KARYN@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV (09/27/89)
I decided to look into this Centel Corporation problem. As they are
situated just down the street, I called their office, and they sent me
the information alluded to in the Washington Post article. I received a
license agreement and a letter sent to various businesses addressed to
"Security Colleague".
Centel does not seem to be distributing Viruscan. The second paragraph
of the Preamble of the License agreement is:
In response to this threat [referring to DATACRIME viruses] Centel
Federal Systems, in conjunction with American Computer Security
Industries, Inc. ("ACSI"), has developed certain scanning software
("VCHECKER") that is capable of detecting certain forms of the virus,
and is offering that software to computer users for a nominal handling
fee of $25.00. It is presently believed that VCHECKER is capable of
detecting two of the unknown number of strains of the virus that are
in existence. However, because of the unpredictability of the virus
and its various strains, and because of the many uncertainties
surrounding its propagation and detection, neither Centel Federal nor
ACSI is able to warrant that VCHECKER software will succeed in
detecting the virus as it may exist in any particular computer
system. Users of VCHECKER should also understand that VCHECKER is
designed only to detect the possible existence of the virus, and that
removal of the virus from a particular computer system, or repair of
any damage that the virus may cause, is the responsibility of the
user.
An excerpted paragraph of the distribution letter follows:
...One company, ASCI, has developed a program called VCHECKER that
looks for the known signatures of what they call the Columbus Day
Virus...
It seems to me that ASCI got its hands on the DATACRIME signatures that
John McAfee distributed and wrote a program to check computers for it,
and decided to sell it.
Hopefully this will stop all the hoopla about this subject and clean up
Centel Corp's reputation. I hate to see reputations ruined over
misunderstandings.
Standard Disclaimer: I am in no way affilliated with Centel Corp, or
ASCI, and all the ideas presented are my own and in no way reflect
attitudes of anyone I work for.
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Karen Pichnarczyk
KARYN@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
703-648-0770