Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!deimos!eecea!gordon
From: gordon@eecea.eece.ksu.edu (Dwight Gordon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Binary: McAfee's SCANV52 (latest version, includes AIDS)
Message-ID: <931@eecea.eece.ksu.edu>
Date: 7 Jan 90 13:13:57 GMT
References: <1027@tuminfo1.lan.informatik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de> etc.
Reply-To: gordon@eecea.UUCP (Dwight W. Gordon)
Organization: Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Lines: 31


In article <7664@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> was written:
>
>I feel that there is no significant risk in obtaining such programs from 
>moderated newsgroups, WSMR-SIMTEL20, or McAfee's BBS in particular, but I
>think that anyone that downloads such stuff from unmoderated discussion groups
>such as this one [comment deleted ]
>. . .  It is doubtful that the
>poster would be stupid enough to distribute a virus in such a way
>intentionally (with his/her name and e-mail address attached :-), but very
>probable that a virus could thus be sent out UNintentionally.

  A while back (while I was working toward my degree at Lehigh University),
somebody broke password security on a number of Lehigh mainframe accounts.
This person sent disturbing [disturbed? :-( ] messages to a number of the
staff from a particular account.  The messages came with an email return
address of that particular account.  The owner of that account had NOTHING
to do with the mailings.  Anybody who both 1) lacks the professional ethics 
and 2) has the skills enough to write and distribute a virus could also get
a bogus account (or falsely-used account) from which to distribute their
virus.  Such a virus could have a profound effect on the net.
  Use binaries posted to unmoderated groups at your own risk!  (Isn't that
always the case anyway?)

- Dwight -

-- 
Dwight W. Gordon, Ph.D.  |   913-532-5600    |   gordon@eecea.eece.ksu.edu
Electrical & Computer Engineering Department |     dwgordon@ksuvm.bitnet
Kansas State University - Durland Hall       | rutgers!ksuvax1!eecea!gordon
Manhattan, KS 66506      | {pyramid,ucsd}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!ksuvax1!eecea!gordon