Logic bombs defined: Definition, examples, prevention

What does a logic bomb assault do?

Because the Stuxnet instance demonstrates, a logic bomb assault will get its identify as a result of the malicious code prompts when some logical situation, or set off, is happy: It may be defined as an if-then assertion. There are two kinds a logic bomb’s set off can take: optimistic or detrimental. A optimistic set off goes off if one thing occurs, whereas a detrimental set off goes off if one thing failsto occur. Stuxnet is a optimistic set off: The worm analyzes the underlying {hardware} and if it matches the system it was designed to assault, it spins any connected uranium centrifuges quick sufficient to destroy them. There are different, considerably extra pedestrian sorts of optimistic triggers as properly: A logic bomb could go off if somebody makes an attempt to open a specified file, for example, or copy knowledge from one listing to a different.

A detrimental set off is greatest undersood by way of the type of insider threats we famous as a typical use case for a logic bomb. As an example, a disgruntled worker, suspecting they’re about to be fired, could plant a logic bomb on the corporate servers that may erase worthwhile company knowledge at 10 a.m. except its creator intervenes. So long as the worker maintains entry to the system, they’ll cease the bomb from going off, which can give them leverage within the dispute with their employer — or no less than go away them happy that their firing shall be adopted by chaos as soon as they’re gone.

The precise conduct of a logic bomb can vary extensively. In the case of the insider threats that make up a lot of the logic bomb panorama, a couple of sorts of assault are notably frequent, together with file or onerous drive deletions, both as a ransom risk or act of revenge, or knowledge exfiltration, as a part of a plan to make use of privileged info in future employment.