Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!yale!cmcl2!vx2!spector From: spector@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU (David HM Spector) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Posting Virii (was Vaccination for nVIR virus) Message-ID: <650014@vx2.GBA.NYU.EDU> Date: 19 Mar 88 17:03:00 GMT References: <2466@geac.UUCP> Organization: New York University Lines: 63 Disclaimer: This is _NOT_ a flame... As I said in the note you quoted, viruses are easy to write -- just think about it for a minute and you've probably got it right. There, big deal you know how to write a virus... ...gellignite is about as easy, but you don't go posting recipes for it do you? [but they did tell you how to make it in The Terminator, right?] Also, I didn't say "don't post anti-viruses or anti-virus sources", just don't give people inclined to write viruses a head-start. It is interesting to note that most of the viruses currently making Macintoshes sick are direct rip-offs of either the Brandow or Urlichs strains. Amazing what you can do with a half-way decent disassembler, no? But lets not make it any easier than it has to be, OK? In fact another _great_ reason not to post the sources (or binaries) to viruses is that they get out very easily. And, once they're out,.. well.. you get the idea. What has to happen is a general change of attitude about computers and information and their roles as property (intellectual or otherwise). I make my living with my MacintoshII, I develop software, I am also (in my copious spare time :-) a consultant, and I depend on this machine, and the information contain within it. Mr. Brandow and his ilk seriously threaten my living by letting these electronic bio-hazards out into the world where they threaten my Macintosh, my clients confidence in my software and the consumers confidence in commercial software. (Case in point: Aldus' Freehand) Unfortunately most people (suprisingly, even "well educated computer professionals") don't take this stuff seriously enough. Some people think this stuff is "cute" or "harmless". Viruses, trojans, and kids breaking into NASA's computers et al, are neither "cute" nor "harmless". Just listen to NPR, Charles Osgood's "The Osgood File" (CBS Radio), or read some of the discussions on CompuServe, and you'll see how lightly people take these things... they even tend to make Brandow and company out to be crusading good-guys who have done a public service by spreading a virus and bringing people's attention to them (and put down people like me, Don Brown and others who contend that people like Brandow are criminals.)! Until there are severe penalties for electronic terrorism, this will continue unabated. Programs like Donald Brown's "Vaccine" will stop simple-minded viruses, but there will be more, "better engineered", and smarter viruses. Sorry if this seems a bit "heavy" I didn't intend it to be... but someone's gotta say these things.... :-) David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David HM Spector New York University Senior Systems Programmer Graduate School of Business Arpa: SPECTOR@GBA.NYU.EDU Academic Computing Center UUCP:...!{allegra,rocky,harvard}!cmcl2!spector 90 Trinity Place, Rm C-4 MCIMail: DSpector New York, New York 10006 AppleLink: D1161 CompuServe: 71260,1410 (212) 285-6080 "SJM 25, 'real nice guy' seeks SJF... What? This ISN'T The Voice personals?!"