LabVIEW
A virus written in G?
After reading about the damage caused by the Stuxnet worm, I began to muse about the possibilty of a virus written in G. And to consider the possible vulnerabilities of NI hardware and software (what if a virus "downloaded itself" to my PAC?).
No, I am not considering writing one. 
I'm just curious, has anyone encountered any sort of malware written in G?
I haven't personally seen a virus that was written in G.
However, I do recall someone interested in writing a keylogger,
which I assume was probably for some type of spyware,
but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt 
I have followed others who's code could qualify as "malware", but haven't seen any "virii" written in G. Most viruses and other malware tend to be pretty small "executable" type pieces of code that insert themselves (a la "virus") into other code, or disguise themselves as something other than what they are. Since LabVIEW exe's require the runtime engine to be installed, the targets would be pretty limited, one of the reasons that Apple OS based systems have been fairly free of malware. If someone is making the effort you go after the target rich environment. I would think that a G based malware would have to have a specific, and probably limited, target in mind, and this would be a case where writing it in G would be a lot harder than in C/C++, Java, etc. I hope no one makes me a liar and releases GbotX into the world!
Well written, Felix. I think your analysis is correct. A possibility could certainly be something similar to Stuxnet (GNet?), where it spreads/multiplies using non-G code, but then attacks end-points using G. Something like that could potentially deal a blow to a government/military/research institution who use a lot of NI hardware/software (e.g NASA).
I think that the openness of the engineering/scientist community also puts us in danger. By nature, we like to help each other. We share code like crazy, and often blindly trust each other. That certainly leaves us vulnerable to the likes of Stuxnet. Thankfully, we have our IT department to force security on us and keep us "safe". 
Iran's critical networks were probably also not connected to anything in the outside world. This was certainly "more than adequate" until Stuxnet was carried right in their front door on thumbdrives. Just an example.
@josborne wrote:
Iran's critical networks were probably also not connected to anything in the outside world. This was certainly "more than adequate" until Stuxnet was carried right in their front door on thumbdrives. Just an example.
After I get past the first set of guards with machine guns and they have confirmed my visit, I can park my car and start emptying stuff out of my pockets... Cell phones, thumb dirves... before I go to the next set of guards that search everything.
If it does not fit into my head then it does not get in. And that is for the non-confidetial stuff.
Ben
