Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!usc!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: dwal@midway.uchicago.edu (David Walton) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Re: LaserWriter virus? Message-ID: <0007.9007301317.AA00380@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 28 Jul 90 05:54:02 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 37 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu woody@chinacat.Unicom.COM (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) writes: >swsh@midway.uchicago.edu (Janet M. Swisher) writes: >> I have heard in several places that this LaserWriter nasty is a Trojan >> horse. If so, that would seem to restrict it to being a Mac problem. >> However, nothing that I have seen mentions the name that this Trojan >> goes under, so I don't know what to look out for. Could someone with >> actual experience with the problem confirm/deny/specify? > >Well, since Postscript printers are intellegent, (they understand a >very complex and rich general purpose programming language,) and every >thing sent to them is in actuality a program, the problem knows no boundries. [Lots of very useful information removed] Janet's point was that the program that actually sent the PostScript to the printer was a Macintosh trojan horse, so that the PostScript would be downloaded only from a Macintosh. (At least I think that's what she meant. Since we share an office, I suppose I could ask her :-). Granted, once the PostScript is actually in the printer, it's a problem for any computer (Mac, IBM, UNIX box) that wants to contact the printer. But that actual trojan horse itself is a Macintosh application, so other systems wouldn't be able to spread the infection (unless the author has been kind enough to provide the trojan on multiple systems, which of course is entirely possible). Sigh. I love irresponsible hackers. Really, I do. Heavens, what would I do with my time if I couldn't spend it fighting viruses? >Woody Baker >Rt.1 Box I >Manor, Tx. 78653 - -- David Walton Internet: dwal@midway.uchicago.edu University of Chicago { Any opinions found herein are mine, not } Computing Organizations { those of my employers (or anybody else). }