A Zip file has been posted in the r/Hacking subreddit, and that’s so large it’s hard to quantify. The file is named “1148857344 quettabytes”. If you’ve never heard of a quettabyte, don’t worry it’s a unit so large that it’s almost never used. A quettabyte is 10000 ronnabytes, which is 10^30 bytes. and there are 114,885,734,400 of them in this Zip file.
As far as we can tell, this is the world’s largest zip file and is designed to be a malware known as a Zip Bomb, or a ZoD (Zip of Death). Usage for this type of malware ranges from taking down antivirus software to being a complete and utter annoyance, as unlike a lot of other malware, Zip Bombs tend not to be too destructive. But they can also be used during DoS attacks.
A user on Reddit has brought attention to this Zip Bomb, and we strongly advise you not to download it, we’re creating this article for education and awareness purposes.
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How do Zip Bombs work?
Zip bombs are files that are very small when compressed, but massive when decompressed. Probably the most famous Zip Bomb in the world is 42.zip, which is a 42K compressed file that is 4.5 petabytes uncompressed. This equates to 4,500 Terabytes, I don’t know about you, but I certainly do not have 4,500 Terabytes to spare on my system.
Basically, decompressing these nested zip files forces your PC to allocate storage on the hard drive for the unzipped files to occupy, the issue is, that the decompression happens so rapidly, and violently (almost as if the system is not expecting it) that it struggles to cope. The reason for this is called recursive compression, where zip files are nested. The way that decompression algorithms work means that each iteration of the zip files or “layers” compounds the compression and exponentially grows file size.
How to combat Zip Bombs
The first line of defense is you, know what you’re downloading don’t unzip or run anything you’re not 100% sure what it is, and know that it’s from a trusted source. Also, many archive programs and unzipping tools allow you to set a resource limit, to mitigate the danger of the program running away with all of your system’s resources.
Again, please don’t download and unzip this file. If you do, we aren’t responsible for any potential damage to your system or files, we just wish to educate.
