[comp.sys.mac.announce] June 6, 1990 STEROID TROJAN HORSE UPDATE!

chuq@Apple.COM (That's MR. Idiot to you) (06/07/90)

UPDATE:   "Trigger date for STEROID is July 1, not June 6"

There is a Trojan Horse called "Steroid".  It is an INIT that claims to speed up QuickDraw on Macintosh computers with 9" screens.  The INIT contains code that checks for the date being greater than July 1,1990.  If it is, it will ERASE all mounted drives.

Having the Comm Toolbox installed seemed to interfere with the INIT and keep the erase from happening.  The SE in the test simply crashed at boot time.


STEROID INFORMATION
-------------------
TYPE              : INIT
CREATOR           : qdac
CODE SIZE         : 1080
DATA SIZE         : 267
ID                : 148
INIT Resource Name: QuickDraw Accelerator
File Name         : "  Steroid" (First 2 characters are ASCII 1)
Created           : June 2, 1990, 11:24 AM
Version           : Steroid 1.1

WHAT TO DO
----------
If your disk becomes erased, you can use SUM II Disk Clinic to recover the deleted files.  We have tried this and it seems to work.  If you read this  before July 1 1990, REMOVE the Steroid INIT from all disks IMMEDIATELY.  Throw it in th Trash and Empty the trash.

Try to find out where you got the file from and notify them of the danger.

If you use Virus Detective, a search string to find this trojan is:
Resource INIT & Size<1200 & WData FE680C6E#E4EBA#F60 ; For finding Steroid
Trojan

-- 

Chuq Von Rospach   <+>   chuq@apple.com   <+>   [This is myself speaking]

Wherefore could I not pronounce 'Amen'? I had most need of blessing, and
'Amen' stuck in my throat. --MacBeth