Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!ukma!cwjcc!neoucom!wtm
From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Internet UNIX virus
Summary: Unix worm versus amiga viri
Message-ID: <1402@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: 10 Nov 88 14:22:54 GMT
References: <13232@oberon.USC.EDU> <6279@csli.STANFORD.EDU>
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 20


It would have been very easy for the Unix worm to have done
something akin to "rm /" once it had implanted itself.  The kernel
per se was not at fault; it was a loophole in sendmail that allowed
the worm to exploit the system.  It just proves that software that
runs with daemon privilege must be carefully checked.  It doesn't
matter how secure the house is, if you give the keys to somebody
not to be tursted.

With the Amiga, you don't get partitioning of daemon or root level
access nor do you have an mmu, so the job of getting a virus in is
somewhat easier.

I hope the Unix community was somewhat humbled.  It was a good
lesson that if you network your machine, no matter how smart you
think you are, there is always someone smarter.  Best to always be
looking over your shoulder in a software sense.  With our amigas,
networking comes in the form of introducing foreign floppies.

--Bill