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Text File | 1991-03-26 | 15.9 KB | 381 lines

Hard Disk Secure V1.05 Copyright TeraTronics Consulting Stuart Macdonald 1991 Shareware Notice: I have undertaken a considerable effort to create both this Security utility and the corresponding installer utility and to painstakingly ensure that it works flawlessly on a multitude of configurations. As with any Shareware utilities that alter your system, I strongly suggest that you perform regular backups of your system on tape or disk(s). If you find this software useful then please help out my future efforts by sending $20.00 per copy to: Stuart Macdonald 107 Horizon Road Palmdale, CA 93551 USA Documentation for disk security program(s). Programs: Install.exe - Self-contained Installation utility Secure.sys - Config.sys-based Device Driver for password protection upon IPL Secure.doc - This Help file SetVar.Exe - Utility to dynamically change the Disk protection options Format and Write protection. This Security utility, combined with the secure.sys driver, offers a substantial increase in hard disk security over other security mechanisms. This utility comes with the following features: 1) Prevent unauthorized access to Hard disk by using an eight character sign on password(secure.sys). This utility will allow the user to enter up to an eight character password. If incorrect, the user will be informed and the system will halt. If correct then the system will continue loading the operating system. The User/intruder can not break out of this prompt by pressing CTRL-C. 2) Prevent unauthorized access to the Hard disk if the system is booted from the floppy drive. DOS will not be able to find a valid Hard drive. This ability is gained through running the Install.exe utility. 3) Prevent accidental Format of Hard disk. This option, if enabled, will prevent the DOS Format command from formatting any Tracks on the Hard Disk. 4) Prevent any Writes to Hard disk. This option, if enabled, will prevent any BIOS and DOS -level Writes to the Hard Disk. This utility can be useful in the event that LAN Gateway or Bridge PC's are placed in a "non-trusted" area. This utility could also offer some protection against viruses that attempt to install themselves onto the Hard disk(assuming that the utility is first loaded to the Hard disk or executed from the Floppy disk). Compatibility Notes: This software has been verified to work without any problems with the following LAN workstation shells: Banyan VINES, Novell Netware and LAN Support Program. This software has been verified to work with: IBM DOS 3.0 IBM DOS 3.3 Microsoft DOS 3.3 Microsoft DOS 5.00.449 Compaq DOS 3.31 Compaq DOS 4.01 Microsoft Windows 3.0. QEMM 5.11 Banyan VINES 4.00, 4.02 Redirectors Novell Netware 2.15 Redirectors The only requirement is DOS 3.0 or greater since the Installer uses features not found in earlier versions of DOS. This software has been verified to work on the following systems: IBM PC, PC-XT, PC-AT(all), PS/2(30,50,55SX,60,70,80(386)) ESDI and MFM drives. NCR (all i286 and i386 workstation models) COMPAQ Portable 386. PC-AT Clones running Phoenix, Award and Chips and Technologies BIOS. *** NOTE *** Will Not Work on an NCR i486 system with SCSI drives. (Current Incompatibility) However, if installed from A: drive, the system can be restored to its original state by running the install utility to remove the security feature. Please not that with some Virus detection software you will get a message "Invalid Disk Media Access" - Don't worry, this is normal as the Install.exe utility modifies the Disk partition table. Memory Requirements: Security Feature 1,024 Bytes of NON-DOS Memory. DOS Memory Reduced by 1KB Secure.sys 94 Bytes of DOS Memory. INSTALL.EXE Requires DOS 3.0 or greater and at least 128KB of Memory. HOW TO INSTALL THE SECURITY UTILITY: *** NOTE *** For your own protection, please install this utility from the A: drive on a bootable diskette (format a:/s...). This is your protection if you are running on a non-tested platform. Resolving a problem is as simple as re-running the Install utility to automatically restore the original partition. 1) Type INSTALL S <enter> - You should get a message that Install.EXE can be distributed. If Not then you have a copy of Install.exe that has already been installed somewhere and therefore you can't use it. 2) Type INSTALL H <enter> - This will provide you with a help screen in case you decide to blaze through this document and forget/overlook the option switches. 3) The parameters for the Install.exe are as follows: INSTALL option(s) Where Options are: H : Help Screen that reviews options and commands A : About screen that advertises the product P:Password : Up to eight character case-sensitive password Default password is "PASSWORD" O:Options : Security options: F : Disable BIOS and DOS Format commands for Hard Disk only. W : Disable BIOS and DOS Write commands for Hard Disk only. Example: Install P:Hello O:FW : Password = "Hello" which is not equal to "HELLO" or "hello", Options = Format and Write protection ON. Install O:F : Password defaults to "PASSWORD", Options = Format protection ON, Write protection OFF. 4) Run Install.exe with the appropriate command line parameters. Please note that input redirection is not supported. Please note that Install.exe will check to see if it, or another copy, has already been installed on the Hard disk. If so, then Install.exe will terminate with the appropriate message. For the upmost in protection, Install.exe should be run from the A: drive on a formatted system diskette. 5) After Install.exe has completed, you will be prompted to press any key to reboot. After rebooting, the system will load as usual with no apparent changes to the end-user. If there are any error messages then please note them down and contact me via E-mail on Compuserv. 6) Save a copy of the Install.exe file since it is now specific to your system( specifically, your hard disk). The Install.exe file, after running, will contain a copy of the pre-existing partition table. Once installed, you will not be able to run Install.exe on any other system except the one that it was originally installed on. Furthermore, Install knows when it has been installed, and if run again on the same Disk, will attempt to remove itself. If you save this file to a floppy(strongly suggested) then please ensure that the floppy is "self booting" (format a:/s). Doing this will allow you to restore your system to its original state from the Floppy disk. Naturally, leave this diskette in a very safe place. 