@cruelsister you are right, the article is misleading and the infection possibility by a malware that has been engineered specifically by a researcher does not raise the danger level any higher then normally.
Yet the bigger point here is not this particular malware in question, the point is that it is possible to engineer a malware that can go viral and that has advanced options to beat common security configurations.
Keep in mind that some of these professional malware writers truly know how and what to do in order to come up with the next big thing malware wise.
Nowadays the implications of a advanced malware variant can be huge, maybe not so much in damage like the old days, but money wise some of the lesser malware out there is worth every penny.
I do not recall what the name of the Trojan was a few years ago that haunted popular premium porn sites, but the malware did take a few cents from every transaction made between the client and the porn website (premium calls over internet and cam porn) this way the Trojan did gather huge amounts of very small transactions without being noticed for years.
Result was that a 500 dollar Trojan generated thousands of euro's (If not millions)
Now that's what i call some bang for your buck.
Now while i agree with you that some of these malware findings are getting annoying and are virtually always blown out of proportions then thing is that if a researcher can write or alter a malware code in such way that it detects VM environments (Assuming it does a good job) then yes professionally speaking this has HUGE implications, because from my POV VM detection equals VM termination and possible infection.
On of the biggest pro's to a VM environment is that malware usually cannot successfully detect it and map the structure.
Because there are actually some malware types out there that can easily turn a VM system hostile or corrupt but failed in doing so due to lack of detection and mapping.
Now with a article like this showing it can be done, it is only a small step away before Hacker X has a brain wave and creates a shitstorm.
Today's computers are much much faster then Windows needs and can handle so writing complex malware has become much easier as in the old days you could just listen to your PC and you would know that it was doing something, not to mention the noticeable slowdown.
Today computers have so much computing power and the data speeds are higher then the average scanning interrupts used by AV engines, giving malware a bigger window of opportunity to do its stuff.
That being said there is one other point i would like to address and that is notion that people claim: I use VM so who cares what malware comes along? I do not need anything as VM will not allow it to spread or damage my system.
Specially programs like sandboxie have been hyped and sandbox capable firewalls and AV programs, and this is what i have been saying since i came here on the site, i remember myself getting flamed right left and center by sandboxie and comodo fanboys.
Yet articles like this (Specificly about VM/Sandbox type of malware and security risks proof my point time after time again)
And while this article is news, within the industry we have known about some malware that actually eat VM for dinner and punches right trough its barriers. (Granted those infections are either a inside job, or heavy sponsored by some party that has a need to penetrate a corporate system) so thats why most home users and people not directly involved in the industry did not know about it.
Because you are talking about malware that is only being found ones or twice, its infection rate is NIHIL if not ZERO.
But yeah i totally agree this article while useful is getting on my nerves like most of these malwares articles as they are ALL made to look like a new 100% mortality rate EBOLA variant.
Some news sites post these articles in such way that one would start thinking that it not only infects computers.... Hence why chinese hackers all ware a face mask WHAHAHAHAHAHAA
