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CRYPT NEWSLETTER 20 -=Nov-Dec 1993=- Editor & Publisher: Urnst Kouch Tech Editor: Kohntark; Bureau Chief/Media Critic: Mr. Badger CRYPT INFOSYSTEMS BBS: 818-683-0854 INTERNET: ukouch@delphi.com ------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE: The Virtual Unemployment Boom: The Bund Plays On & Your "Virtual Boss". . . Mr. Badger embarrasses himself with "The Joy of CyberSex" . . . the story on "Network Security Secrets" . . . CAJR (Computer Assisted Journalism Review) by Badger . . . KohnTark's News-Bites: untruth in advertising & dial a military simulation . . . Jim Lipshultz comments on corporate efforts to control virus programming through legislation . . . Manipulating volatile CMOS data with the K-CMOS virus . . . Firefly: an aggressively anti-anti-virus virus with a visual marker . . . much more. THE VIRTUAL UNEMPLOYMENT BOOM: BAD CRAZINESS ON THE ROAD TO THE GREAT FREE-LANCE SOCIETY The electronic sweatshop is here to stay. Having crept upon us sometime around 1988, it now extends everywhere, much to the gut-clenching dismay of journeyman American computer programmers and techno-help who are now sharing a national harvest of sour, rotting fruit from the burgeoning "virtual workplace" they helped start. Ironically, according to a late November issue of The Los Angeles Times, they're being thrown out of work by an army of cheap free-lancers descending from the former Iron Curtain republics. The Crypt Newsletter has already noted that Communist programmers from the eastern Soviet states and Bulgaria were - according to anti-virus software developers - so mad at a world which had passed them by, they bent themselves to the incredible task of incinerating the West's personal computers with an Old Testament-like plague of computer viruses. Although no solid statistical evidence existed to support this wild story, it was repeated often enough in popular science, news and computing magazines that it took on the patina of truth. The reality has been different. With Communism gone, the same alleged disgruntled programmers have flooded into Southern California, providing a cheap, malleable pool of disorganized techno-labor. The programmers, residing in the US as "guests" are thought to number about 150,000 as compared to 1.5 million American software programmers. The foreign nationals, unlike their American counterparts, will work for minimum wage and some California software developers like Sun Microsystems, which hired 50 Muscovites, and Borland International which used Hungarians to overhaul its ailing Quattro Pro package, have been quick to employ them. This has accelerated the trend toward the "virtual corporation" or completely free-lance society in which the only real employees of businesses are at the very top; where all other workers are reduced to catch-as-catch-can service vendors, with the bottom line bidding established by developing nation wage scales, wage scales incompatible with what most Americans feel constitutes an acceptable standard of living. In California, programmers are merely the most recent citizens to be thrown to the jaws of a developing free-lance community. Apparel, construction and manufacturing workers have been there for some time already, where they've been displaced by corporations which employ only immigrants. This has fostered a blame-the-aliens mentality, a mindset which blinds many to the real driving force, the idea of a totally free-lance work force. That this would trash any spirit of community or the fabric of regular American society is not in the equation. Surprisingly, it has not been a matter for significant debate in the mainstream media. Perhaps the only data worth considering comes from the following table, reproduced by the Times and generated by one Casper Jones, a "Boston-based productivity consultant." The cost of computer code per relative cost/unit: Poland $155.00 Hungary $175.00 Mexico $200.00 United States $1,000.00 (an approximately five-fold increase over Hungarian and Mexican code) Management decisions become easy when the exhaust of human existence is reduced to the banality of three-digit numbers. In 1988, journalist Barbara Garson's "The Electronic Sweatshop" predicted 1993. Garson interviewed managers and decision-makers. One told her computer programmers were mere process workers - interchangeable, easily replaced, reducible to mechanized cogs, only they hadn't yet realized it. According to Edward Youlden, management consultant and author of "The Decline and Fall of the American Programmer," it's essentially a bed we made, and now it's time to lay in it. American-designed software is kind of crappy and full of bugs. "It's like the 1950's and 1960's, when we took it for granted autos would have defects," Youlden told The Times. In the conclusion of "The Electronic Sweatshop," Garson draws powerful comparison between the first industrial revolution and the creation of the automechanical, virtual workplace now being installed by US industry. "It was a horrible hundred years, justified in the name of progress," writes Garson. ". . . At this point, in the history of white collar automation, we can still discern some of the irrational, antihuman choices being made. A few years from now it will be difficult to see that there might have been other ways . . ." The current reduction of employees to free-lance, or at best, temporary tools shows a profound, unconscious contempt for the social contract on the part of American upper management. Finally, the electronic sweatshop, or virtual workplace, is arranged, according to Garson, "on the assumption that most people are lazy, stupid or hostile." THE VIRTUAL UNEMPLOYMENT BOOM II: FLOYD KEMSKE'S "THE VIRTUAL BOSS" Into the sucking void of the virtual workplace steps one of the best pieces of speculative fiction published this year, Floyd Kemske's "The Virtual Boss" (Catbird Press, $19.95). Kemske, who must sleep with his library of Franz Kafka novels (the alert will note the author's initials, "FK"), has created a near future where Barbara Garson's "The Electronic Sweatshop" is taken to its logical conclusion. It could easily be America in two years. D. F. Jones is the head of Information Accuracy, Inc., a cryptic consulting and analysis firm in Boston. Jones has turned over the firm to complete supervision by an artificial intelligence software construct. All workers report through terminals to the software. The software hectors them electronically, following employees into homes through computerized TV's and the average pc; it even interrupts the harried while they peck at bank ATM's on breaks. One idiot savant, D. F. Jones's son, lurches about the building with a hand-held scanner, vacuuming all loose paperwork into the computer. Workers cower and either try to commit everything to memory or construct elaborate plans to avoid the scanner man. Petty notes wind up in the computer's memory, used to bully workers into frightened submission with the ultimate threat: "You'll lose your job." [Aside: Those who enjoy their humor twisted and sardonic may recall D. F. Jones was the author of "Colossus: The Forbin Project," that sci-fi novel which presupposed mankind's affairs being completely supervised by military supercomputer. Forbin, who installed Colossus, like "The Virtual Boss's" D. F. Jones, was writ as a social misfit, incapable of even keeping his wife's interest. Colossus, like D. F. Jones's company system in "Virtual Boss," metamorphoses into its instigator's father confessor.] Jones has put the system in place, not because he knows anything about technology or computers per se, but because he hates dealing with people, period. The distrust springs from a series of disastrous jobs where Jones himself worked for inhuman creeps, or was a complete management failure. An early telemarketing job puts Jones under a pig martinet named Bernard who rants, "Go down your list and call each one. Ask him if he needs assistance in grabbing his ass with both hands. Tell him we've got well-educated and highly-credentialed ass-grabbers who will come to his fucking institution and show him how to do it. Tell him that some of them are even capable of