Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!mordor!sri-spam!ames!necntc!ima!think!ephraim
From: ephraim@think.COM (ephraim vishniac)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Scores Virus Report 2
Message-ID: <20206@think.UUCP>
Date: 26 Apr 88 12:55:21 GMT
References: <10330004@eecs.nwu.edu>
Sender: usenet@think.UUCP
Reply-To: ephraim@vidar.think.com.UUCP (ephraim vishniac)
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 38

In article <10330004@eecs.nwu.edu> jpd@eecs.nwu.edu (Phil Draughon (ACNS)) writes:
>
>Scores Report 2
>
>Sent on Monday 4/25/88 to comp.sys.mac.
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>This is my second report on the Scores virus.  The important good
>news is there are now two free disinfection programs called
>KillScores and Ferret 1.0.  I didn't write either one of them. 
>They seem to work fine, so there's no need for me to write another
>one.  I'm also happy to report that CE Software's Vaccine 1.0 is
>effective against Scores.  There's not much new to report about the
>virus itself.

For news about the virus, see MacWEEK for Tuesday, April 26.  There's
an article headlined "Scores virus prompts FBI investigation."  It
turns out that the target programs were two proprietary programs
developed by Electronic Data Systems, Dallas TX, and used at various
government agencies.  The virus is believed to have been circulating
since March 1987.  "According to one source, both Apple and the FBI
know the identity of the programmer who wrote the virus more than a
year ago."  No motivation for the attack is given.

>KillScores and Ferret 1.0 were posted on AppleLink over the weekend
>of April 16.  I discovered them shortly after posting my first
>report on Monday the 18th.  I believe they are also available on
>CompuServe, but I haven't checked.

Ferret 1.1 is now available; I picked it up from Mass Mac and Electric
so I imagine it's on plenty of local boards by now.  It ran very
smoothly on my (uninfected) file system.  I don't know if it corrects
the problems with file name display that the author of the above-cited
report mentioned.

Ephraim Vishniac					  ephraim@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation / 245 First Street / Cambridge, MA 02142-1214

     On two occasions I have been asked, "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put
     into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?"