All I can say is he must be a really good programmer if he needed to deliberately install logic bombs to make his software malfunction after a period of time. I've got my hands full just making things work properly in the first place!
Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
21–30 of 156 posts
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#22I wonder why this is illegal but it's legal for hardware to deny service or even break stuff when they detect you're using something they don't like (I'm referring to printers, but I also remember a case where a microcontroller would try to brick something when it detected a counterfeit cable).
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#23Off topic but is does anyone else feel that the phrase “logic bomb” is too meaningless for the frequency with which it shows up in reporting these days? It makes it sound more sophisticated than it is. What’s wrong with calling it malware? Or even better, simply criminal behaviour that happens to involve a computer.
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#24Off topic but is does anyone else feel that the phrase “logic bomb” is too meaningless for the frequency with which it shows up in reporting these days? It makes it sound more sophisticated than it is. What’s wrong with calling it malware? Or even better, simply criminal behaviour that happens to involve a computer.
The prosecutors and industries that coined these terms are very clever. For the petty crimes that they describe, they can turn the outrage up to eleven by comparing the most minor transgression to murder. In the case of DRM, the industry managed to convince people to buy new TVs, monitors, video cards, and cables... to protect their rights? Their right to be turned upside down and have the coins and bills shaken out of their pants, I guess.
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haha really? That is hilariously insecure.
I surmise that the password feature is not meant for true security. It's not protecting the whole document, just the spreadsheet formulas and VB code. Requesting a password for changes to the formulas obviously prevents accidental mistakes, and makes it unambiguously clear that only some people in the enterprise (those who know the password) are 'supposed' to make these edits. Quite clever, as far as it goes.
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#26Apparently it was a password protected spreadsheet. Which seems like incredible incompetence of the company to accept code in that format in the first place and to not have demanded the password when the first issue arose.
On the one hand, yes, that's crazy. On the other hand, an argument can be made that company accept proprietary software in binary form all the time, and this is no different ! Still a good laugh from the sidelines...
It's a little different if only from a professional dignity perspective, lol. Also, every senior programmer I've ever worked with who makes use of third-party binaries will find a moment to say, "I'll just decompile it if it ever gives us any real trouble!"
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#27All I can say is he must be a really good programmer if he needed to deliberately install logic bombs to make his software malfunction after a period of time. I've got my hands full just making things work properly in the first place!
That or he's hired by people who don't peer review at all, as in he's the only developer.
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is actually pretty nice diff / compare two spreadsheets functionality inside of Excel. Screenshot: https://support.content.office.net/en-us/media/9149c7e8-6f0c...
Seems to be dependent on what edition of Excel you have - I had a look for it and couldn't find it... (I'm using the up to date version from Office 365).
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#29Shows the importance of code reviews. I wonder why this is illegal but it's legal for hardware to deny service or even break stuff when they detect you're using something they don't like (I'm referring to printers, but I also remember a case where a microcontroller would try to brick something when it detected a counterfeit cable).
Re: Contractor admits planting logic bombs in his software
#30Shows the importance of code reviews. I wonder why this is illegal but it's legal for hardware to deny service or even break stuff when they detect you're using something they don't like (I'm referring to printers, but I also remember a case where a microcontroller would try to brick something when it detected a counterfeit cable).