remaining sober for the occasion and many of them have never been in jail. Got that?" Jones stumbles into the top position at Information Accuracy and proceeds to alienate or dismiss every one of the current employees except for Linda, a brainlessly chattering systems programmer. Jones and Linda get it on, which encourages Linda to suggest installing the management software. Jones digs the idea, strongly believing that employees not pressed into atomized, isolated labor exist only to slow the rush to profit. Linda, of course, is dismissed by the software after it no longer needs her tweaking. Symbolically, she gets canned after the system backs itself up successfully onto an old, creaky tape drive. By then the programmer is suffering brain-clamping panic seizures at the prospect of having to grapple with the want ads, this world's lowest ring of Hell. "The Virtual Boss" is a pearl of great price, humorous and absorbing but black as sack cloth. And it portrays software and computers as they are: The "Virtual Boss" does not talk, it is not multimedia; there are no virtual reality Wehrmacht helmets, no mirror shades, no shimmering holograms, no cyborg brain sockets which spring from "the matrix" - just the subliminal hum of the monitor, the empty blinking of the cursor, the exploding shadow box and implacable artificial intelligence of software, throttling the spirit until it liquifies into thin, characterless gruel. APPENDIX: SOME FINAL NOTES FOR YOUR VIRTUAL UNEMPLOYMENT BOOM CLIPBOARD >>Philips Electronics in Dordrecht, Netherlands, recently announced it would move equipment and jobs to Hungary, taking advantage of lower wages in eastern Europe. Forty of a staff of 300 at the Dordrecht factory would be canned by the move. The factory manufactures drive motors for video recorders, CD players and computers. >>IBM Deutschland announced in November it would eliminate 9,500 jobs by 1995, more than one third of its current work force. Worldwide, IBM has stated it will cut at least 85,000. IN THE READING ROOM: "THE JOY OF CYBERSEX" AND MR. BADGER - TOWARD A NEW CAD (Computer Assisted Degradation) PARADIGM Mr. Badger has just returned from an extended trip to Wyoming. As the lamas of eastern lore, I have ascended the snowy peaks and meditated upon the nature of truth while subjecting the body to a rigid denial of fleshy desires. I descend from the mountains kinder of disposition and purer of heart. So, of course, this review is about smut. Cybersmut, precisely: a review of a book about "cybersex." But, paradoxically, much of the book, called "The Joy of CyberSex," is spent explaining how "cybersex" doesn't really exist. Have I lost you yet? Thought so. Let me start anew. But pay attention, because I'm only going to explain it once. "The Joy of CyberSex" is published by Brady. Subtitled as "The Underground Guide to Electronic Erotica," it features the kind of pithy cover blurbs which beg for a Crypt Newsletter review. "Disk Inside! Erotic fun and games with 'Strip Poker Three' and 'Jigsaw Pinups!'" "Reviews of the 'steamiest' software and adult CD-ROMs," "Keyhole views into the backrooms of more than 30 online bulletin boards," "Computers and Sex? That's right - you no longer need a warm-blooded partner to attain the heights of sexual pleasure and fantasy. In fact, these days all you need is some RAM, a few quick strokes on your keyboard, and a good color monitor. With 'The Joy of CyberSex,' computer terms such as 'hard drive,' 'interfacing,' and 'spreadsheets' will take on totally new and provocative meanings. You'll discover the new wild and steamy world of digital erotica - how to tune in and get turned on! From the relatively tame online services, to the frontiers of the sexually bizarre and explicitly interactive, you'll find your every desire satisfied." Astute readers will have already divined everything they need to know about this book. Are you an astute reader? Sharpen your #2 pencils then, class, because mixed with the various points I feel compelled to make, there is another Crypt Newsletter pop quiz in store. Now, by the spirits of Babbage, Boole, and von Neumann, how long must we suffer with atrocious syntax in computer related books? Does the acquaintance with binary numbers somehow destroy the brain cells that store vital details of English grammar? Is a book that sells for $24.95 not worth proofreading? So, in Question #1: Which of the following does NOT appear in the first ten pages of "The Joy of CyberSex?" a. "A computer with a modem that just sits there, stupid and silent, waiting for you to call up a telecommunications program." b. "Take a picture from a from your own collection, scan it, and then it's on your disk." c. "Either way, to avoid racking up excessive on-line charges mulling over file options, it's a smart idea to first the text file that catalogs and describes the various files." Answer: C -- it appears on page thirteen. I admit, it was a trick question. Next: Why, oh why, do writers keep coming up with such ludicrous techno-jargon? Even more vexing: Why do the authors create ridiculous words for things that don't exist? Has the Dr. Seuss library become required reading in classes on writing about technology? Question #2: Which of the following terms is NOT used in "The Joy of CyberSex?" a. Teledildonics b. Neuromimetic Sexual Experience c. Cyberlex d. CAM -- Computer Assisted Masturbation Answer: D -- Another trick question! I made it up! "Masturbation," however, is almost unused in the book; I could find it only three times, courtesy of Nick, founder of NixPix, an adult BBS, in interview with him. It's odd the authors of "CyberSex" don't refer to masturbation more. How curious that they speak of dirty talk via telephone and modem as "Cybersex." Imagery, by CD-ROM, .GIF, etc. - are all "Cybersex." But not masturbation. Sorry to be old-fashioned, mates, but the Oxford English Dictionary calls this "masturbation." Let me offer a guideline for those still lost: Look down. Is it your hand? If so, it's "masturbation." As for "teledildonics," I already know that it has been used by WELL icons like Howard Rheingold. It's STILL ridiculous, a close second to "Cyberlex," this book's way of providing "Quickie definitions of on-line communications terms." Stupid me. I thought these things were called glossaries. Which brings us to our next question. How did the authors manage to make erotica sound so nerdy? Question #3: Which of the following quotes is NOT found in "The Joy of CyberSex?" a. "Hooking the modem up is pretty easy - see the modem manual. It will will tell you to plug the modem inside the computer or to some jack on its back (things are getting frisky already!)." b. "Computers have wonderful little openings, and so do you and I. And a truly arousing experience on our friendly machines often requires something slipping in and out . . . You also need to 'turn on' the machine before it'll do anything nice. The analogy between the roles of software telling the computer what it will be, and what it will be able to do, to that of sperm carrying its own DNA messages is also obvious. So too is the analogy between the computer's operating system at one receiving end, and a woman's egg at the other." c. "If you're looking for some discreet companions into poker and good fellowship, then check out Kami and her pals in "Strip Poker Three." "It looks somewhat cruder (technically speaking) than the strip poker in the 'Fox Pack,' but it gets down to bare essentials a whole lot faster. Here's to good times, Ace." d. "Liquor in the front, poker in the rear." Answer: D. The first three are in the book. The "Joy of CyberSex" has more gayly arch nudge-nudge-wink-wink paragraphs than I could stand to quote. "CyberSex" also exhibits such mutually contradictory approaches that multiple personalities would be an advantage in reading it. I can imagine a meeting at Brady where everybody had a little input: Editor: This is hot. We can capitalize on sex, the oldest motivating factor of all. And on the information highway, one of the biggest news stories of the year. Lawyer: We can't get too explicit, though. We don't want to risk publishing anything that could be considered pornography by local community