GMS@PSUVM.PSU.EDU (Gerry Santoro - CAC/PSU 814-863-4356) (01/05/90)
In V3 N1 of Virus-L Digest, William Hugh Murray wrote: >2. The press speculation about the DATACRIME virus was much more >damaging than the virus. For the sake of academic argument I would dispute this. I agree that the actual damage from Datacrime (or Oct 13 or whatever) was minimal, and virtually nonexistent on our campuses, and I would also agree that there was mucho media hype. However, I really think that there was a major benefit to all of this. As Mr. Murray correctly pointed out, much more users damage their own data than are damaged by 'nasty' software. The Oct 13 scare made our users, who number in the tens of thousands, FINALLY listen to our pleadings to make backup copies of their software and data. The situation is similar to that with seat belts. Few of us are actually in an accident, but if we see one (or the effects) it may cause us to wear the belts, which *may* save our lives. In the case of the Oct 12 virus we had one grand chance to get people to listen to our message regarding making backups and preparing for the chance of disaster, whether by accident, ignorance, hardware failure or 'nasty' software. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | gerry santoro, ph.d. -- center for academic computing | | | -(*)- penn state university -- gms@psuvm.psu.edu -- gms@psuvm.bitnet -(*)- | | | standard disclaimer --> "I yam what I yam" | | - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------