frisk@rhi.hi.is (Fridrik Skulason) (03/01/91)
Virus BBS One of the most serious developments recently is the creation of virus Bulletin Board Systems, where viruses and disassemblies are freely available. The availability of source code creates a serious problem - it is much easier to create a working virus from a disassembly, than from just a sample, and I fear we may see an explosion in the number of virus variants soon - the 400 variants we know today may multiply and become 1000 or so before the year is over. In this area the Bulgarians lead the way - virus writers there often making their sources freely available - I have several assembly listings in my collection, with comments in Bulgarian, and even the names and addresses of the authors. It should not surprise anyone that the best-known virus BBS is in Bulgaria, and anyone uploading a new virus can download other viruses. The BBS is accessible by anyone in the west, but luckily the telephone connections to Bulgaria are quite bad. However, I am more worried about the (reported) virus BBS in Germany and the UK - I have no confirmation they exist, but naturally I would be very interested in hearing from anyone who can confirm their existence. Patricia's list Now that the VSUM list is no longer available on SIMTEL20, I was wondering how to obtain it - as the Technical editor of the Virus Bulletin, I often have to select names for new viruses, and I like to compare my list with hers, although the information on the viruses published there is often incredibly inaccurate. - -frisk Fridrik Skulason University of Iceland | Technical Editor of the Virus Bulletin (UK) | Reserved for future expansion E-Mail: frisk@rhi.hi.is Fax: 354-1-28801 |
mrs@netcom.COM (Morgan Schweers) (03/06/91)
Frisk says: > Virus BBS > >One of the most serious developments recently is the creation of virus >Bulletin Board Systems, where viruses and disassemblies are freely >available. Agreed. The problem in the USA isn't the dissassemblies as much as the viruses themselves. I am aware of a number of BBS's (esp. here in the CA area) which provide viruses to anyone who expresses an interest and any amount of ability. >sample, and I fear we may see an explosion in the number of virus variants >soon - the 400 variants we know today may multiply and become 1000 or so >before the year is over. Also agreed. If the past maps of the increase in viruses and variants are any guide, we can expect to be getting approximately one new virus every day. (That is, one new virus or a variant of an old one.) Currently, we at McAfee Associates are getting approx. 2 to 3 new strains/viruses a week. Up from about 1 a week when I started working here. >Now that the VSUM list is no longer available on SIMTEL20, I was >wondering how to obtain it - as the Technical editor of the Virus >Bulletin, I often have to select names for new viruses, and I like to >compare my list with hers, although the information on the viruses >published there is often incredibly inaccurate. If you are willing to call California, you could get the updates from either our BBS (McAfee Associates @ (408) 988 4004) or from Patricia's BBS @ (408) 244-0813. I'm surprised that it was taken off of Simtel20, however. You can also Fidonet-FileRequest it from the Excalibur! BBS, but I'm not sure of the methods for that. -- Morgan Schweers +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ | Yep, I am... ms@albert.ai.mit.edu, mrs@netcom.com, Morgan Schweers at | | (408) 988-3832 (McAfee Associates), and I've been called many things | | that aren't appropriate for a family.newsgroup. My opinions are my own| | created out of hard work. They are MY responsibility, SO THERE! ;-) | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Note: I don't officially speak the McAfee Associates Line. Thus, any product recommendations, etc. hold no real water. Think for yourself, dammit! ;-)