Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!topologix!devin
From: devin@topologix.topologix.com (Devin Hooker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Internet UNIX virus
Message-ID: <209@topologix.topologix.com>
Date: 10 Nov 88 18:32:49 GMT
References: <13232@oberon.USC.EDU> <2954@sugar.uu.net>
Reply-To: devin@topologix (Devin Hooker)
Organization: Topologix Incorporated, Denver CO
Lines: 29

In article <2954@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
<In article <13232@oberon.USC.EDU>, papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) writes:
<> This is dedicated to all the guys that claimed that "UNIX is much more
<> secure than the Amiga" with regard to viruses.
<> -- Marco Papa 'Doc'
<First of all, the channel of infection is a gaping hole in sendmail that
<isn't typical of UNIX mail systems. I didn't know about it, but I'm not
...
<Secondly, the channel that was used to transmit the virus was a deliberate
<reduction in UNIX security, that basically turned a network into a single
<machine as far as the virus was concerned. You pointed this out, and I
<acknowledged that it was a problem if you let people with non-trusted machines
<have shell access to yours. So don't do it.
	Just as a clarification - rsh and sendmail were NOT the only spread
channels.  There is an interesting bug in fingerd that this particular virus
used also (a particularly elegant, if complex virus, I must say...)

	P.S. I'm not taking sides, just clarifing info.
<		Peter da Silva  `-_-'  peter@sugar.uu.net
<		 Have you hugged  U  your wolf today?
<
<	Disclaimer: I accept full responsibility for my own typos.

		-Devin
-- 
Devin Hooker
Software Engineer
4860 Ward Rd.
Denver, Co.  80033    (303) 421-7700