Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:47899 comp.sys.mac.programmer:12131
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pacbell!hoptoad!tim
From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Mosaic & FontFinder VIRUS!
Message-ID: <10038@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 4 Feb 90 07:27:17 GMT
References: <19051@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney)
Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco
Lines: 20

Thanks for the information!  One nit -- this is not any kind of virus.
It's a trojan horse.  A virus piggybacks on existing legitimate files
to propagate itself as they are propagated and executed.  A trojan
horse is an inherently illegitimate file which is specifically designed
for destructive purposes; it does not piggyback at all, but masquerades
as a legitimate file in order to get an unsuspecting user to run it.

It's possible to combine a virus and a trojan horse (is there a name
for this yet?) -- this would be a non-viral program that existed for
the purpose of infecting a system with a virus which would then spread
by piggybacking -- but they are not basically the same thing, and these
particular trojan horses do not appear to be viral.
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com

"The Diabolonian position is new to the London playgoer of today, but not to
 lovers of serious literature.  From Prometheus to the Wagnerian Siegfried,
 some enemy of the gods, unterrified champion of those oppressed by them, has
 always towered among the heroes of the loftiest poetry."
    - Shaw, "On Diabolonian Ethics"