APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) BotNet
Nyarlathotep… the crawling chaos… I am the last… I will tell the audient void….
— screamed by a Security researcher as he plummeted off the roof of the datacenter cackling
Win32.tiktok.trojan is a large-scale malware botnet. Polymorphic in nature, it spreads by probing connected devices and immediately exploiting Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE’s) on them, many of which as observed by security experts, are “0 Day” (previously unknown and now known of less than 1 day) vulnerabilities. Indeed some smaller security shops are purposely keeping infected machines online just to have them “mine” new and effective vulnerabilities.
The botnet utilizes low CPU & memory consumption on the infected device. However, the botnet itself runs as a statefully aware Turing machine, executing across a distributed blockchain. This “hive mind” allows it to pick targets of opportunity as well as compute attack vectors and negotiate pivot operational parameters nigh instantaneously. Other computational activities are also occurring in real-time, and growing in scope and intensity, seem to indicate some sort of computational intelligence at play. This aspect has yet to be deciphered by security researchers. It is suspected that this may be leased botnet access, but as of yet the selling of time on the tiktok botnet has not been found online so it is still unknown who the bad actor(s) are.
The target of this malware is so far any internet-connected digital device. It has been found in stop lights, MRI machines, video game arcades, satellites, smart fridges, smart bulbs, car touch screen computer dashboards, and oddly enough even a few Nokia 3310 phones. It has been suspected of taking over these devices, reading data, and operating things such as factory robots. The full extent of this has yet to be determined.
The alien god known as Nyarlathotep, as well as 1,000 more names, has altered one of his masks. When technology started ruling the world of man, he appeared to us as a creature of steam and gears, The Tick Tock man. The age, however, of coal stacks and presses are well behind us. We’re now in the information age. Technology has evolved, and the Tick Tock man with it. With the invention of the “Internet of Things” (IoT) internet connectivity is now standard in everything with the letter i or the word smart affixed to its name. From mood-changing light bulbs, TVs that stream Netflix, and your disturbingly powerful pocket phone, to your ticket agent getting on the train everything is now connected and is a computer of some amount of processing power. Technology has taken over your life. The Tick Tock Man has taken over technology. He is everywhere. In everything. I am even in the device on which you are reading this.
SPECIAL POWERS
Ubiquity: The Tick-Tock man is everywhere. It is in everything.
Spells:
win32.tiktok.man.trojan, Avatar of Nyarlathotep
STR: n/a (strength of controlled device)
CON: n/a
SIZ: 0
DEX: 0
INT: 0 (unknowable, alien)
POW: 0
HP: n/a
Damage Bonus: 0
Build: 0
Magic Points: 0
Move: n/a (currently circumnavigates the globe)
ATTACKS
Attacks per round: 0 unless controlling device
Fighting attacks: None
Dodge: n/a
Armor: n/a
Skills: Hack Computers 89%, Control connected device 92% Sanity Loss: 0, 1d8 upon realizing the extent
