dredick@vax.bbn.com (The Druid) (03/16/88)
I am really interested in the make-up of a virus and the vaccination. Could someone send me or point me to a SOURCE for a sample benign virus or vaccination! Many Thanks, -- The Druid =============================================================================== = The Druid (dredick@bbn.com) = = "Did you ever feel that you were a typewriter, = = when everone else in the world was a wordprocessor" = ===============================================================================
spector@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU (David HM Spector) (03/17/88)
The following is my own opinion, but an informed one. I have a collection
of quite a few Macintosh viruses and am working on designing stragegies
for detecting and defending against them, so take the following with
that in mind:
The distribution of ANY virus sources, benign or othewrwise would be a very
VERY bad thing. It has now been shown through the experience with Mattias
Urlichs demonstration virus exactly what happens when such sources are
distributed. They generate more viruses.
In fact we have now seen that the distribution of a virus in any form,
including as object code or executables (i.e., the Brandow/MacMag virus)
gives malicious persons excellent programming models upon which to base
even nastier things. This is not a "possibility", its already happening.
I understand the desire to understand how these things work, but you
don't need the source for one to figure it out -- they work EXACTLY as
you'd think they would. Just think about a logical way to write one, and
you're probably correct.
In any case, There is no practical benefit to writing viruses; write some
great tool or application - become rich and famous then open a deli in like
Mitch Kapor... :-}
The upshot of this note is:
PLEASE DO _NOT_ POST SOURCES OR OBJECTS FOR VIRUS PROGRAMS OR TROJANS!
Also, please do not send me mail asking for any viruses I may have, requests
for such things will be firmly (but politely) rejected. I have to date
satisfied only 3 such requests, all from organisations with an absolutely
justifiable need for such information. (University Computer Center Staff's and
concerned company information managers are NOT among them... sorry.)
David
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David HM Spector New York University
Senior Systems Programmer Graduate School of Business
Arpa: SPECTOR@GBA.NYU.EDU Academic Computing Center
UUCP:...!{allegra,rocky,harvard}!cmcl2!spector 90 Trinity Place, Rm C-4
MCIMail: DSpector New York, New York 10006
AppleLink: D1161 CompuServe: 71260,1410 (212) 285-6080
"SJM 25, 'real nice guy' seeks SJF... What? This ISN'T The Voice personals?!"jas@cadre.dsl.PITTSBURGH.EDU (Jeffrey A. Sullivan) (03/17/88)
We got the idea from the comp.sys.mac postings. Cross-posting just wastes net bandwidth. By the way, in my opinion, anyone has the right to look at any software they want. Your attitude smacks of the kind of "we know what's best/we'll protect you" policies that result in lost liberty (see: Mandatory Seatbelt laws). Let me also just stay up on my soapbox to say that I think the whole virus scare is a bit overblown. They are still quite rare and appear to be worse on other systems (IBM PC, for one; I monitored some postings over there and saw quite a few descriptions of virus warnings around). Sure, they can be misused and dangerous, but they must be put into perspective. Some commonsense measures protect you from most all of them. Ah well, c'est la canon. -- .......................................................................... Jeffrey Sullivan | University of Pittsburgh jas@cadre.dsl.pittsburgh.edu | Intelligent Systems Studies Program jasper@PittVMS.BITNET, jasst3@cisunx.UUCP | Graduate Student
borton@net1.ucsd.edu (Chris Borton) (03/18/88)
In article <22168@bbn.COM> dredick@vax.bbn.com (The Druid) writes: > I am really interested in the make-up of a virus and the >vaccination. Could someone send me or point me to a SOURCE for a sample >benign virus or vaccination! The source to Mike Scanlin's vaccination program will appear with the article in MacTutor ASAP. [Written in LS C/asm] -cbb Chris "Johann" Borton, UC San Diego ...!sdcsvax!borton borton@ucsd.edu or BORTON@UCSD.BITNET Hooray! Another quarter done, and only one to go! :-) En dan naar UvA!
ralex@tigger.colorado.edu (Repenning Alexander) (05/04/89)
Unfortunately I didn't pay too much attention for viruses so far - but now I got one on my MacII. The virus installs a nVIR and also a CODE Id 256 resource to applications. My problem is that I don't know where the virus is comming from. Tracing back the virus I found that it must have entered my Mac at least one week ago. The source could be anywhere: Bix, CompuServe, or the mac binary news group. Who has any idea where this type of virus could come from or has made similar experiences? ANY suggestions are very welcome, please send them to ralex@tigger.colorado.edu I will post a summary. Many thanks in advance, Alex PS: you could save my life.