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- From: Kenneth R. van Wyk (The Moderator) <krvw@CERT.ORG>
- Errors-To: krvw@CERT.ORG
- To: VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU
- Path: cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw
- Subject: VIRUS-L Digest V5 #116
- Reply-To: VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU
- --------
- VIRUS-L Digest Monday, 15 Jun 1992 Volume 5 : Issue 116
-
- Today's Topics:
-
- Re: Zipped Viruses (PC)
- Screaming Fist-696 analysis (PC)
- Re: VIRx version 2.3 released (PC)
- New virus? (PC)
- VET anti-virus software (PC)
- Re: ISPNews and why 100% is the only good enough (PC)
- Re: McAfee VIRUSCAN V91 uploaded to SIMTEL20 (PC)
- Re: Virus Program for a Macintosh? (Mac)
- "Menem's Revenge" virus (Amiga)
- Re: MVS Virii (IBM MVS)
- re: Mainframe viruses (was: MVS Virii)
- Virus Detection Software Review
- Re: Taxonomy of viruses
- Polymorphic Virii
- Re: BAD IDEA (was: Where can I find Virus signatures)
- Misinformation does more damage than viruses themselves
- McAfee CLEAN-UP 91B and WSCAN91 uploaded to SIMTEL20 (PC)
- Scan updates available (PC)
- F-PROT 2.04 (PC)
-
- VIRUS-L is a moderated, digested mail forum for discussing computer
- virus issues; comp.virus is a non-digested Usenet counterpart.
- Discussions are not limited to any one hardware/software platform -
- diversity is welcomed. Contributions should be relevant, concise,
- polite, etc. (The complete set of posting guidelines is available by
- FTP on cert.sei.cmu.edu or upon request.) Please sign submissions with
- your real name. Send contributions to VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU
- (that's equivalent to VIRUS-L at LEHIIBM1 for you BITNET folks).
- Information on accessing anti-virus, documentation, and back-issue
- archives is distributed periodically on the list. A FAQ (Frequently
- Asked Questions) document and all of the back-issues are available by
- anonymous FTP on cert.org (192.88.209.5). Administrative mail
- (comments, suggestions, and so forth) should be sent to me at:
- <krvw@CERT.ORG>.
-
- Ken van Wyk
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 06 Jun 92 07:09:18 -0400
- From: David_Conrad@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu
- Subject: Re: Zipped Viruses (PC)
-
- In VIRUS-L v005i111 Magnus Olsson <magnus@thep.lu.se> writes:
- >David_Conrad@MTS.cc.Wayne.edu writes:
- >
- >[excellent description of stealth viruses deleted]
- >
- >Thanks for a very informative article! There's one point I think
- >you're missing, though, when describing the dangers of using scanners
- >on an infected system:
- >
- >>Here's what happens: Your virus scanner is infected with a stealth,
- >>fast infecting virus. It isn't currently active. You run the scanner,
- >>telling it to scan your entire hard drive. First the virus gets control:
- >>It goes resident, takes over, then runs the scanner. Now the scanner
- >>attempts to perform a self-check on its file. This detects nothing,
- >>because the virus disinfects the file as it reads it. Now your scanner
- >>goes through your entire hard drive, reading all programs. Not only
- >>does it have no chance of catching the virus in any program, but every
- >>program (even ones which weren't infected before) will get infected!!!
- >
- >At least McAfee's scanner doesn't only check files on the disk and
- >make a self-check, but also scans memory for viruses before doing
- >anything else. Doesn't this cure the above problem, as the
- >memory-resident stealth virus would be detected in memory?
-
- Not if the afore mentioned virus is a new one which the scanner does not
- yet detect. In that case, you're in big trouble. Note that this is not
- merely a problem with McAfee's scanner, but with any; also note that the
- memory check is a excellent idea, it just isn't perfect.
-
- But then again, what is?