standards. Author: People _want_ to hear about the underground BBS's and we can say a lot about the available graphics. Publisher: But we can't risk being held up by Pat Robertson on the 700 Club. We do need to keep the readers interest, though. In the end, everybody got what they wanted in "CyberSex," except the reader, who is stuck with the type of humor normally not seen outside of comic book conventions. Mentioning comic book conventions brings me to the "Hot Disk!" What kind of segue is that, you ask? Comic books and computer disks are the only two items in the world that, having no intrinsic worth, become valuable when placed in plastic or mylar sleeves. Which brings us to our fourth and final test question: Question #4: The Joy of CyberSex Fantasy Disk: a. Contains a couple of crippled computer programs. b. Tries to sell you mail-order copies of the real programs. c. Is all of the above, AND so boring that it is now accepted anesthesia in most major hospitals. Answer: C. Two programs are included: Strip Poker Three and Jigsaw Pinups. Strip Poker Three can only be described in Artworx Software's own words: "There are three opponents to play against. Switch the opponent display at any time by clicking the mouse on the smaller opponent to swap opponents. Point and click the mouse (left button) to select bet options, bet amounts and cards to discard. "The demo ends when each opponent loses three articles of clothing. "The retail version, of course, goes much further. Since this is just a demo, once a computer opponent loses an article of clothing, all you get to see is the smaller window image; the main image remains the same." What does the "retail version" cost? Again, in their own words: "We are making a special half-price offer to purchasers of CYBERSEX: purchase STRIP POKER PROFESSIONAL at the regular $49.95 and you can purchase any DATA DISK, JIGSAW PINUPS or CENTERFOLD SQUARES for HALF PRICE!!! "Each DATA DISK for STRIP POKER PROFESSIONAL has two new opponents. There are six DATA DISKs. The retail price for each DATA DISK is $24.95. You can purchase any or all six DATA DISKs for just $12.50 each!!!" Let's see here: Seventy-five dollars ($74.50 off the retail price!) will buy pictures of 12 women. An additional fifty dollars will buy the program to see the pictures. Then the purchaser will then have to play a silly-assed game of poker as these pictures slowly become more and more revealing. And for some reason readers of "The Joy of Cybersex" will want to do this instead of just going to the newsstand and buying twenty to twenty-five Playboys/Penthouses (normal price $4.95, special issues $5.95) for the same amount of money. If, somehow, these quotes and facts haven't seemed funny to you, JIGSAW PINUPS may be for you. On sale to "Joy of Cybersex" readers for only $15.00 (regular price $29.95), it lets you assemble pictures and ". . . each pinup has a number of HOT SPOTS, which elicit a response (kiss, giggle, etc.) . . . when a piece is placed containing one, the sound is made, and when the puzzle is complete, pinup makes a comment. You may touch the HOT SPOTS for responses or click RIGHT mouse button to have pinup repeat comment." Again, for consumer purposes, $15.00 will buy the next three year's worth of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue. "The Joy of CyberSex" had a number of contributors, and one of them saved this book from being a total waste. Part three of "CyberSex," entitled "Mama Told Me Not to Come: Over the Lines and Across the Boards" was written by Nancy Tamosaitis. As a review of twenty-eight "adult" boards, I had expected a rehash of BBS ads. Tamosaitis did much better by not only choosing a wide range of systems to review but by also capturing the feel and tone of each with deft choices in republished electronic mail posts from the systems profiled. This section was larger than all the other chapters combined, and it deserved more room. Providing breadth and depth without gilding the lily is something of an abandoned art in American journalism. To see it practiced is a pleasure. The rest of the chapters included an overview of computer usage, reviews of CD-ROM videos, CD-ROM picture collections, computer games, computer magazines and virtual reality. By the end of the book, where there are reviews of hardcopy magazines such as Wired, Mondo 2000, and Future Sex, one gets the feeling that somebody was really reaching for filler. This is probably due to the writers having so little to examine. CD-ROM videos, for instance, are fighting a poor scan rate that makes their movies appear clunky. And CD-ROM picture collections are not sufficiently different or superior to old fashioned porno magazines. Interactive computer games still leave much to be desired as emulations of sex, much less as a substitute for it. In fact, to say they emulate sex at all is specious. Regular Crypt readers already know that virtual reality can barely imitate a walk around the kitchen, much less offer a simulacrum that can match the body's ability to feel heat, pressure, and texture. All in all, "The Joy of CyberSex" turns out to be content that can't live up to the hype. Rather obvious, though, don't you think? BOOKS RECEIVED: >>"On the Cutting Edge of Technology" multiple authors, Sams Publishing; $22.95 A collection of articles on "gee-whiz" technology. If it's a buzz word, "Cutting Edge" has a chapter on it: fractals, fuzzy logic, morphing, artificial life, and so on. Ask your local library to get it as a good basic introduction. Better yet, buy it and donate it to your local high school. >>"Morphing Magic" by Scott Anderson, Sams Publishing; $29.95. >>"The Magic of Image Processing" by Mike Morrison, Sams Publishing, $39.95. Both authors contributed to "On the Cutting Edge of Technology." As the titles indicate, Anderson's book concentrates on morphing and Morrison's covers a wider range of image manipulation. "Morphing Magic" includes source code for C programmers wishing to experiment. It also packs a fair amount of math needed to understand this, so if the world of Cartesian coordinates sends you into apoplectic seizures, forwarned is forarmed. The accompanying disk includes simple morphing software, the author's own movie player and some images to toy with. "The Magic of Image Processing" takes a more relaxed, less technical approach: Crypt readers can take a clue from the diskettes, which contain only programs that work inside Windows. ------------------------------------------------------------ "NETWORK SECURITY SECRETS" BENEFITS FROM PUBLIC ACCESS INFORMATION ON THE DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY'S 'UNDERGROUND' SECURITY BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM "Network Security Secrets," by David Stang, Ph.D., and Sylvia Moon, (IDG Books, $49.95) is the first mainstream publication which benefits directly from the accumulated data on Kim Clancy's Dept. of Treasury bulletin board system (AIS), gagged earlier this year. Those unfamiliar with the case only need to know a bulletin board supervised by the Department of Treasury contained unadulterated hacker files which were given to callers interested in the material. Other computer security workers and anti-virus developers mounted a smear campaign which landed in the pages of The Washington Post, causing the system to withdraw the information. The original argument had been that it was information which would most benefit security managers unable to find the material elsewhere. The publication of "Network Security Secrets," proves the argument a valid one, although it tries hard to deny it. In keeping with the political correctness of the times (read _hypocrisy_), the book fails to directly cite the material gathered from the Dept. of Treasury system while reprinting portions of it essentially verbatim. Of course, this makes "Network Security Secrets" a very interesting read. One of Stang's central points in "Security Secrets" is that good security stems from bringing necessary information to the workers employed where the rubber meets the road. This practice, he writes, is often opposed to management interested only in imposing a rigid heirarchical structure on the workplace. The workers