Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!ece-csc!ncsuvx!gatech!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!rochester!rit!ultb!ritcsh!sic
From: sic@ritcsh.UUCP (Eric A. Neulight)
Newsgroups: news.sysadmin
Subject: Center for Disease Control  (Re: The Virus & Damage Control)
Message-ID: <5580@ritcsh.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 88 21:04:00 GMT
References: <11221@cgl.ucsf.EDU> <851@fxgrp.UUCP>
Reply-To: sic@ritcsh.UUCP (Eric A. Neulight)
Organization: Computer Science House @ RIT, Rochester, NY
Lines: 44

In article <851@fxgrp.UUCP> grady@fxgrp.UUCP (Steven Grady) writes:
>In article <11221@cgl.ucsf.EDU> kscott@socrates.ucsf.edu.UUCP (Kevin Scott) writes:
>>Hats off to those of you who
>>thought to call the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.  
>>
>No no no.  That was a joke name for the XCF (Experimental Computing
>Facility) at UC Berkeley.  (The XCF is at "scam.berkeley.edu".)
>They used CDC as a nickname, once they found a patch to the
>worm.
>

If this is true, that the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA. was
not notified, then I have an argument...

   WHY NOT ???!!!

It seems to me that a computer virus is very analogous to an epidemic.
It spreads in a myriad of different ways, and it needs to be isolated,
contained, identified, quarantined, and anihilated.  Who (at least in
the USA) is better set up to deal with such a situation.  The CDC,
of course.  They are a clearing house, and coordinator of information,
with the expertise on call or on file, to deal with such things.
Why not create a division such as a computer virus task force?
It is so far different and removed from biological viruses, and
at same time the dynamics of such a bug immediately suggest the same
logistical approach.  Maybe they aren't so different after all.

I have a funny feeling that computer viruses will be a more common,
even eventually mundane, phenomenon in the future.  They are
probably here to stay.  For every lock, there is a key.

If anyone has ties to the CDC, or has an intelligent followup,
I would encourage such discussion, and contact with the proper
authorities at CDC.

The Seeds of an Idea Who's Time Has Come...

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CLAIMER:  Well -- I wrote it!                       Eric Alan Neulight
"Nothing is Impossible -- Just Impractical."      Electrical Engineering
"For every lock, there is a key."                 Computer Science House
"INSANITY is just a state of mine."         Rochester Institute of Technology
    BITNET: EAN4762@RITVAX       UUCP: ...!rutgers!rochester!ritcv!ritcsh!sic
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