POSTMAST@IDUI1.BITNET (Marty Zimmerman) (11/28/89)
What are other VM/CMS installations doing to slow down the spread of the DIR EXEC? I seem to remember that the CHRISTMA EXEC prompted someone to write a program to scan/clean the SPOOL queue, and I was wondering if anything similar is available for DIR. On this subject: how far should system administrators go to protect users from this type of "letter bomb". It seems a bit heavy-handed to purge ANY file from the queue with a filetype of EXEC, XEDIT, or MODULE. Is it best to let the users fend for themselves, or overprotect them? Marty Zimmerman <POSTMAST@IDUI1>
GMS@PSUVM.BITNET (Gerry Santoro - CAC/PSU 814-863-4356) (12/10/89)
Marty Zimmerman <POSTMAST@IDUI1.BITNET> writes: >What are other VM/CMS installations doing to slow down the spread of >the DIR EXEC? I seem to remember that the CHRISTMA EXEC prompted >someone to write a program to scan/clean the SPOOL queue, and I was >wondering if anything similar is available for DIR. At Penn State we are taking a broader approach. The systems folks here may be scanning spool files for a file named DIR EXEC (don't really know if they are), but we've also placed a logon warning message talling users not to receive and execute *ANY* EXEC unless they know exactly what it does. Although DIR EXEC and CHRISTMA EXEC (also distributed as XMAS EXEC) cause well-known havok, it is rather easy for a mischevious student to send a custom EXEC to an unwary faculty/staff/student who then tries it out to see what it does. I did a poll of some of my students (i teach computing for humanities here) and was horrified at how many of them were given 'neat' EXECS by perfect strangers, which they then proceeded to use and distribute to others. Not a single one of them reads REXX and they had no suspicion that any of these EXECS could be doing something behind their backs. Another common problem here is that eager students will 'customize' the environment of faculty who are novices to VM/CMS by linking them to their (the students) disks, which have lots of custom EXECs on them. At the very least, when the student graduates and their account disappears we get questions about the faculty regarding why "the computer dosen't work anymore". gerry santoro, ph.d. *** STANDARD DISCLAIMER *** center for academic computing This posting is intended to penn state university | represent my personal opinions. gms @ psuvm.psu.edu -(*)- It is not representative of the gms @ psuvm.bitnet | thoughts or policies of anyone ..!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!gms else here or of the organization. (814) 863-4356 ---- "I yam what I yam!" ----