who will have to deal with security problems such as intrusion from desk-top dial-ups, password and access control plus the occasional virus aren't thought to be trustworthy enough to be brought into the information loop. "Network Security Secrets" says this is bad and it's correct. Consequently, where does quality information come from; where is it gathered? In the chapter "Bulletin Boards and Security" under "Looking at the Dark Side," Stang published a screen display taken from the Department of Treasury, of which he says, "We doubt the agency was aware of this part of its board," which presumes quite a bit, incorrectly, I might add. In any case, "This part of the board" lists the hacking files culled from PHRACK and other underground journals and BBS's. The data addresses viruses, telephonic and network security concerns. "Manly Hacking" is one such entry. Written by "Shit-Kicking Jim," it was only found on Clancy's sytem prior to publication in a later issue of PHRACK. "Network Security Secrets" also reprints an underground document gained from AIS called "Hacking Novell Local Area Networks" and marks it with one of those happy little icons computer books are seeded with to satisfy readers whose reading comprehension is deemed not much beyond "First Grade Coloring Book Exercises." The icon is a treasure chest marked "Secret: This icon points to information which gives some special insight into network security." The book also republishes material on network hacking programs NETCRACK and GETIT, a resident password and keystroke leech, all gained from AIS. So that answers the question: Yes, information written by the computer underground is valuable, worthy of exposure in a $50 mainstream computer volume. By the same token, Stang writes, "This is a sensitive subject, and some may argue the information may land into the wrong hands. We'll argue that it's already in the wrong hands and the 'good guys' need to know what they're up against." And that's the same argument Treasury used to defend AIS, a system Stang labels from "the Dark Side." What a poor sport! Stang and Moon wrestle on and off with the idea of information access throughout the book, coming down more in favor of those who weirdly think that by publishing such information, you somehow endorse it. They mention book publishers who specialize in so-called fringe subjects as lock-picking and personal revenge. "No, we won't give you their address!" they write. In the same paragraph "Network Security" mentions "Make 'Em Pay," one paperback devoted to practical jokes and payback techniques. Published by Lyle Stuart, I found "Make 'Em Pay" in the humor section of Crown Books, the largest generic bookstore chain in California. So much for the stone reality of access control, a reality which corporate management appears to work hard to ignore. Despite these major idiosyncracies, "Network Security Secrets" is still a better than average book on the subject. Stang works hard to avoid jargon, failing only when he hands off to someone else in a chapter on encryption: ". . . the DES was promulgated by NIST to provide a system that protects the confidentiality and integrity of the federal government's sensitive unclassified computer information. FIPS PUB 46 is based on work at IBM and has been approved as the American National Standard X3.92-1981/R1987." Sadly, it appears there will never be a shortage of computer writers who specialize in jargo-hackese. "Network Security Secrets" also sports a slight, dry sense of humor. On bulletin boards, Stang writes "Does the software include the use of a SYSOP-editable trashcan file of caller names that are immediately ejected ('hacker,' 'crap,' 'John Dvorak," and so on)?" I had to laugh at that one. At $50, even with two diskettes, "Network Security" isn't cheap. But it does give you your money's worth as a reasonably detailed overview of PC network security. [Addendum: Stang, who represents Norman Data Defense Systems, was the man the Secret Service called when its networks were contaminated with the Satan Bug virus.] --------------------------------------------------------- MR. BADGER ON CAJR: COMPUTER ASSISTED JOURNALISM REVIEW (pronounced "caj-ur," accent on the first syllable) As readers of the last issue may recall, I had rather harsh comments for two of this nation's "differently-abled" minorities: journalists and trekies. That was good, because they're scum. But the mysterious and invisible powers that administer the steel-toed boots of retribution to all tellers of truth have cast their eyes upon the lowly Mr. Badger. Caught digging holes where no badger has dug before, I find myself reviewing not one, but TWO articles from separate journalism magazines. But more pyschologically troubling, honesty forces me to review an entire book filled with characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The first piece was printed in the November/December issue of the Columbia Journalism Review. Written by Katherine Fulton and entitled "Future Tense: The Anxious Journey of a Technophobe," this article is a miniature Horatio Alger story of one journalist's rise from technophobe to technophile. It's fairly easy to empathize with a seasoned editor - ten years experience - who suddenly tries to grasp the significance of computer technology while at Harvard. I think most readers would enjoy this tale because Fulton exhibits two classic traits of a hacker: A willingness to get in over one's head, and a desire to figure out whether the "authorities" are full of crap. Her three-point advice to fellow journalists ought to be embossed on computer monitors across the country: - Put your feet up [a reading list] - Get paid to learn - Explore Fulton recommends "Wired" magazine [ . . . pause, while we wait for the local authorities to talk Urnst into relinquishing the clawhammer he's brandishing crazily], but she's a beginner and just hasn't had the opportunity to read the Crypt Newletter. Mr. Badger will grade on a curve and give the article a solid A+ [once Urnst puts that gun metal claw tool down]. For those interested, there is also an article on "Newsweek InterActive," a CD-ROM version of Newsweek. Bah! The November AJR features a piece called "Small Paper, Big Project." It's written by Christopher Feola, "technological guru" for The Waterbury Republican-American, a mid-sized daily in Connecticut. Normally, Mr. Badger gives a heavy penalty stroke to "technological gurus" that have their picture taken with an unopened Microsoft Windows box in the foreground. But anybody who has convinced a newspaper publisher to pay for two thousand dollar laptops for staff reporters deserves no small measure of respect. (It has been rumored that newspaper publishers originally invented copper wire by pinching pennies so hard they had to find something new to do with the deformed coins, now extruded to gossamer length.) [Note bene: Yes, Crypt readers, the above is true. In 1823, the NPAA applied for a patent on the "wire editor" but was turned down by the US Patent Office on the grounds that it's impossible to patent people. "Wire editor" eventually came to have a different meaning altogether: the person in charge of making sense of the nonsense that comes in on the "information highway."] Examples of Feola's good sense and advice abound. To whit: "Look around your newsroom. Somewhere there is a computer. That's the one you need to get started. There are lots of great reasons for this: You should start with basic software, most of which runs on just about any machine you can find; and you're a lot more likely to get management to pop for new equipment once you've started showing what you can do with it. " . . . there are always three more things you need before you start doing computer-assisted journalism: a faster computer, a bigger disk drive to store your data and better software . . . Get on with it. "In the end, readers just don't care if you do a story on a multi-millon dollar Cray or a $3.98 calculator - as long as it's interesting." That's great advice from a mainstream journalist. Amazing. What will be next, righteous televangelists? Honest politicians? Efficient government? The only thing wrong is AJR's editors letting Feola