Xref: utzoo comp.sys.atari.st:14247 comp.sys.apple:10262 comp.sys.mac:27258 comp.sys.ibm.pc:25197
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle
From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Re: Right of reply, virus- public, private- a thin line
Message-ID: <15022@cup.portal.com>
Date: 24 Feb 89 09:19:28 GMT
References: <14940@cup.portal.com> <817@sering.cwi.nl>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 34

Frank Rahmani writes:
 
>I want to see the source too. So that I know what hits me in the night.
>I'm very shure I wan't use them destructively (except on my own stuff:-).

OK, You trust me, and I trust you...    what about all those 16 year old
hackers out there "in the audience" that we both might not trust..?
 
>Yes, you are better prepared when you know what ALL (not most) viruses
>look like. Once you got one, you can easily identify it, write your own
>virus-checkers etc.
 
OK, maybe you and I can do this, and write our own "virus checkers" to
protect ourselves...
 
But what about the computer "users" like my mother... or the print shop
owner I just talked to today, whose hard drive was infested with a "virus"
inadvertantly, and whose business was hanging in the balance..?
 
HE was lucky... he knew enough to be able to salvage his disks and HD..
but I seriously doubt he'd have been able to write his own "virus
checker".. the customer whose disk had infected his HD certainly didn't,
and  the print shop owner was up until midnight, trying to "vaccinate"
the customer's disks too...
 
I understand what you're saying, and I agree with most of it... but until
we can guarantee that what we post here won't harm someone, somewhere,
I still think that we should try to refrain from spreading this kind of
knowledge...
 
I know that we can't totally "surpress" this kind of information, but maybe
we can slow its progress...  ?
 
BobR