Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!osmigo
From: osmigo@ut-emx.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: SCORES ordeal + new(?) SCORES info
Message-ID: <6931@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 15 Oct 88 15:36:41 GMT
References: <6685@ut-emx.UUCP> <46700075@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: osmigo@emx.UUCP (Ron Morgan)
Organization: Speech Communication UT Austin
Lines: 57

[Deleted positions on posting source to SCORES]

I hope we're not belaboring the point here, but I agree that the source to
SCORES should NOT be posted ANYWHERE. My reasons:

1.	It isn't necessary to have a "flurry of new viruses" to warrant
	keeping it off the lines. We only need consider the widespread
	misery that can be caused by ONE virus. Look at the recent post
	by the user who was infected at a university computer lab. Does
	anyone care to guess how many people will ultimately be infected
	by that ONE SINGLE COPY of that ONE virus? 

2. 	I believe there is such a thing as "need to know." Good grief,
	keeping source code off the net isn't the same thing as a Nazi
	book-burning. Otherwise, we might as well applaud posts on how
	to manufacture explosives in your kitchen, or synthesize LSD.

3. 	I feel I can safely hypothesize that viruses will become more
	durable and pervasive over time. Each new virus, as it is ana-
	lyzed and as software is written to kill it, also gives would-be
	virus-writers a free lesson in "what not to do." Let's also keep
	in mind that SCORES is small-time, compared to some of the more
	sophisticated virii that have been written to attack mainframes
	and the like. The "next" generation of virii will certainly not
	have any "giveaways" such as the blank-document Scrapbook/Note-
	pad icons. It might quietly jump from application to application,
	skipping the System file. It might have a delayed-effect of 
	MONTHS instead of SCORE's two days. It could target specific
	applications, such as backup software, for self-destruction
	next time they are run, instead of infecting "everything." How
	would you like to erase your hard disk, then find that your
	backup has turned into ASCII salad? 

4. 	Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm not a programmer), but I think 
	most people capable of analyzing a virus's source code would
	also be capable of writing their OWN virus-killers. We know
	what SCORES writes onto its targets; it would be a simple
	matter for a programmer to write an application to search
	for those strings and destroy them, if he's afraid to use
	the available anti-virus tools. 

I'm *still* dying to know what happened to the person that wrote SCORES,
since his identity is reportedly known. *Surely* he was fired from his
job, for example. 

Oh well, smile, have a nice day, and all that.....(-8

Ron

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>--Ron Morgan--------------{ames, utah-cs, uunet}!ut-sally!ut-emx!osmigo-------<
>--Univ. of Texas--{gatech, harvard, pyramid, sequent}!ut-sally!ut-emx!osmigo--<
>--Austin, Texas--------osmigo@ut-emx.UUCP-------osmigo@emx.utexas.edu---------<
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