get away with fool-speak like "computer-assisted journalism," which I've noticed sneakily sneaking into other publications. What? Doing your stories on the dumb terminal linked to the editorial mainframe isn't "computer-assisted journalism"? Filing from remote through the Tandy in 1989 (early Radio Shack portable with modem for you simpletons) wasn't "CAJ"? Using Telenet/Tymnet services to get at the VU/TEXT data retrieval system wasn't computer-assisted? Were the Keebler elves doing all of it? May a computer virus eat your lead-in. What "computer-assisted journalism" really means is this: Reporters and editors are finally hammering their skills into line with reality. End of rant, we now resume regular transmission. Last, and least, is the book "20th Century Computers and How They Worked: The Official Starfleet History of Computers" (Alpha Books), written by Jennifer Flynn. It is touted as the textbook for use at "Starfleet Academy." The "research" was done by "Lt. Commander Data, Operations Manager, U.S.S. Enterprise." So you get the idea: a presentation similar to a Time-Life book on how computers work laced with "Star Trek: TNG" ambience. Readers will not be shocked to hear that Mr. Badger wants to bring back the inflatable punching bag (you know, the kind with a bean bag at the bottom that little kids used to hit so they could watch it bounce back). New versions are to carry the image of Gene Roddenberry and be placed in all pre-school and kindergarten centers. There we will instill in impressionable young minds the one true foundation of western civilization: Don't give nerds an excuse to congregate OR the right to assemble. Readers _will_ be shocked and amused, however, by the fact Mr. Badger actually enjoyed "20th Century Computers." Oh, it's full of Star Trek quotes, Star Trek pictures, more Star Trek quotes, Star Trek diagrams, more Star Trek quotes, and even finishes with an appendix of Star Trek "technical notes." Regrettably, it's filled with Star Trek humor, too. "One major disadvantage to using dot-matrix printers was the noise they made . . . A colleague of mine who runs a museum showed me one of these early printer devices . . . and after hearing it work, I must say it's a wonder that human hearing ever survived the twentieth century. --Dr. Kate Pulaski, M.D., Starfleet Medical" Ha. Ha. Ha. Wry references like it litter the book. My personal favorite was in miniscule print by a diagram of how a CD-ROM worked: "Pursuant to Starfleet T.K.O. #1363K05/1 Approved for Publication Stardate 46588.24 Declassified Information" Intentional or not, I enjoyed seeing that disclaimer by numerous items like monitors and processor boards. I guess the editors are cynical enough to realize the National Security Agency will still be playing a role in "security" matters in the far future. Yes, "20th Century Computers" is geeky and I am shamed. But the actual computer instruction was comparable to the "Intro to Computers" class Mr. Badger was force-fed at the local technical college. And the production values were better, too. And no, I will not speak about this again. Ever. -------------------------------------------------------------- OF INTEREST: IRON JOE BOB BRIGGS, A HACKER? Really bored? Then grab a copy of the just out in paperback "Iron Joe Bob" by drive-in movie raconteur Joe Bob Briggs (Atlantic Monthly, $12.00). Joe Bob is a man's man with the answer to why the Western World is run by wimps. Think of him as a modern day Spengler, only you don't get all the dense prose and phil-O-ZAW-fi-GULL neologisms. That's right! This is just the book for those who like a daily draught of Arkansas polio weed. In "Iron Joe Bob," Joe Bob timetables the national erosion of privacy: "1973: All men are entitled to all information about their government. 1976: All men are entitled to all information about their government and their politicians and anybody running for office. 1980: All men are entitled to know everything about anybody who's running for office, in office or just a big shot. 1984: All men are entitled to know everything about anybody who's rich. 1987: All men are entitled to know everything about anybody who's a movie star or athlete or anything else where it seems like they're getting way too much money for whatever feeble thing it is that they do. 1991: All men are entitled to know everything about everybody." Man, it really makes sense when it's written like that. Joe Bob also knows why plastic pen pocket-protecter packing programmers like Bill Gates can't be trusted, too. "The guy who scores 1500 on his SATs. These people are psychopaths. They've spent seventeen thousand hours at a computer terminal by the age of twelve, and they will never have any social skills until at least the age of fifty-five, when they're on their fourth wife. They're the kind of people who insult everyone around them - not because they're trying to but because they're not paying attention. They're so proud of their minds, they have no hearts. They're great for talking about black holes - because they are black holes. "We tried these guys . . . They worked at Los Alamos during the war. We're still trying to clean up after 'em." Ha! Urnst Kouch says "Iron Joe Bob" is hot because if you know what I'm talking about, and I THINK YOU DO, it has everything you want to read, including: nekkid ladies, lezzie fu, beer and a whisky fu, hooker fu, liberal bashin' fu and conservative stompin' fu. Five stars. Check it out. SHE'S A MUST TO AVOID: In what must be the most fatuous use of computers this month, TIME - the glossy newsmagazine for Philistines and zero-brain tallywhackers, employed morphing software to blend 40 anonymously perfect models into "The New Face of America." Although astonishing to the editors, "The New Face of America" looked suspiciously like any of the 40 or so anonymously perfect models now preferred by MTV, women's fashion magazines and the stinko cologne/perfume ads which making reading publications controlled by the aristocracy such a drag. With the sunny, self-congratulatory tone which is de facto style for the magazine, editor James R. Gaines wrote, "As onlookers watched the image of our new Eve begin to appear on the computer screen, several staff members promptly fell in love. Said one: 'It really breaks my heart she doesn't exist." We sympathize with our lovelorn colleagues, but even technology has its limits. This is a love that must forever remain unrequited." [Violins swell in background.] Crypt Newsletters recommends lovelorn readers impress TIME editors with the limits of postal technology, perhaps by remitting a small wax-sealed parcel of dried, pressed roadkill as a unique token of unrequited appreciation. -------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS-BITES by K$hntark SOFTWARE UPGRADES: UNTRUTH IN ADVERTISING, PEACE IS WAR, 2 + 2 = 3, ETC. A couple of months ago, Central Point Software sent to all of its registered customers a full color upgrade brochure that included PCTOOLS v8.0a for DOS, PCTOOLS for Windows V1.0, Central Point Antivirus (CPAV) V2.0 and others. What caught my eye about the new CPAV 2.0 were these claims: "Central Point Antivirus is the only product that uses an expert system to detect new viruses. . ." and "The analyze feature is quite extraordinary . . . it is one of the best pieces of software I have ever seen," credited to Simon Shepherd, of the United Kingdom Computer Virus Certification Center." [One wonders what the organization actually does, certify computer viruses? For what?] Fair enough. But I was curious. How could something like CPAV 1.4, the first program to use - and I am not making this up, an "Idiot-System" - suddenly develop into something that claims to be the only software to use an expert system? (Note that both Frisk Software's F-Prot and Thunderbyte's TBAV use the mouthful, "rule-based heuristic analysis," which currently passes for "expert systems" INSIDE the industry.) I guess Americans have a better marketing sense than these Icelanders and Dutchmen. And a taste for carefully chosen dissembling that sells product. When I compared prices between CPAV V2.0 ($29.95) and PCTOOLS V8.0a ($49.95) and considered that the PCTOOLS advertisement