TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (09/27/89)
In commenting on viruses being distributed (accidentally, of course) through commercial software someone recently mentioned that someone near him had been hit by a virus that was in a shrink-wrapped copy of WordPerfect. I'm skeptical -- WordPerfect is such a widely-sold program that had there been one copy infected there would have been thousands and the din would have been deafening. Could someone who follows this closely summarize exactly which commercial packages have definitely been identified as having been shipped infected? (i.e., the virus was found on them before there was any chance whatsoever they could have been written to by the user's machine.) (I'm not doubting that commercial software is a good vector for distributing viruses or that it has happened before, I just want to make sure that a company with good anti-virus practices doesn't get falsely accused; in the case in point I have no idea what WP Corp's practices are.)
borynec@watmath.waterloo.edu (James Borynec) (10/03/89)
In article <0008.8909281133.AA14331@ge.sei.cmu.edu>, TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA wri tes: > In commenting on viruses being distributed (accidentally, of course) > through commercial software someone recently mentioned that someone > near him had been hit by a virus that was in a shrink-wrapped copy of > WordPerfect. I'm skeptical... It happened. A co-worker bought a copy of WordPerfect for his Amiga. When it came to him, it was infected. Those are the facts as he told them to me. If anyone wants more details I am willing to supply them. It probably won't do any good because the problem has been fixed. If anyone is collecting historical information and wants more details send E-mail. (BTW. to the person who sent me E-mail on this topic, did my reply get through to you?) The story behind this goes something like: WP sold the distribution and support rights for the Amiga version of WP for Canada to a company in Ontario. That company had some problems. That company no longer has the redistribution rights. I personally have been hit TWICE by viruses in commercial software. From different vendors. Once when I was examining a popular speech synthesis package for my Mac, and once when we got our TI micro-explorer. Just the thing, factory loaded viruses. To summarize: It happens. Treat ALL software entering your system with caution. James Borynec - -- UUCP : utzoo!bnr-vpa!bnr-di!borynec James Borynec, Bell Northern Research Bitnet: borynec@bnr.CA Box 3511, Stn C, Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4H7
ACSAZ@SEMASSU.BITNET (10/03/89)
We too have been hit, though not recently. Last semester, a freehand
disk from Aldus had scores on it right out of the box. These
'professionals' should pay more attention to what they are doing.
Alex Z... . . .