Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!sdsu!polyslo!vlsi3b15!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: s0703pdb@semassu.bitnet (Paul Bienvenue) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Obj - anti-virus (PC) Message-ID: <0003.8910271112.AA11335@ge.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 26 Oct 89 14:39:00 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 21 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu Damon Kelly writes: > Earlier this week I was reading a book by Peter Norton. There was >a passage about the importance of .OBJ files created by compilers >(esp. assembly). While I was pondering the importance of .OBJ files, >an idea hit me: since this type of file is non-executable and can only >run when linked, wouldn't self-attaching viruses be scrambled when the >"host" file is changed to an .EXE? It's a nice idea, but it wouldn't really stop virus writers, just make life a little more difficult for them. (and possibly for virus detectors as well) What would keep a virus writer from creating an obj which would become a virus when compiled? Also, it would be a real pain for users to have to compile every piece of software they were going to use. Anyone with much assembling experience would also know how difficult it is to write code which will successfully compile with all major assemblers. Good try, though... Paul Bienvenue S0703PDB@SEMASSU.BITNET