mentions "Included are the same backup and AntiVirus Utilities we sell separately . . ." I decided to purchase PCTOOLS V8.0a. After a quick delivery, I tore open the package and tried the version of CPAV included in PCTOOLS on my set of anti-heuristic viruses. Strangely, I could not find the famous "analyze" feature; nor could I find anything in the documentation about the hyped "expert system." I noticed, too, that when the program was run, either on command line mode or on the menu system, the version of the program was unseen, except when you pull down the "about" choice from the main screen. I found that the version of CPAV that comes with PCTOOLS 8.0a is version 1.4 and NOT the one advertised in the brochure (version 2.0). This is sold separately. The trick is simple, the purpose clear: When the average user sees the ad they will purchase PCTOOLS thinking they are getting the latest version of the utilities sold separately. When the difference in versions is noticed, if ever, it might be too late to return the product and it will be time to purchase the newer, separate version of CPAV out of fear since "Every month, over 100 NEW viruses threaten to destroy your data," according to Central Point Software. (We wondered where those 100 NEW destructive viruses are coming from, since the virus-programming groups now seem to be writing politically correct "good" viruses . . . Imagine! Politically correct viruses! Another reason to damn the neo-intellectual shoeshine boys and girls of US academia! But that's a story for another day. Anyway, I guess 100 Jerusalem variants count as "NEW.") Unfortunately, none of the original investment in Central Point software is preserved. This spells: More cash money to Central Point Software and, clever marketing trick, read S-C-A-M, to the customers. Irate users that might have fallen into the trap of deceptive advertising, are greeted with the following from Central Point Customer Service telephone representatives: "I am sorry, but to get CPAV 2.0, you must purchase it separately." When an explanation is asked as to why this was not stated anywhere in the upgrade brochure/advertisement the following number was given in order to "Register a complaint": 503-690-8088. After calling this number (No 800 number to register a complaint?) I didn't received any rationalization, or even an explanation! As this article went to press, I received yet another advertising brochure from Central Point Software selling PC Tools Pro, which NOW contains Central Point Anti-virus 2.0 Conclusion: From now on, I will be upgrading this software via a local pirate system. Central Point has inadvertantly given idiot potency to the following phrase, popular among software thieves: Copy that floppy! Please do not report me to the Business Software Association, dear reader. DIAL A MILITARY SIMULATION The US Army is making details of its computer models and simulations available to anyone with a modem and an IBM compatible computer, Bloomberg Business News reported. The Models and Simulations Army Integrated Catalog, or MOSAIC, provides "a central comprehensive catalog of existing Army models and simulations," the Army says. Downloading information from MOSAIC is free. "They can get information from our combat, medical, training, or educational models, or on almost anything the Army models," said MOSAIC administrator Wanda Wharton. None of this information is classified. MOSAIC can be accessed with a 2400-baud modem by dialing (703) 607-3528 or with a 9600-baud device at (703) 607-3529. Source: NEWSDAY, Thursday November 4, 1993. -------------------------------------------------------- A READER CHAMPIONS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, INDEPENDENT VIRUS RESEARCHERS AND THE 1ST AMENDMENT On June 28th (Vol.7, Issue 16, P.26) of this year, Federal Computer Week published an article by John Stein Monroe entitled "McAfee Champions Virus Protection". I must take exception to many of the statements ascribed to Mr. McAfee. In the interview, Mr. McAfee asserts that: "...the government is less willing than any other user group in the country to openly address its computer virus problem." I cannot help but ask the following: How does it serve Anti-Virus Product Developers (AVPDs) to know the approximate number of microcomputer virus incidents affecting the federal government over the past year? Would the information be used to scare the public into thinking that they are doomed to some kind of virus-related catastrophe if they do not buy anti-virus software? I have to wonder if AVPD figureheads like Mr. McAfee are really crying out, like Henny-Penny, "THE SKY IS FALLING!" in hope of boosting sales. Next, Mr. McAfee states that: "By keeping mum, the government is making it difficult to contain the problem . . . Vendors and researchers who could help address the problems can't fight what they can't see. If the government doesn't open up and cooperate with the anti-virus community, knowledge of the viruses never reaches the research community. Before we can get our hands around the problem, [government agencies] must be open about the scale of the problem." This argument is incredibly weak! Surely we are not so ignorant as to believe the last sentence in the quote? As I see it, Mr. McAfee is trying to say that if the federal government collectively gave accurate information on all virus infections, he and other vendors could then stop virus infections by using the statistical data collected (excuse me while I break away from the keyboard for a good long laugh!). What he really means is that this information would be used to promote his product so sales and stock prices would increase (simple Econ 101). Isn't that what good marketing and being in business is all about? Other statements made in the interview illustrate an opinion I've held for quite a while: That there really is no BIG virus epidemic, contrary to what the public has been led to believe. "Part of the struggle in the industry is convincing computer users that the problems exist," said McAfee. "Virus awareness has grown in stages . . . we have turned the corner a number of times." The first turn, said McAfee, was in 1989, when the national press picked up the story of a virus expected to hit users nationwide. But the virus, Datacrime, "did not amount to much of anything, which put off the press for some time." The next turn came in February 1992, when several computer vendors shipped products infected with the so-called Michelangelo virus . . ." At this point, Federal Communications Week failed to report that nothing significant happened then either! It must be hard to convince computer users they have a virus problem when major infections are rare. Of course, it doesn't help that the AVPDs themselves have been guilty of crying "Wolf!" a few times too many. Two years ago analysts in the antivirus field were predicting a geometric explosion of viruses, with over 30,000 new variants forcast by the mid-1990s. Actual numbers have shown this to be erroneous. As for the Michelangelo virus, it's my understanding that Mr. McAfee himself was the source of the statement that 5 million machines would be infected by that virus in the USA alone . . . It cannot be denied, however, that some companies have been seriously affected by computer viruses. On National Computer Virus Awareness Day, Federal Communications Week stated that Rockwell International and Nydex Corporation came forward to tell of their woes of infections in the hundreds. My questions to these companies would be: o Do you back-up your data? o Do you have security or anti-virus software installed on your computers? o Are your employees allowed to use software from home on their PCs at work? o Is all software installed on your microcomputers registered? o Most important, have you instituted a security training program for your employees? What I am saying is that SLOPPY computer practices will sometimes net you a virus. A computer virus poses a negligible threat if the user possesses the fundamentals of common sense, ethics, and basic knowledge of computer operations. I found the next comments by John McAfee in Monroe's piece to be self-serving and misleading; as inflammatory as