Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL!CMCDONALD
From: CMCDONALD@WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (Chris McDonald)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: When did comptuer viruses really start?
Message-ID: <12468525996.9.CMCDONALD@WSMR-SIMTEL20>
Date: 6 Feb 89 15:38:55 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
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In response to Mr. Buck, Fred Cohen never claimed that he wrote the first
virus, at least not in his PhD dissertation.  Fred stated there that his 
faculty advisor, Leon Adelman, had coined the term "virus" during a class-
room discussion on an experiment that Fred had proposed.  The dissertation
references earlier projects which Fred used as the rationale for his work
and subsequent investigation.  Both the Virus-L and RISKS Forum postings
have over the years had claims that "virus" programs could be traced back
to the mid 70's, if not the early 70's.  The problem is two-fold:  one of
authenticating the claims; and one of drawing a clear distinction between
virus, trojan horse, worm and bacterium.  Fred's dissertation gave a very
specific definition for "virus" which unfortunately is often mangled:
namely, a Program that can infect other programs by modifying them to include a possibly evolved copy of itself.

Fred eventually received his degree and taught at Lehigh and the University of
Cincinnati.  He appears now to be a consultant and lecturer in the private
sector.  At the beginning of 1988 his thesis and another work on information 
protection were available from the University of Cincinnati on an inter-
library loan basis.  I do not know if they are still available.
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