Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ukma!sean
From: sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Guidelines for virus authors
Message-ID: <8261@g.ms.uky.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 88 06:15:32 GMT
References: <8802072054.AA03747@jade.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey)
Organization: The Leaning Tower of Patterson Office @ The Univ. of KY
Lines: 32

In article <8802072054.AA03747@jade.berkeley.edu> FATQW@USU.BITNET writes:
>[Yes, I'm serious!!]
>
>I don't think we should discourage people from writing viruses, as long as they
>are harmless.  You have to make the distinction between a practical joke and
>vandallism (sp?).  I think probably SCA was meant as a practical joke, except

At the risk of appearing to be a net POWER USER...

NO NO NO NO NO NO!

This is a bad idea, because virus programs have the potential to crash
copy protected software or *anything* with a non-standard boot block.
As a matter of fact, any virus that writes to a disk at all---and what
virus wouldn't---risks damaging something.

In consolation, I *am* for publicizing exactly how viruses work, and
any technical discussions on them. Hiding this information only invites
the technically competent virus hacks to stomp all over us ignorant users.
Making the information public will invite people to come up with ways
to fight this particular type of software.

I have never ever known of a major security bug that lasted long after
it's operation was widely publicized.  I guess that's where I am coming
from.

Sean
-- 
--  Sean Casey               sean@ms.uky.edu,  sean@ukma.bitnet
--  (the Empire guy)         {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!sean
--  University of Kentucky in Lexington Kentucky, USA
--  "If something can go will, it wrong."