dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (01/10/89)
A couple of days ago, I downloaded from a local (usually reliable) BBS a
copy of Vaccine that alleges to be "Vaccine version 1.0.1". It came
without any significant documentation.
Compared to the 1.0 version I had been using:
Size in bytes Creation date
Vaccine 1.0 11,875 March 21, 1988
Vaccine 1.0.1 11,967 December 21, 1988
There appear to be no significant differences in the informative
messages printed by these two versions.
I can imagine that the 1.0.1 version might be one of two things:
1) It could be a legitimate update to 1.0, which fixes a bug [perhaps
Vaccine's habit of causing system crashes when an infected
application is launched?]
2) It could be a trojan-horse modification of Vaccine 1.0, with some
modifications that would permit infection by some as-yet-unknown
virus at a future time.
Does anyone out there have any information about this alleged update to
Vaccine?
--
Dave Platt FIDONET: Dave Platt on 1:204/444 VOICE: (415) 493-8805
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USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303jac@petsd.UUCP (Jim Clausing) (01/10/89)
In article <17559@coherent.com> dplatt@coherent.UUCP writes:
<A couple of days ago, I downloaded from a local (usually reliable) BBS a
<copy of Vaccine that alleges to be "Vaccine version 1.0.1". It came
<without any significant documentation.
<
<Compared to the 1.0 version I had been using:
<
< Size in bytes Creation date
<Vaccine 1.0 11,875 March 21, 1988
<Vaccine 1.0.1 11,967 December 21, 1988
<
[...]
<Dave Platt FIDONET: Dave Platt on 1:204/444 VOICE: (415) 493-8805
Dave,
I would be very wary of this 1.0.1, since the author of the original
(someone at CE, Don Brown maybe?) stated in no uncertain terms, that there
would be only the single version of Vaccine. Since he did it on his own as
a public service he had no intention of taking time away from his paying job
to continually upgrade this. If anyone has more info on this, I would also
be interested, but I'm quite happy with Vaccine even as it now stands.
--
Jim Clausing CI$: 74726, 2015
Parallel Processing Tools Grp. GEnie: J.CLAUSING
Concurrent Computer Corp. Pseudo-domain: jac@petsd.ccur.com
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 UUCP: {rutgers, princeton}!petsd!jacdplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (01/11/89)
In article <17559@coherent.com> I wrote: > A couple of days ago, I downloaded from a local (usually reliable) BBS a > copy of Vaccine that alleges to be "Vaccine version 1.0.1". It came > without any significant documentation. > > Does anyone out there have any information about this alleged update to > Vaccine? In the 16 hours since I posted this note, I've received two confirmations that Vaccine 1.0.1 is in fact a legitimate release by CE Software. The sysop of the BBS from which I downloaded it (Ray Terry, MacScience BBS) wrote to say that Vaccine 1.0.1 came directly from the CE Software support area on MacNET. Robert Thumb wrote to say that he'd contacted CE Software directly, and had been told that 1.0.1 is a valid release that fixes a couple of bugs. [It does not, however, contain a specific trap for the Hpat mutation of the nVIR virus... I checked its critical-resource list, and Hpat had not been added to the list.] So... I'm relieved to report that Vaccine 1.0.1 is not a bandit release or a trojan horse... it's legitimate. I'll post a copy to comp.binaries.mac and Info-Mac shortly. -- Dave Platt FIDONET: Dave Platt on 1:204/444 VOICE: (415) 493-8805 UUCP: ...!{ames,sun,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@sun.com, ...@uunet.uu.net USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303