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From: bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: net.news.adm,net.news.sa,net.sources.d,net.wanted.sources
Subject: Re: Beware of Blindly Un-SHARing a File
Message-ID: <406@bu-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-Apr-86 19:10:03 EST
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.406
Posted: Sat Apr 12 19:10:03 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Apr-86 04:00:08 EST
Organization: Boston Univ Comp. Sci.
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Although most of his points are well-taken, I would just like to niggle
a little...

>From: dupuy@garfield.columbia.edu (Alex Dupuy)
>...Unix, as a more or less standard system which runs on
>a wide range of computers, is especially vulnerable to viruses.

I don't understand this, because it ports to different chips it is
more vulnerable? Or because it runs on more machines (that's not
true, that would probably make MVS the most vulnerable)? Or because
more people know how to use it (security by obscurity, the converse,
doesn't work very well either.)?

>...[possible computer virus programs] is a powerful argument for
>the total elimination (flame me, make my day :~) of net.sources.

I don't think so, hopefully the widespread dissemination of such a
program would cause people to notice it and warn each other. I agree
this is less than perfect but I don't think trying to eliminate a
net.sources helps either. It would probably only cause people to
start sending each other programs by mail. I do agree however that
mod.sources is probably a little safer but I wouldn't *expect* the
moderator to verify and eliminate subtle viruses/trojan-horses, maybe
just perhaps blatant ones obvious by just trying the software.

>...I certainly
>don't want to suggest that the only reasonable action is to shut down netnews
>and switch to some "safe" OS like VMS

Nor would I agree that VMS has any particular features to suppress computer
virus/trojan-horse programs, nor much anything else besides marketing hype
and a few questionable hacks (like very-long-passwords-as-if-you-could-get-
people-to-use-them-or-even-exhaustively-search-8-characters.)

	-Barry Shein, Boston University