0003965782@mcimail.com (Sanford Sherizen) (12/19/90)
I want to raise a sensitive issue on Virus-L without planting ideas (although those making viruses don't seem to need ideas from any of us). Yet, it is important to raise and share information of this sort with other networkers. I would like to gather any *hard* evidence that viruses have been used for political/military purposes or as a war weapon. It is possible that the Jerusalem virus was first set off to commemorate a Palestinian event but has there been any way to verify this? Are there other viruses that have been specifically distributed or directed to harm a political/military/ideological foe? It is important to differentiate this type of attack from someone setting off a virus that contains a political statement but which is not directed against a particular target. I know that this differentiation is soft but I am trying to develop an appropriate categorization. Any help on this is appreciated. What got me thinking about this is my work on developing a model of computer crime and abuse trends and their stages of development. The flap earlier this year about the availability of a small business contract to develop a virus for the U.S. military may well be part of a larger picture of computerized warfare joining other threats, such as biological and chemical warfare by many nations. Comments can be sent directly to me at MCI MAIL: SSHERIZEN (396-5782) and I will summarize in a future Virus-L posting. Thanks Sandy