7) At this point, the Secure.sys utility can be placed into the Config.sys file. This driver should(but doesn't have to be) be the first driver in the Config.sys file. Also, this driver is only required if one wishes to have Password protection before gaining access to the Hard Disk. It is not required for Format or Write protection or for preventing a user from booting from the A: drive and accessing the Hard disk. 8) After installing the Secure.sys utility, manually reboot the PC. 9) When the PC is processing the Config.sys file, the user will be prompted for a password in order to gain access to the system. Type the same password as was done for the Install.exe utility. HOW TO REMOVE THE SECURITY UTILITY: 1) Remove or comment out the Secure.sys utility from the Config.sys file. If you accidentally remove the security system before removing or commenting out the Secure.sys file, don't worry - Secure.sys will sense that the security system is absent and will not interfere with the DOS loading process. 2) Take the earlier-saved Install.exe file and run it from either the Hard or Floppy disk. You can even boot from the floppy disk and then run install.exe. 3) Type Install P:password Where P: Password is the earlier-mentioned password used with Install.exe. if you did not use a password when Install.exe was previously run then this field can be omitted. example : Without a password type INSTALL <enter> Note: If a password was used during the installation phase then one must be entered in order to remove the security system. 4) The Install.exe utility will check the Disk to ensure that it is the same one used during the Installation phase. If the disk is the same then Install.exe will replace the current Partition sector with the original partition sector. You must use the Install.exe, or a copy of, that was used in the installation process - this is software enforced and there are no exceptions. 5) When complete, Install will prompt you to press any key to Reboot. 6) After rebooting, the system will be restored to its original pre-installation state. Since Install.exe does not support StdIn or StdOut, a DOS return code is provided to indicate program completion status or a failure point. Install.exe will display Text messages indicating the cause of any failure. HOW THE SECURITY SYSTEM WORKS The Install.exe utility saves a copy of the current partition sector which is comprised of both partition loader code and the actual partition tables. Install.exe then copies an internally-generated, serialized, Partition image to the hard Disk. Each Partition image is virtually guaranteed to be unique due to a 32-bit random number that is seeded off of the internal BIOS clock. Install.exe, once installed, will never allow itself to be installed on another system. Further, it will not attempt to remove a partition image that it did not specifically create. Install.exe will only remove itself from the system that it was originally installed on. As an added measure of security, if a password was specified during installation then one will be required for removal. This strict enforcement is critical since the original Partition table is stored in the Install.exe file in case the software needs to be removed/upgraded. Only after Install.exe has completed an Install/Remove cycle can the Install.exe file again be freely distributed to other co-workers. If you attempt to run a copy of install.exe that has already been installed but not removed, it will automatically terminate. To check the state of your copy of install.exe, type Install S <enter> This Security application does not modify DOS in any way. It is a BIOS-level utility that is completely transparent to DOS. This means that when you Format system diskettes, they are no different than they were before Install.exe was installed. This Security utility will allow you to re-partition your Hard Disk, provided that the Write protect option is disabled. It will also allow you to Format your Hard disk, provided that the Format protect option is disabled. Formatting or running Fdisk will have no effect on the Security utility as long as the system is booted from the C: drive. When you boot from the Floppy drive, you loose this Write/Format protection. However, DOS applications can not correctly read the partition sector when booted from a Floppy. Fdisk or Format can be run at any time and will not effect, or be effected by the presence of this utility. The security that this utility provides is that the Hard Disk is not accessible if the system is booted from a Floppy Disk. Provided that the Secure.sys utility is used, the Hard Disk is virtually safe from unwanted "guests." Like any form of security, this system, is not completely invincible to the serious Hacker who has nothing better to do than to break into systems. However, it is felt that this form of security is adequate enough to protect against break-ins from the majority of PC users/programmers. KNOWN PROBLEMS: Although I have done my best to fully test this product, to prevent any serious problems, I insist that the best protection is to run Install.exe from a Floppy drive and keep the file in a safe place(perhaps make several copies using the following command: COPY INSTALL.EXE A:INSTALL.EXE /V In this manner, if there is ever a problem, I could E-mail you a Partition table restoration utility within hours that would restore your Partition to its original state. As mentioned above, the software will not currently run on NCR i486 systems with SCSI due to an incompatibility problem. Have Fun and feel free to drop me a line on how you have used this software in your environment and any suggestions/product enhancements that you would like to see in a future release. I can be reached on Compuserve as: "Stuart Macdonald" Have Fun! ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of Public (software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. Please direct shareware payments and specific questions about this program to the author of the program, whose name appears elsewhere in this documentation. If you have trouble getting in touch with the author, we will do whatever we can to help you with your questions. All programs have been tested and do run. To report problems, please use the form that is in the file PROBLEM.DOC on many of our disks or in other written for- mat with screen printouts, if possible. PsL cannot debug pro- programs over the telephone, though we can answer questions. 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