krvw@cert.sei.cmu.edu (Kenneth R. van Wyk) (07/27/90)
After my posting about whether or not to post infection reports and how much to report, I got a lot of feedback from quite a few people. First of all, thanks to all those who took the time to write! Based on the feedback, here's what I propose to do, bearing in mind that all of this is subject to my time constraints (i.e., I don't have the luxury of being able to devote a whole lot of time to this) - and the approval of the readers: In addition to the virus infection reports that we currently receive on VALERT-L (which will continue, moderated on demand), I receive a fair number of infection reports. I will log these reports and periodically (once a week or so, as demand dictates) put out a summary of recent infections to VALERT-L. The reports will contain the names of the specific virus(es) and the geographic location of the infections. However, the postings will only contain reports that are "new" - meaning, for example, new sightings of viruses in places where they have not yet appeared. The information that I receive will be verified by telephone whenever possible (or noted that verification was not possible) and will ONLY be reported by permission. A number of people indicated that this sort of information would be useful to system administrators to serve as a warning of infections in their area, as well as to researchers who are doing statistical analyses, etc. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed. Ken van Wyk