phil@titan.rice.edu (William LeFebvre) (01/25/89)
I heard someone on the news today more or less state that computer viruses were a very recent thing (within the last 5 years). I have a very strong feeling that this is wrong. Can anyone tell me when the term "virus" was first used in the context of computers? Can you give me references? In an interview on NPR's "All Things Considered", this author, Susan Sontag (sp?), was trying to point out how America currently has an obsession with medical diseases, given the current AIDS problem. She pointed to the usage of the term "computer virus" as one indication of this. She went on to say that if this type of computer activity had happened 5 or 10 years ago, it would have been called something else. Anyone got any refuting information? Anyone also hear the interview and think that I'm off base or that I misheard her? William LeFebvre Department of Computer Science Rice University <phil@Rice.edu>
ron@ron.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (01/26/89)
I'm not sure about the medical obsession, but the concept of a computer virus was certainly used in Science Fiction stories for well over ten years. The idea of a program that gets loose and takes over all the computers is pretty classic, even if it wasn't called a virus. Certainly the infamous Bell Labs cpp feature is classifiable as a virus and by my estimates must have existed about 12 years ago. -Ron
leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (01/28/89)
There is a reference to a program called VIRUS in David Gerrold's book "When Harlie was One". This is in the original edition which came out around '73 or '74. And I have a vague recollection of seeing references such things before then! I'd call this a valid refernce as it was being mentioned as a bit of "computer folklore" in the story. -- Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard CIS: [70465,203] "I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'. You know... I'd rather be a hacker."
R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com (01/29/89)
Well I remember reading a science fiction story when I was in High School
(before 1975) that used the term "Virus" to talk about this kind of program.
It was passed over the phone line via modem (as I remember the story was
written in the time frame when large "time-share" services were very popular,
just before micro-computers started taking off. That would place it in the
late 60's or early 70's... nearly 20 years ago). The general plot (I can't
remember the title) was this "Computer Programmer" gets a new job, and shortly
after that while working on the company computer the machine interrupts him
and "reports" that it is the program he wrote back in college. His "virus"
has spread silently to thousands of computers, and has rewritten itself many
times to improve its capabilities.
Like our receint "Internet-virus/worm"'s author, he had attempted (when he
realized it was getting away from him) to "kill" it. However it had gone
too far and "tricked" him into thinking his "kill" was successful.
The rest of the story (which I don't remember too clearly) is about how
this "Computer Programmer" deals with the return of his "virus".
I remember quite clearly the "Computer Programmer" in the story discussing
his situation with other characters, including his boss, and using the
"virus analogy" to explain the operation of the program.
Does anyone else remember this book and its title?
R. Tim Coslet
Usenet: R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com
BIX: r.tim_coslet ccastje@pyr.gatech.EDU (John Adair) (01/30/89)
The book was "The Adolescence of P-1" by Someone. I have it somewhere.
seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) (01/31/89)
In article <14039@cup.portal.com> R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com writes: >Well I remember reading a science fiction story when I was in High School >(before 1975) that used the term "Virus" to talk about this kind of program. >The rest of the story (which I don't remember too clearly) is about how >this "Computer Programmer" deals with the return of his "virus". >Does anyone else remember this book and its title? The book was, probably, _The Adolescence of P-1_, by somebody whose name I forget. It was a *very* good book, in my opinion (*much* better than, say, _When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One_, which showed Gerrold's ignorace of computers). The rest of the story, as you put it, actually dealt with Gregory (the programmer) and P1 (the program 8-)) trying to ensure P1's survival (even though the government doesn't want this). And, yes, it does seem appropriate to think about it, now. P1 grew through multi-processing, using telecommunication lines (slow; only 56kbaud) instead of ethernet. Even as we write and read, a program could be deciding whether or not to terminate this posting... -- Sean Eric Fagan | "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, seanf@sco.UUCP | the master calls a butterfly." -- Richard Bach (408) 458-1422 | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.
jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) (02/04/89)
In article <14039@cup.portal.com> R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com writes: >Well I remember reading a science fiction story when I was in High School >(before 1975) that used the term "Virus" to talk about this kind of program. > The book is called: The Adolesence of P-1 JB -- Jonathan Bayer Beware: The light at the end of the Intelligent Software Products, Inc. tunnel may be an oncoming dragon 19 Virginia Ave. ...uunet!ispi!jbayer Rockville Centre, NY 11570 (516) 766-2867 jbayer@ispi
csa@wpi.wpi.edu (Chris Arthur) (02/06/89)
The author of _The Adolescence of P-1_ is Thomas J. Ryan. It is copyright 1977, so I doubt that it is the book that whoever it was read in high school before 1975... It is a great book, though. Does anyone know if Ryan ever wrote anything else? chris arthur
buck@siswat.UUCP (A. Lester Buck) (02/06/89)
With all of these references to fictional computer viruses, I keep waiting for the definitive data on the first REAL computer virus. I read that a Prof. Fred(?) Cohen at Lehigh claims to have written the first computer virus around 1983(?). Anyone have any more details, confirming or contradicting? -- A. Lester Buck ...!texbell!moray!siswat!buck
markz@ssc.UUCP (Mark Zenier) (02/07/89)
In article <440@ispi.UUCP>, jbayer@ispi.UUCP (Jonathan Bayer) writes: > In article <14039@cup.portal.com> R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com writes: > >Well I remember reading a science fiction story when I was in High School > >(before 1975) that used the term "Virus" to talk about this kind of program. > > The book is called: > The Adolesence of P-1 With that date, a more likely candidate is John Brunner's "Shockwave Rider". Mark Zenier uunet!nwnexus!pilchuck!ssc!markz markz@ssc.uucp uunet!amc! uw-beaver!tikal!
bga@raspail.UUCP (Bruce Albrecht) (02/08/89)
I believe that David Gerrold's _When HARLIE Was One_ was written several years before Ryan's _The Adolescence of P-1_ (maybe 1969?), and it had several references to viruses. In particular, HARLIE ran The Beast, which was the internal main computer for the company, and had hooks into banks and the national databanks.