TBLAKE@BINGVAXA.BITNET ("Thomas_R._Blake") (12/29/87)
Folks,
Scaning your COM files to make sure there are no gotcha's in them
is always a nice idea, but consider the following ...
----------------------------------- CUT HERE------------------------------------
$ Nasty0[0,8] = %X25
$ Nasty1[0,32] = %X54454E4A
$ Nasty1 = Nasty1 + Nasty0
$ Nasty2[0,32] = %X4C49414D
$ Nasty3[0,24] = %X254E49
$ WRITE SYS$OUTPUT "Checking for Key-Words in a COM file might ", -
"not be so easy"
$ WRITE SYS$OUTPUT "Take for instance ", Nasty1, " or ", -
Nasty2, " or ", Nasty3
----------------------------------- CUT HERE------------------------------------
In this field of PDware, shareware, and such. There is heavy reliance
on human nature. There is a great deal of faith involved. In the case
of PD, well you have to be working for the common good to give away many
hours of your time. Shareware authors trust that there are enough honest
souls out there who will send in their registration fees. Users trust that
these things will not cause them harm.
I use SWING every workday. Maybe, on January 1st, I'll find that
every single one of my files has been deleted by SWING. I have this blind
trust though in a talented programmer who I have never met, purely because
*I* wouldn't have distributed malicious software. (I was taught that such
things were wrong).
Following the example of SWING: it's a lot of code, and I don't
have the time to search it for booby traps but it's so very useful how could
I just discard it?
Some Silly Naive Academic Programmer
SUNY Binghamton