if they had been made by some two-bit demagogue: "But the greatest concern is the virus writer community itself, where the social incentive to write viruses far outweighs any legal disincentive . . . Individuals have collected into virus writing groups, with names such as Nuke, Schism [sic] and Terminator, and have set up electronic bulletin boards for disseminating their programs. These people can get access to such boards only when they have earned the right by successfully infecting a network." How absurd! I sign-on to about two dozen virus BBS's across the USA, some of which are maintained by virus-writing groups while others belong to independent virus researchers. Not once have I been asked to do anything illegal to get full access on these boards! I have also noticed that if anyone posts a message advocating illegal activities, the board sysop first warns the individual to "cease and desist," then terminates that person's access if he/she persists in posting such messages. Individuals who post messages boasting of infecting PCs and networks, as Mr. McAfee avers, are considered "lame" and undesirable vandals. When it comes to disseminating viruses, anti-virus product developers are no slouches themselves. If writing a program that replicates is made illegal, then most, if not all, of the anti-virus industry should be arrested for distributing viruses among themselves and to the public. They could start by arresting John McAfee for sending me over a hundred viruses in January of 1991 (I have all correspondence and original floppy disks sent by McAfee Associates, if they wish me to produce proof.) And how about the international trafficking of viruses? At the National Computer Security Association's Anti-virus Product Developer's conference in 1990, I witnessed Alan Solomon of S&S International, a British anti-virus company, hand out floppies which allegedly contained the latest European viruses to the "Good Old Boys Anti-Virus Group," as he and his colleagues joked and laughed like children in a candy store. Moving on, Mr. McAfee's next comments are only statements of the obvious: "But under current legislation, such operations are perfectly legal." Like it or not, writing viruses is protected under our first amendment! I hope the ACLU will test it in court if the vendors do succeed in getting some computer illiterate Congressman to pass a law. "The only crime is to introduce a virus on a system by subterfuge." Of course, it is and _should_ be a crime. And yes, how true, when someone commits a crime it IS illegal. "Imagine if it were legal to steal an automobile." What does stealing a car have to do with viruses? We are agreed that car theft and purposely infiltrating a virus into a system are both illegal. As much as I loath analogy in debate, since John McAfee has introduced this example I shall extend it. As a car owner, you protect your vehicle by installing safeguards to deter the thief. Similarly, you protect your PC from viruses by following a few simple, common sense tactics, including the use of an anti-virus product. In fact, those who own or use a microcomputer should be following these procedures as a matter of course, simply because there are so many other hazards which can harm the data stored on a PC. It seems that instead of an intelligent, articulate discussion of the issues, McAfee prefers to resort to cheap emotional pleas in order to elicit a Pavlovian response from the reader. I have not seen these tactics rivaled since the movie "The Trial of Billy Jack"! "According to McAfee, society needs to tackle the problem with appropriate legislation. 'Until we address it nothing we do from a technical stand point is going to have a great long-term effect.'" So far, virus protection vendors have done a reasonably good job of keeping up with the proliferation of viruses, McAfee said, but unless legal action is taken, "the anti-virus community will be overwhelmed." I would like to direct John McAfee's attention to an article called "VIRUS MYTHS," written by Mr. Viktor Meyer-Schornberger of Ikarus Software, which appeared in the International Computer Security Association's March 1992 Virus News and Reviews journal. The article references European analysts who extrapolated over 30,000 new viruses by the mid-1990s. It then goes on to state that the facts do not support such a conclusion. If "minuscule and insignificant variations among viruses are disregarded", the number drops to about 750. This number included viruses which have never been found in the "real" world, are used for research purposes, or are extinct. Mr. Meyer-Schornberger estimates that of these 750 viruses, 10 percent pose a significant risk, 50 percent a very slight risk, and the remaining 40 percent, no risk at all "to the average computer user". The article also refutes the myths of a worldwide virus pandemic, virus invisibility (stealth viruses), and an impending virus "Armageddon," which seems to be the thrust of Mr. McAfee's remarks. John McAfee does his best to sound the alarm about the virus threat, yet he fails to do his homework. A study performed by the Jinbu Corporation in 1993, on threats to computer systems, illustrates my point. In the Jinbu study, losses attributable to computer viruses added roughly to 2 percent of the whole. The most notable part of the study showed that 50 percent of all losses were, and still are, attributed to user error. Based on John McAfee's reasoning, should we not then enact laws against human stupidity? The last statement in Monroe's article is priceless: "McAfee said he believes that laws will get through only when the problem is so severe that someone in a sensitive government agency, such as the Justice Department, has a virus problem of near-catastrophic proportions . . . 'At that point, I think we will see some legislation,' he said." After such irresponsible statements by John McAfee, the Justice Department should discontinue its site license for his anti-virus software, which Justice has had for the past several years! Is McAfee hoping and praying for a catastrophe to happen to the Justice Department? Has he no faith in his own product's ability to stop viruses? The scope of any law passed as a knee-jerk reaction to the viral destruction of data at any major institution would be suspect, and comparable to the edict which unjustly interned Japanese-Americans at the outset of World War II. Whether or not the federal government advertises virus infections will not materially affect the number of virus incidents one way or another. In fact, the federal government is heading towards as compliance with whjat is known as a C2 level of security. C2 in and of itself resolves the virus problem! ALL VIRUSES ARE HARMLESS IN A FULLY IMPLEMENTED C2 ENVIRONMENT! A C2 operating system will not release security controls to any software program. System resources such as memory are released back to the operating system upon logging off of any user on the system or network. A user introducing unauthorized software - or viruses - into the system should not even be able to execute the software, let alone write to the file server, without going through the system administrator. The bottom line is: The demand for anti-virus products will wane as systems become C2 compliant! I find it repugnant that vendors want to control the public's behavior and freedoms when they cannot agree to a code of ethics among themselves. Education and moral behavior, not legislation, are the answer to eradicating viruses. The anti-virus vendors should stick to research and development, programming and product enhancement - that's their field of expertise. They should stay out of the legislative arena and leave our Constitution alone. I value my freedoms highly; I hope others value theirs equally. --James F. Lipshultz, Esquire Special thanks to Frank Tirado for assistance in preparation of this article. ********************* [James F. Lipshultz has served on the editorial staff of the computer security magazine, Virus News and Reviews.] ----------------------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL STUFF IN THIS ISSUE: Crypt Newsletter 20 kicks off with editor KohnTark's K-CMOS virus, a program designed to