Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!ubu.cc.lehigh.edu!virus-l From: DAB3@LEHIGH (David A. Bader) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: IEEE Article on LapLink Message-ID: <0003.8906061149.AA01798@ubu.CC.Lehigh.EDU> Date: 6 Jun 89 13:34:12 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Reply-To: VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU Lines: 21 Approved: virus-l@ubu.cc.lehigh.edu In June 1989 issue of IEEE's Spectrum magazine, there is an article on "Virtually a virus, but for a good cause" : Computer Viruses -- and other programs that disrupt networks or other- wise play havoc with computer systems -- have been in the limelight lately. Now an over-the-counter program advertises a utility that lets it clone itself from one microcomputer to another over a cable. The facility is not a virus, but it behaves like one -- except that the target must agree to be "invaded." Nor is it a simple COPY command, since it copies files from the domain of one independent system into that of another. The program is LapLink III, a file-transfer utility from Traveling Software, Inc., Bothell, Wash. To transfer files from a PC with LapLink intstalled to a second machine without it, users enter a one-line command, and the program will send a copy of itself across the wire. However, Traveling Software has built in a safeguard: the program installs itself only if the user types the MS-DOS MODE command to alert the second PC's operating system that a file is to be received. By requiring that the receiving machine be notified of the transfer, LapLinks' designers have reduced the chance of malice. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------