-
- >Magnus Olsson | \e+ /_
- >Dept. of Theoretical Physics | \ Z / q
- >University of Lund, Sweden | >----<
- >Internet: magnus@thep.lu.se | / \===== g
- >Bitnet: THEPMO@SELDC52 | /e- \q
-
- Regards,
- David R. Conrad
- David_Conrad@mts.cc.wayne.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 07 Jun 92 02:23:05 -0400
- From: "Tarkan Yetiser" <TYETISER@ssw02.ab.umd.edu>
- Subject: Screaming Fist-696 analysis (PC)
-
- Hello everyone,
-
- We have analyzed the polymorphic (semi-poly :-)) variant of the
- Screaming Fist (696) virus. It should be mentioned that the virus is
- simply encryptive, and therefore, the decryptor can be used as a scan
- string to search for the virus in both COM and EXE files. It uses a
- 16-byte XOR-type decryption routine with a variable key (obtained from
- BIOS timer area 0:046c), and one instruction is modified to be either
- an INC AX or a DEC AX. It is a fast infector, but not stealth;
- therefore, it is advisable to boot from a clean floppy before
- scanning. McAfee's SCAN 91 does recognize it [Scr-2], though F-PROT
- 2.03a does NOT. If you add the given signature to F-PROT, make sure
- you use SECURE scan, otherwise, it will be missed. Heuristic scan
- flags it as a possible virus. We have used DIS86 by Mr. James Zandt
- (available at Simtel archives under /msdos/disasm/dis86212.zip) to
- analyze it. Here are the details:
-
- ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
- Suggested Name: Screaming Fist-696-pm
- Date/Location : May 1992, USA
- Scan string : 5d 8b f5 56 b0 ?? b9 a3 02 (40 or 48) 2e 30 04 46 e2 f9 c3
- Damage trigger: None
- Payload : None
- Interrupts : 21h & 24h
- hooked 21h is hooked using direct memory reference to IVT, but
- Int 24h is hooked in a standard manner using DOS 25h/35h
- subfunctions of Int 21h.
- Peculiarity : Reduces BIOS base memory indicator (0:0413) by 2 just like
- an MBR/BR virus, though it is a file infector type. So,
- CHKDSK will report 2K less of base memory size.
- Targets : COM and EXE files when FILE OPEN (3d), RENAME (56),
- LOAD/EXEC (4b), GET/SET ATTRIB (43) services are requested.
- It will infect C:\COMMAND.COM after the first time it goes
- resident by issuing a file open call with mode set to FF,
- which is an invalid open mode value. Only the copy of
- COMMAND.COM in the root directory is infected.
- COM files are appended at the end, EXE files are modified
- by changing the header to point to virus. The COM
- files are always increased by 696 bytes, but EXE files
- depend on what the victim has in the header.
- COM files less than 300 bytes or greater than 64000 bytes
- will not be infected.
-
- RU-there call : mov AX, 0FFFFh
- int 21h
- or AX, AX
- jz virus_is_resident
-
- In English: The virus extends INT 21h services by setting up a
- handler which responds to a request FFFF with a 0000
- in AX register.
-
- Comments : This is an encryptive virus that uses BIOS timer value (1 byte
- at 0:046c), and either INC AX or DEC AX in the decryption
- routine. The virus is not encrypted in memory. The decryptor
- is 16 bytes long, and it is located at the end of infected
- files.
- It appears to be a research virus in that it includes no
- damage trigger, and it is fairly bug-free! It is a resident
- COM/EXE file infector that does nothing but replicates.
- It uses handle-oriented file access routines, and does NOT
- implement stealth to evade detection.
- The virus INT 21h handler offset is always 0088 in memory.
- Inside the virus there is a text which reads:
-
- Screaming Fist
-
- therefore, the name.
- The virus determines if a program is infected as follows:
- For COM-type files:
- if the fourth byte of the file plus 1 is equal to thevirus will
- infect
- C:\COMMAND.COM and return control over to the host program.
- From then on, it monitors INT 21h services (see above).
- File extension as well as 'MZ' signature is checked before
- infection. Decoys can be used to capture the virus easily.
