Logic bomb

A logic bomb is a piece of code intentionally inserted into a computer program that remains hidden until one or more pre-programmed conditions are met, at which point a malicious action is executed. For example, a programmer can hide a piece of code that starts deleting files when fired from the company (in a database trigger, i.e. a trigger; that fires on changing the programmer's active worker status)..

Software that is inherently malicious, such as computer viruses or worms, often contains logic bombs that execute some program at a predefined time or when a certain condition is met. This technique can be used by a virus or worm to gain momentum and to spread before being noticed. Many viruses attack their host systems on specific dates, such as Friday the 13th, April Fools' Day (April 1) or April Fool's Day (December 28). Trojans that are activated on certain dates are often called “time bombs”.

To be considered a logic bomb, the action executed must be unwanted and unknown to the user of the software. For example, demo programs, which disable certain functionality after a set time, are not considered logic bombs.

Some examples of actions that a logic bomb can perform

• Delete hard drive information
• Show a message
• Play a song
• Send an email
• Turn off the monitor
• Open your CD Holder
• Excessive consumption of system resources.
• Rapid destruction of as many files as possible.
• Dissemination of a file from time to time to remain invisible as long as possible.
• Attack on system security (implementation of access rights and sending the password file to an Internet address, etc.)
• Use of the computer terrorism machine as a DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service)

Logic bomb successful

• It has been reported that in 1982 the incident of the transiberian pipeline occurred due to a logical bomb or collapsed time. A KGB operation said it stole the plans for a sophisticated control system and its software from a Canadian firm for use in its Siberian pipeline. The CIA was allegedly notified by documents at the Farewell Dossier and made the company insert a logical bomb into the program for sabotage purposes. This eventually resulted in “the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and the first fire ever seen from space”. Since then it has been reported that this initial report was a joke of the April Fools' Day.

Logic bomb attempts

• On October 2, 2003 Yung-Hsun Lin, also known as Andy Lin, changed a code on a Medco Health Solutions Inc. server, the headquarters at Fair Lawn New Jersey, where he was employed as Unix administrator, creating a set of logical bombs to activate on his birthday in 2004. It failed to work because of a programming error, so Lin corrected the error and reset it to activate on her next birthday, but it was discovered and disabled by a Medco computer system administrator a few months before the shooter's date. Lin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in a federal prison in addition to 81 200 US dollars in restitution. The charges held a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $20,000.
• In June 2006, Rogelio Duronio, an angry UBS system administrator, was charged with using a logical bomb to damage the company's computer network by adding the securities title fraud for his failed plan to overthrow the company's stock with the activation of the logical bomb. Duronio was subsequently sentenced and sentenced to 8 years and 1 month in prison, as well as a $3.1 million restitution to UBS.
• On October 29, 2008, a logical bomb was discovered in the American mortgage giant Fannie Mae. The bomb was allegedly planted by Rajendrasinh Makwana, an Indian citizen and IT contractor who worked at the Fannie Mae factory in Urbana (Maryland). The bomb was adjusted to activate on 31 January 2009 and could have erased all 4000 Fannie Mae servers. Makwana had finished around 1:00 p.m. on October 24, 2008 and managed to plant the bomb before its network access was revoked. Makwana was prosecuted in a Maryland court on 27 January 2009 for unauthorised access to the computer.
• In 2019 a programmer was convicted of programming logical bombs in Siemens software to make sure they regularly called him to fix the software he had developed.

Dummy Logic Bombs

• In the "Fantasma de Moffett", an episode of the television series AirwolfHawk loses control of the onboard computer, which was programmed with a time counter by the Airwolf helicopter creator, Dr. Charles Henry Moffet... that once activated, the Airwolf is adjusted to destroy any aircraft in its range.
• In the book Jurassic Park (from Michael Crichton), computer technician Dennis Nedry inserted an object in the encoding of the central unit of the park that would turn off the energy of the entire island (including the source of the electric fences) to steal several dinosaur embryos during the chaos. The object of the logical bomb was named "white rabbit".
• The book Honourable debt (from Tom Clancy) shows a logical pump installed in the code of several stock market computers.
• Stanley Jobson—Hugh Jackman's character in the movie Operation Swordfish"He exposes that he "did a logical bomb through the hatch" while he is hacking within the U.S. Department of Defense network.
• In the 2004 Battlestar Galactica (Reimagined) episode "Dispersos" (Scattered), the Cylons leave a logical bomb on the ship's computers after gaining access to them briefly. This later causes a series of almost catastrophic system malfunctions.
• At the CIA level Splinter Cell Tom Clancy, you can hear a conversation about a logical bomb.
• In the strategy game for PC, Empire Earth, the Japanese special unit, the Cyber Ninja, has an attack called "Bomb Logic." This leads little likeness to a true logical bomb, instead it simply disables an enemy building for a brief period.
• In season 3 of the 24th television series, Nina Myers manipulates Jack Bauer to activate without realizing a virus in CTU computer systems. It's activated by a phone call to a certain number.
• In episode 8 of Season 3 of La Reina del Sur, the Yalta organization planted a logical bomb inside the U.S. defense network to deactivate all U.S.-controlled satellites. It is activated by the entry of a code into a game that causes the logical bomb to catch a virus to all satellites and deactivate them.
• In episode 2 of season 6 NCISAbby Sciuto and McGee have a logic conversation that gives you the idea of using a logical bomb to hack into computers in a U.S. naval carrier to access certain files. On the screen the details of the bomb are not seen or discussed in itself.