Highland@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL (Dr. Harold Joseph Highland, FICS) (11/09/90)
Original-To: JUAN JOSE CARMENA <ALPHACO@vm1.uam.ES>
In Virus-L Volume 3 Number 171 on 17 October there was your request
from 17 Oct 90 for information about "PC-cillan."
Steve Chang, president of Trend Micro Devices of Torrence CA, send us
an evaluation copy of his product since he wanted a product
endorsement. The product consists of software and hardware [a dongle]
- -- a unit that must be attached to the parallel port.
This dongle has two problems from my viewpoint. Its function is
nothing more than to copy the hard disk's MBR [partition table and
boot record], something that is easily done with Norton Utilities,
PCTools, Mace and the Kolod package. Besides having the MBR on a
floppy disk is safer than trusting an "attachment" to the micro.
Unfortunately this dongle has no way to secure it to the port. If
some joker removes it, the so-called security offered by the product
is gone.
If you had 30 of these in an office or lab and the joker shifted them
around among the machines, think of the problem you'd have to find the
right dongle for each machine!
Furthermore, the software is promoted as protecting the user against
any known and FUTURE viruses. We class such items as Ponce de Leon
follies -- promises of eternal youth -- of utopia!
Within the last month Mr Chang sent out a press release in which the
product was endorsed by John McAfee who noted that it was one of the
best he had seen. High praise from an author who fails to include
mention of most anti-virus products in his book.
In our conversation with Mr Chang he claimed the product was widely
sold in Asia and Europe and was now making it available in the States.
In the late 1940's there was a company, Wit's End, a printer and
greeting card producer. Their stationary was printed on brown kitchen
paper towels. On it was a saying from Mark Twain:
"Be thankful for the fools for without them we could not exist."
You must of heard of our famous American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum
[1810-1891] who ran circus sideshows exhibiting animals and freaks.
At one he had large signs reading "This way to the Great Egress."
After the people passed through the curtained opening and walked
through a maze, they found themselves outside of the exhibit area.
Anyone who complained was told that "Egress" was another word for
"exit" and that Mr. Barnum was not responsible for their lack of
education.
The Wall Street Journal and other newspapers ran stories about anti-
virus product hyperbole. As a good friend of mine recently put it:
"Barnum is not really dead!" He is probably selling anti-virus
products!
Dr. Harold Joseph Highland, FICS
20 October 1990