Pragmatic Zealotry Inspires My Own Digital Artwork

I have never been artist. I have always tried and failed. I made straight C’s in art class at school and that was usually because I found creative uses for glue. As of late there has been a bit of a “backlash” from spyware /adware companies trying to paint security companies as “witch hunters” or my favorite word “zealot”.

One of my colleagues, Suzi Turner at SpywareWarrior writes in her ZDNET blog:

Some adware company respresentatives and adware apologists like to refer to people like me as zealots. At Spyware Warrior I’ve blogged another installation of 180solutions software in the wild with… drum roll… No Notice and No Consent, along with a huge pile of other xxxware (call it what you will). Click here for all the gory details including a video in full living color. Oh, and there’s a screenshot of the Rootkit Revealer log showing the rootkit that accompanied this mess. And yes, you can call me a zealot. Go see why.

and you can’t have proper zealotry without a reply from Chris Boyd at VitalSecurity.org

With all these full color movies and crys of zealot somehow it has turned on my creative side. Click below for my own online painting of a rootkit. It took me a awhile to get the corners just right because of all the running processess but I think my art teacher would have been proud. And for the record I am not a zealot- I am a pragmatist.

Find below an Online Painting of a Sony BMG (or any) Rootkit by the painter Wayne Porter. This rootkit painting is one of the first and perhaps most famous of its kind as it resides on thousands of unsuspecting computers worldwide. The painting is 300 pixels by 300 pixels and suitable for framing. Feel free to upload it to your Cafe Press Store, coffee mugs or hang it on your wall above your PC to remind yourself how wonderful rootkits can be.

If you are having trouble seeing this rootkit painting, like most people, click here to view it as a pop-up image. Don’t worry folks, according to some companies rootkits aren’t dangerous because you don’t know about them.

About Wayne Porter

Wayne Porter is one of the original founders of ReveNews.com, and served as the CEO and founder of XBlock Systems a specialized research firm on greynets and malware research before being acquired by unified communications security leader, Factime Security Labs. His work includes serving as a panlist at the Federal Trade Commission to shape legislation on software and the creation of two patent-pending technologies for corporate networks. Wayne is a frequent speaker at e-commerce & business events including CJU, ASW and RSA and frequently cited in the press. He has been designated a Microsoft Security MVP three times and is recognized on Google’s Responsible Security Disclosure page- in addition to receiving the first Summit Legend Award. Wayne currently works as a Security Consultant on Social Media and operates a consultancy on digital worlds. His hobbies include reading science fiction, playing chess, fishing, writing, collecting shiny digital gadgets, playing racquetball and studying memetic engineering. He maintains a personal weblog at WaynePorter.com detailing his explorations in security, web 2.0, and virtual worlds.
You can follow Wayne on Twitter: @wporter.

Website: http://www.wayneporter.com