iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) (08/05/88)
[In "Re: ConUnit of current console device", Carolyn Scheppner CATS said:] > > ========================================================================== > Carolyn Scheppner -- CATS Commodore Amiga Technical Support > PHONE 215-431-9180 UUCP ...{uunet,allegra,rutgers}!cbmvax!carolyn > > Pad with zeros for a light, airy program. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Forgive me, Carolyn, for taking a light, airy jest and turning it into a stern warning from the Surgeon General: If you expect the program you write to have any significant distribution at all in binary form, be sure that it DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY ZEROES!!! I'm not worried about conserving disk space, that's a trivial matter. Zeroes are an open invitation to virus writers! That, after all, is what happened to the boot block. We haven't seen the last of them by any means--viruses are going to be a permanent part of the computer scene. And if there ever was a system vulnerable to penetration (sad to say) it is the Amiga. (No need to go into details.) Viruses can be written to hitch a ride on any executable, not just the boot block. And with a nice block of zeroes waiting, char buf[1000]; the patch is easier to write and harder to detect, since the file remains the same size as the original. Allocate your buffers dynamically, gentlemen, and save us all some grief! -- Bill Kinnersley Physics Department BITNET: iphwk@mtsunix1 Montana State University INTERNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu Bozeman, MT 59717 CSNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@relay.cs.net (406)994-3614 UUCP: ...psuvax1!mtsunix1.bitnet!iphwk "This message was packed as full as practicable by modern electronic equipment. Some settling of contents may have occurred during transmission."
mkr@kestrel.Philips.Com (Michael K. Reed) (08/09/88)
In article <3613@louie.udel.EDU> iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) writes: > >If you expect the program you write to have any significant distribution >at all in binary form, be sure that it DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY ZEROES!!! > > >Bill Kinnersley Hmmmmm...No zeros in your binary?? Very interesting. I've also heard about data compaction algs that will compress all data to 1 bit!!!! 8) Michael ________________________________________________________________ | Michael Reed !allegra---- | | mkr@philabs.philips.com \ | | AI Department !steinmetz--->---!philabs!mkr | | Philips Laboratories / | | (914) 945-6069 !rutgers---- | +----------------------------------------------------------------+