krvw@SEI.CMU.EDU (Kenneth R. van Wyk) (06/28/89)
Regarding my recent query as to whether a Mac virus may have been
distributed via Compuserve at some time, I quote Dr. Fred Cohen ("On
the Implications of Computer Viruses and Methods of Defense",
Computers and Security, Vol. 7, No. 2, Pg. 169): "On the very widely
used Compuserve network, a virus was apparently planted to infect the
initialization files of the Apple MacIntosh. This virus was designed
to put an advertisement on the screen on a particular date and then
delete itself. It was noticed by a programmer browsing through his
system initialization files and was traced to a company that had added
a program to the Compuserve library. The perpetrator was barred from
Compuserve 'forever'. Compuserve has countered by providing a public
domain program that constantly runs in the background checking for
modifications to system initialization files and asks the user if
these are desired."
Thanks for all who added their input.
Ken
Kenneth R. van Wyk
Technical Coordinator, Computer Emergency Response Team
Software Engineering Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Internet: <krvw@SEI.CMU.EDU>