-
- Regards,
-
- Tarkan Yetiser
- VDS Advanced Research Group P.O. Box 9393
- (410) 247-7117 Baltimore, MD 21228
- e-mail: tyetiser@ssw02.ab.umd.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 07 Jun 92 23:20:00 +0100
- From: Anthony Naggs <AMN@VMS.BRIGHTON.AC.UK>
- Subject: Re: VIRx version 2.3 released (PC)
-
- Vesselin Bontchev (bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de) says:
- > trent@rock.concert.net (C. Glenn Jordan -- Virex-PC Development Team) writes:
- >
- > > 2. VIRx now detects all files encrypted with the "Mutating Engine"
- > > attributed to the Dark Avenger that are not already destroyed by the
- > > Engine's attempts to encrypt them (and most of those, as well).
- >
- > This requires a bit of clarification. No files are "destroyed by the
- > Engine's attempts to encrypt them". ...
-
- Vesselin you are over looking the fact that there are already 2
- versions of MtE in circulation, one ('0.92' I think) is found on
- "Dedicated" & "Fear" and the other ('0.90') is on "Pogue". I have
- only looked at the one on "Pogue" so far, and around 20% of the files
- I infected were corrupt.
-
- These corrupt files usually crash when executed, sometimes with video
- effects as display memory is overwritten and sometimes the crash was
- postponed until a subsequent program was executed. This seems to
- coincide closely with Glenn Jordan's description.
-
- To generate infected files with out crashing the PC (as happens when
- infecting at execution time), I simply had a batch file which copied
- each new host file to NULL.
-
- > ... However, the MtE sometimes (a bit
- > too often, IMHO) generates something that I call a "zero-key
- > decryptor". It does not encrypt the body of the virus and generates a
- > decryptor which essentially does nothing else than juggling a few
- > constants around some registers. No attempt to perform decryption is
- > present in these cases.
-
- IMHO not often enough! This feature means that a proportion of
- infected files will not have the polymorphic endowments of MtE, and
- established more reliable detection methods can cope with these in the
- same way as any other virus. Given an infected hard drive the
- presence of same copies of the virus in this form will give
- reassurance that the virus is known, rather than something new hiding
- under the MtE cloak.
-
- If the MtE detection tests that you are performing are going to be of
- relevance you will need to test for the variations produced by "Pogue"
- as well.
-
- Regards, Anthony Naggs
-
- Internet: amn@vms.brighton.ac.uk or xa329@city.ac.uk
- Janet: amn@uk.ac.brighton.vms ( cbs%uk.ac.brighton.vms::amn )
- or xa329@uk.ac.city ( cbs%uk.ac.city::xa329 )
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 92 16:11:38 -0400
- From: d246@uni05.larc.nasa.gov (Braden Glen)
- Subject: New virus? (PC)
-
- One of the Managers here has a virus on his home computer. I
- haven't been keeping up on my reading for all the VIRUS-L since at
- least May. If I may post some of the symptoms he is experiencing and
- hopefully, it hasn't been a hot subject over the past month someone
- will know what it is or isn't (like a virus :-) ).
- He has harddrives C thru G. When he executes a program, the system
- hangs and after rebooting the exe module is gone. This only happens
- when he tries to executes a module. Also, he starts getting bad
- clusters. when he uses PC Tools and changes these bad clusters to
- files and then looks at them, he finds his lost modules. After
- cleaning up these clusters and trying to figure what is wrong he will
- create new bad clusters which contain his EXE's.
- Using Scan 86 revealed no virus. He then used CPAV with no virus,
- then he used FPROT203 which said he had a virus. He knew that the use
- of CPAV produces false positives so he rebooted and reran FPROT203
- which showed no virus.
- I will write up a better description of what he is experiencing and
- what EXE's he is running that get converted to bad clusters. I wanted
- to get this out right away. I also gave him a copy of scan89b and
- asked him to run it after booting from a write-protected disk. If
- anyone has any ideas, please let me know, as you usually do.
