This. Just, this.

[werebooks@mastodon.social]

@cstross It's ironic that an idea from an earlier, more innocent era has caught on now that no sane person would blindly go to an obscured URL.

[klassika@mastodon.social]

@cstross
Reminds me of https://www.wired.com/2011/10/qr-malware-arrives/

[gerardthornley@hachyderm.io]

@nblr @cstross That's a shame. I've been meaning to make one of those for years.

[gerardthornley@hachyderm.io]

@trainguyrom @nblr @cstross
Not just America.

[meltedcheese@c.im]

@cstross Brilliant

[radiocarbann@mastodon.social]

@cstross yeah but then the ICE Gestapo would start wearing them

[midgephoto@photog.social]

@Scurra@mastodon.social @cstross
Which jurisdiction?

[mainec@fromm.social]

@mack505 @cstross https://www.johanniter.de/johanniter-unfall-hilfe/gaffen-toetet-ein-design-das-leben-retten-kann/?utm_campaign=gaffen-toetet&utm_content=bg&utm_medium=redirect is the background to the German ambulances with QR code.

[gulfie@mastodonapp.uk]

@neurovagrant @cstross @unknownbinaries I have that as a QR code on the underside of my laptop…

[mainec@fromm.social]

@cstross not a QR code, but human readable. Not a malware, but legal language, so arguably worse than malware:

https://shop.digitalcourage.de/kleidung/t-shirt-keine-bilder-gerade-geschnitten.html?xoid=lt8ol9en1l2066nuepuu2sfdnm

Refers to German privacy laws related to photographing people.

[voxel@infosec.space]

@cstross Didn't expect to see this again, could you provide the original source?

[heppycat@mastodon.social]

@cstross @stefan an EICAR test code would be a good start

[nblr@chaos.social]

@mbirth @cstross We tried. To no avail. Will have to try another iteration with an endless pattern fabric/print. So it is presented in multiple and different orientations.

[rrb@infosec.exchange]

@cstross AI data centers are this at scale. Only, they are reducing the whole planet to a useless brick.

[amazing_helenab@mastodon.social]

@cstross it should be called the Medusa virus.

[n1xnx@tilde.zone]

@cstross
Bonus points for bricking facial-recognition cameras.

[gulfie@mastodonapp.uk]

@neurovagrant @cstross @unknownbinaries anyone nosey enough to scan it deserves all they get

[stevendbrewer@wandering.shop]

@cstross just remember not to take any selfies, amirite?

[ireneista@adhd.irenes.space]

@cstross oh, but this exists. someone on here did a small batch of sew-on patches a few years ago that were QR codes of the EICAR test file. we have a couple...

[ireneista@adhd.irenes.space]

@cstross it isn't technically a virus, it's a file that virus scanners per their spec are supposed to treat as if it's a virus. so, for example, if a badly-written surveillance camera decodes the QR code and stores it in a way that a virus scanner can see (which is not what it should do, but...), then the virus scanner will quarantine the file which may break the camera