show you how viruses can manipulate the data in CMOS RAM. There are few examples of such viruses; the EXEbug is probably the most widely recognized, a boot sector infecting program which uses CMOS data manipulation to make its removal from an infected hard disk a task for the trivial user. While most anti-virus programs have tools which save and restore CMOS data, few protect it from change. Viruses, or any software, can manipulate this data with impunity. Because K-CMOS unhooks your mounted hard disks in the CMOS, it is imperative you read the accompanying documentation CAREFULLY and THOROUGHLY before trying out the program. If you haven't done already done so, now would be a good time to familiarize with the CMOS BIOS setup program which can be called by hitting the <Del> key on computer power up. Bring up this set up and take a look at the values stored in the CMOS, page through the menus - maybe even write down your setup so in case something ever does derange it by accident, you have at least a vague idea of where to start. Only after you feel comfortable changing this data from the setup screens should you begin to experiment with K-CMOS. It's an interesting learning tool, but it isn't for the dilettante. Also included are the FIREFLY viruses, aggressively anti- anti-virus viruses which glue together features from the LokJaw, YB-X and Proto-T viruses. Firefly, by Nikademus, also ties a visual marker to the timer tick interrupt, causing a slow cycle through the keyboard NumLock, CapsLock and ScrollLock light emitting diodes. The effect is a twinkling on your keyboard when the virus is in memory and infecting files, making Firefly easy to find and rather inconceivable that it would escape on a system. Firefly is encrypted and also incorporates the anti-heuristic code demonstrated in Crypt Newsletter 18. Firefly will behave badly if a number of anti-virus programs are executed when it is in memory by deleting them on load. This comprises a minor "expert system" in the virus, in effect giving it some comprehensive recognition of common anti-virus software and how to deal with it if used in a trivial manner. The net effect for a user is either to learn to scan for viruses from write-protected diskette, ensure that the machine is always booted clean and is thus free virus control, or to rename all anti-virus software from default installations. [Thanks to Nikademus for the Firefly contribution to this issue.] Remember, even outside of CMOS data corruption, the included viruses can append themselves to your executable files, perhaps beyond your ability to remove them. Back up your data first and don't work with them if you have no idea what you're doing (unless you enjoy annoying mishaps on your PC). Also included in this issue are Black Wolf's Picture Encoding Utilities, a set of public domain programs designed to let you embed messages, data or code in a picture file of limited format. The utility of Picture Encode is for that situation on the network where uuencoded or encrypted data raises a stink, but does not alleviate the need for some measure of privacy or secure transmission. Picture Encode allows you to try your hand at embedding data of any nature in an innocuous picture file of your choice. The accompanying documentation in README explains how to use Picture Encode. Picture Encode's source code is included so that you may inspect the programs at your convenience. The newsletter thanks Black Wolf for Picture Encode. ------------------------------------------------------------ FINDING/OBTAINING/LOVING THE CRYPT NEWSLETTER: ----The Crypt Newsletter is also available in a slightly abridged format from the Compuserve and Delphi on-line services. On Compuserve, the newsletter is stored in the journalism forum's "Papers/Magazines" and "Future Media" on-line libraries (GO JFORUM). And it is stocked on Cyber Forum in the "Literary" library (GO CYBERFORUM). On Delphi, the newsletter can be retrieved from the Writers and Internet General Database special interest groups. ----A complete set of 20 back issues of The Crypt Newsletter along with special editor's notes can be obtained on diskette by sending $30 cash, check or m.o. to: George Smith 1454 East Orange Grove, 7 Pasadena, CA 91104 Remember to include a good mailing address with any correspondence. ----Want to ensure the Crypt Newsletter remains a good read? SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. Send $10 for six issues, or a box of diskettes to the Crypt Newsletter address above. You'll also receive an automatic account with full access on the Crypt InfoSystems BBS! Urnst Kouch will laugh at your jokes, even if they're not funny! Quite a deal. ----CryptNet - the Crypt Newsletter's exclusive mini-echo is now up and running. Bouncing around in Southern California, CryptNet has fresh news and comical gossip about the latest issues of interest to alert Crypt readers. Call Crypt InfoSystems to see it (818.683.0854). ----Hypertext readers of the latest issues of the newsletter are also availabe directly from Crypt InfoSystems. -------------------------------------------------------------- *CAVEAT EMPTOR* What is the Crypt Newsletter? The Crypt Newsletter is an electronic document which delivers deft satire, savage criticism, feature news, media analyses, book reviews and more on topics of interest to the editor and the computing public. The Crypt Newsletter also reviews anti-virus and security software and republishes digested news of note to users of such. The Crypt Newsletter ALSO supplies analysis and complete source code to many computer viruses made expressly for the newsletter. Source codes and DEBUG scripts of these viruses can corrupt - quickly and irreversibly - the data on an IBM-compatible microcomputer - particularly when handled imperfectly. Ownership of The Crypt Newsletter can damage your reputation, making you unpopular in heavily institutionalized settings, rigid bureaucracy or environments where unsophisticated, self-important computer user groups cohabit. Files included in this issue: CRPTLT.R20 - this electronic document K-CMOS.ASM - source code to K-CMOS virus K-CMOS.SCR - DEBUG scriptfile for K-CMOS sample FIREFLY.TXT - source code to FIREFLY virus FIREFLY.SCR - scriptfile for FIREFLY sample README - READ ME file for Black Wolf's picture encode utilities ENCODE.* - source code and executable to Black Wolf's Picture Encoding Utilities DECODE.* - source code and executable to Black Wolf's PictEnc PUTSCR.* - source code and executable to PictEnc utilities MESSAGES.* - illustrative examples of PictEnc NEWMESS.DAT - illustrative examples of PictEnc To assemble programs in the newsletter directly from scriptfiles, copy the MS-DOS program DEBUG.EXE to your work directory and type: DEBUG <*.scr where *.scr is the scriptfile of interest included in this issue. ------------------------------------------------------------------- So you like the newsletter? Maybe you want more? Maybe you want to meet the avuncular Urnst Kouch in person! You can access him at ukouch@delphi.com, as well as at Crypt InfoSystems: 818-683-0854/14.4. Other fine BBS's which stock the newsletter are: CRYPT INFOSYSTEMS 1-818-683-0854 MICRO INFORMATION SYSTEMS SERVICES 1-805-251-0564 THE HELL PIT [NUP: BRIMSTONE] 1-708-459-7267 MONDO GORDO! 1-615-791-8050 CITY OF ILLUSIONS 1-818-447-2667 THE VINE/CHICAGO INST. FOR VIRUS RESEARCH 1-708-863-5285 OKLAHOMA INSTITUTE FOR VIRUS RESEARCH 1-405-634-4866 DRAGON'S DEN 1-215-882-1415 RIPCO ][ 1-312-528-5020 AIS 1-304-480-6083 CYBERNETIC VIOLENCE 1-514-426-9194 THE OTHER SIDE 1-512-618-0154 DARK COFFIN 1-215-966-3576 DIGITAL DECAY 1-714-871-2057 THE COMPLETE SOLUTION 1-707-459-9058 XANTH 1-905-826-0622 KGB 1-714-772-7039 THE BLACK FOREST (midnight to 8 am) 1-817-369-6489 Please note, BBS's tend to come and go with some regularity, results for you may vary. ********************************************************************* Editorial content within the Crypt Newsletter is (c)opyrighted by Urnst Kouch and Crypt InfoSystems News Services, Inc. 1993, unless otherwise noted. Republishing it without prior consent is graceless and corrupt. Ask first. *********************************************************************