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From: teda!RATVAX.DNET!ROBERTS@decwrl.dec.com (George Roberts - page 0571)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Populations needed to spread viruses
Message-ID: <0009.9011141856.AA23262@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 11 Nov 90 17:02:14 GMT
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David A. Holland writes:
>I suspect the base of C64s in active use is too small at this point to support
>a virus. So it's rather a dead issue...

Does this mean there are zero C64s?

I agree that viruses with immediate noticable side effects need a
large population of hosts to support them. However, viruses with very
long delays between infection and symptom can survive because they are
unnoticed.

For example, a virus which is intended to alter a few records of data
in a specific database and then hide itself might never be noticed,
and might spread through operating systems which are few and far
between over a long period of time (years).

- - George Roberts
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