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- The following text is copyright (c) 1987-1990 CompuServe Magazine
- and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of CompuServe.
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- CompuServe Magazine's Virus History Timeline
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- - 1987 -
-
-
- "VIRUS" INFECTS COMMODORE COMPUTERS
-
- (Nov. 20)
- A "virus" has been infecting Commodore's Amiga computers, and what was once
- considered an innocent bit of hacking has turned into a disaster for some users.
- The "virus" is a secret modification to the boot block, an area on many disks
- using operating system facilities of the Amiga. In addition to its transparent
- purpose --- starting the operating system -- the virus contains code that can
- infect other disks. Once a virus infected disk is used on a computer, the
- computer's memory becomes a breeding ground and all other bootable disks that
- find their way to that computer will eventually become infected. Any exchange of
- diskettes with another computer then infects the new computer.
- Although the original intention of the virus apparently was benign, it may
- have spread to thousands of Amiga computers and disrupted their normal
- operations. Since some commercial software developers use coded information in
- the boot block of their distribution disks, the virus can inadvertently damage
- these disks and render the software useless. Knowledgeable users say the virus
- was meant to be a high-tech joke that displayed a message after it had
- completely infiltrated a user's disks library.
- According to Amiga technical support personnel, the only sure way for users to
- keep the virus out of their systems is to avoid warm starting the computer. It
- should always be ╕'wered down first.
- --James Moran
-
-
- VIRUS MOVES TO IBM COMPUTERS
-
- (Dec. 7)
- On the heels of the Amiga virus, reported recently in Online Today, a new
- apparently less benign virus has been making the rounds of IBM personal
- computers. The IBM-related virus was first noted at Lehigh University where,
- last week, a representative in the User Services section reported its discovery
- by student consultants.
- As with other similar viruses, this one is spread by means of an infected
- system file. In this case, a hacked version of IBM's COMMAND.COM processor is
- the host that harbors the virus. Once infected, the host PC will then infect
- the first four computers with which it comes in contact. In all cases, the virus
- is spread through an illegally modified version of the IBM command processor.
- Once the host has infected four other computers, the host virus is reported to
- purposely destroy the boot tracks and allocation tables for all disks and
- diskettes that are online to the host computer. The action renders the disks
- completely unreadable, even when reconstructs are attempted with popular disk
- repair software.
- The consultant at Lehigh University who first alerted general users to the
- virus says that it can be detected by examining the date on the COMMAND.COM
- file. A recent date would suggest that the file had been illegally modified.
- --James Moran
-
-
- CHRISTMAS GREETINGS MESSAGE TIES UP IBM'S ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM
-
- (Dec. 12)
- IBM nearly lost its Christmas spirit yesterday. It seems that a digital
- Christmas card sent through its electronic mail system jammed computers at
- plants across the United States for up to 90 minutes.
- The Associated Press quotes IBM spokesman Joseph Dahm as saying the incident
- caused no permanent damage, but forced the company to turn off links between
- computer terminals for a while.
- AP says, "Curious employees who read the message discovered an illustration of
- a Christmas tree with 'Holiday Greetings' superimposed on it. A caption advised,
- 'Don't browse it, it's more fun to run it.' Once a person opened the computer
- message on their screen, it rarely accepted a command to stop the message from
- unfolding on the screen. As a result, several people shut off their computers
- and lost reports or mail that had not previously been filed."
- Apparently the message also automatically duplicated itself and was sent to
- other workstations.
- Online plants in Texas and New York were affected, Dahm said. Meanwhile,
- sources said that other facilities in Charlotte, N.C.; Lexington, Ky.;
- California and Europe also received the message.
- Federal agents even may investigate the incident, the wire service says, since
- the message apparently crossed state lines.
- --Charles Bowen
-