 *Will the original virii have extra chanse of spawning missions?
 *If not, how will the NPC know which is the original virii?

There is probably more questions about missions (which havent been mentioned before) but thats what I can come up with atm.

that is the true name of the program that does this action. all of the other programs have the names of their functions, and the function that creates this effect is "fork"
yes, i know.
-yes
? :21:
remote disinfect or format
yes
no, but each time the bomb goes off, the chance is run again on it(if there is not already a mission), as well as the new one.
i know this will cause many more disinfect missions!
why would the npc need to know?
obviously, the lowest # process is the original
i know, most new ideas need to be debugged.
p.s. i started a poll
p.p.sit is malware, so it would use the malware AV.
also, why is that word blocked?

I'm not too sure but if you do type it, it comes out as "sthingy" so that could be a slight hint  :19:

well we had never sthingyed before.....

*Will the mission youve alreday taken change while you have it?
=
Will the missions payment change while you have the mission?

-Will the payment be static by letting the payment be based on the resources? (Not for a fully infected but only half infected gateway if so.)
=
Will the payment only consider the virii or the resources which lets the virii achieve longer disinfect times?

*How are we going to get rid of the virii on fully infected [NPC] servers?
=
If previous question is answered yes; How will we get people to do the heavy missions with lillte payment?


Ps. Im writing that word now: sthingy

yes!
YES!
no, it will change.
the payment is: (payment for a v1 with no subprocesses)*(version of target+total version of subprocesses)
remote disinfect, it takes no resources on the server being disinfected
???????????????????????????????
why would i answer yes? it's not a question you could answer with a yes
P.S. sthingy
yes, the filter is odd.

You know, I was thinking about this and I decided. (I bet your thinking about what I decided on, the virus or sthingy)  :laugh:

Well, I think that on private servers that have been infected only 90% of the resources can be consumed by the virus that way people can still use the server to try and disinfect or make money if it is thier only server. :shifty:

ok, if it is their only server, disinfect minimum resources must be left.

The questions under the equal signs are clarifications of above questions. Could you reply to them again?

i repeat: payment is based on time.
remote disinfect takes no resources
mission payment will change while you have it, even while the disinfect is running, as a change in the suprocesses adds on/cuts off from the disinfect time while it is running.

I thought that the whole purpose of this virus is to just consume resources? I don't think it is supposed to make money......

yes, as malware, it is not ment to make money, only quickly consume resources, spread to other servers, and get really long disinfect times.

I don't think I would use it, I haven't yet used any malware......

i haven't, either, but that doesn't stop me from posting ideas.

This malware is the last possible form of malware. I think that reason is enough for it to be implemented. Its also a malware which does nonpermanent damage so its perfect for those who dont want to take the final step. Thats another reason this should be implemented.

i agree. it can cause massive annoyance in a short period of time, so it is the quickest malware, yet it does non-permanent damage, as a counterbalance. this could get very annoying. (48 hours= 48*creation version as new level(i.e. v0.1 for 48 hours(2 days)=v4.8!(48 times resources used)))
compare that with a version 0.1 logic/overload bomb! that is why is is undoable (albeit you have to wait awhile to undo, which by that time it could fork again!)

i am glad to see that this is in the list of suggestions
i was worried that it had died out permanently.

i have the code for a fork bomb   :)
in notepad type
save it as *.bat and run, and just watch...
another handful i found is:
(.bat)
(.sh)
(.bat)
or (.bat)
(.bat)
(.bat)
(.bat)
the last one i have not tested, don't know what the output is... i know a few more, but they are illegal so... no. sorry.

with all of these, you can see why i want to implement custom files (see: a few ideas, by me)

This will totally change the gameplay in Hacker Project and will be unfair towards people who are not able to work with this stuff.

Will make it even harder, as it already is, for the new players and to be honest also for the veteran players.

It would go well with his other games though. Your just a bunch of floating metal in Space Odyssey till someone teaches you how to build a ship... But if custom virus were ever implemented you should have a market where people can buy other peoples viril and whoever made it gets the money... *Edit* And also chooses the price to sell it for...

and if custom files are implemented, it encourages other players to learn computer programming, and thus allows them to get better off in RL

Or, there could just be a guide that shows you the simple things in game...

Man, was this thread derailed!

Wow. This came up after 2 1/2 months of slumber? Have you guys set a record on these forums?
Serious case of necroing but I can live with that because this is a very good suggestion.