Xref: utzoo alt.sources:2378 comp.sources.d:5840 alt.security:1640
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!yunexus!shields
From: shields@yunexus.YorkU.CA (Paul Shields)
Newsgroups: alt.sources,comp.sources.d,alt.security
Subject: Re: GENERAL WARNING
Keywords: hackers
Message-ID: <15657@yunexus.YorkU.CA>
Date: 29 Sep 90 23:50:36 GMT
References: <1990Sep26.234214.338@ibmpcug.co.uk> <1990Sep27.235630.12945@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>
Distribution: alt
Organization: York U. Computing Services
Lines: 14

scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons) writes:
>I wouldn't either, but to a great degree I'm depending on the collective
>benefit of the net.  Were there a trapdoor buried in elm or some other
>commonly used code from the net, there's a good chance that *somebody*
>will notice it fast.  And woe to the person who got caught doing it!

So how long did it take the net to discover that GNU Emacs installed
itself as world writable?

Yes, it seems it did this "out-of-the-box" back in 1988 when a
colleague of mine stumbled across it.  The biggest security hole
he had ever seen, he said.

P.