-
- Glen Braden d246@uni05.larc.nasa.gov
- 804 865-9387
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 09 Jun 92 09:18:42 +0000
- From: zlsiial@cs.man.ac.uk (A. V. Le Blanc)
- Subject: VET anti-virus software (PC)
-
- Has anyone used, and can anyone comment on the VET anti-virus
- software from Australia? It does not seem to be reviewed in
- the standard places, and I don't recall seeing any mention of
- it on this list. I ask because the University of Manchester
- has bought a site license for this package, apparently because
- it is cheaper than the licenses for better known packages.
-
- -- Owen
- LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 10 Jun 92 12:51:17 -0400
- From: "David.M.Chess" <CHESS@YKTVMV.BITNET>
- Subject: Re: ISPNews and why 100% is the only good enough solution (PC)
-
- (Sorry for the delayed reply; missed this in my mailbox...)
-
- > From: bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Vesselin Bontchev)
-
- >BTW, we discussed the problem with David Chess and agreed that
- >- -disinfection- of MtE-based viruses is even more difficult than
- >- -detecting- them!
-
- Only because it's hard to do just what the degarbler would have done,
- when the degarbler can be any one of zillions. You'd have to write a
- subset-interpreter for the chip, which (while useful for various
- purposes) is a pain, and doesn't tend to be fast. Any good hacker, of
- course, will be able to recover a few critical files manually, but
- replacement is much safer. That's true of just the plain old
- Jerusalem, too, though! Nothing too new there...
-
- > So, if a system is found to be infected by such a
- > virus, the recomended solution is to remove all executable files and
- > to replace them with clean copies.
-
- If you trust your scanner (and I'm sure we'll have trustable scanners
- for the MtE before long; probably before there are any MtE viruses
- bothering real users), you only have to remove and replace the
- *infected* executables. Which is probably what you meant, but I
- thought I'd make the point explicitly...
-
- - - -- -
- David M. Chess | "Some look at the world as it is,
- High Integrity Computing Lab | and ask 'why?'. I look at the world as it is,
- IBM Watson Research | and say 'Hey, neat hack!'." - J. R. H.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 13:54:56 -0500
- From: Sten M. Drescher <smd@hrlid1.brooks.af.mil>
- Subject: Re: McAfee VIRUSCAN V91 uploaded to SIMTEL20 (PC)
-
- "Jean-Pierre Engel (CMU Geneva)" <ENGEL%cmu.unige.ch@BITNET.CC.CMU.EDU> writes:
-
- >I have Uploaded from SIMTEL20: NETSC91B, CLEAN91, SCANV91, VSHLD91. I
- >have found the following value with the validation prog.:
-
- >netsc91b.zip S: 116,543 D: 6-2-1992 M1: 16DC M2: 12FC
- >clean91.zip S: 141,577 D: 6-2-1992 M1: FD45 M2: 0101
- >scanv91.zip S: 129,268 D: 6-2-1992 M1: F2C3 M2: 0AC7
- >vshld91.zip S: 107,574 D: 6-2-1992 M1: 71B7 M2: 190B
-
- >Where is the probleme?
-
- Problem 1: You ran validate on the .ZIP files, not the .EXE
- files. Try unZIPping it.
- Problem 2: The validate data from McAfee for NETSCAN is for
- v91, NOT v91b.
-
- Sten
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 23:30:00 +0000
- From: lev@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Brian S. Lev)
- Subject: Re: Virus Program for a Macintosh? (Mac)
-
- an939@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David Carlin) writes...
- >Two weeks ago, while at Computer class, I poped in a disk at our
- >schools Macintosh Classic. A program I had bought that is on the
- >System Utilities disk, Said there was a virus, and not to use the
- >disk. I am only in 7th grade, and don't know much about Macintosh
- >Viruses. Can anyone tell me of a Public Domain Program that I might be
- >able to use?
-
- One that I like a *lot* is John Norstad's "Disinfectant" (currently at
- version 2.8) -- it's free, and it works! It's available via FTP from
- an almost infinite variety of sites on the Internet... if you have a
- problem doing FTPs, contact me and I'll be glad to send you a copy of
- the "MacSecure" anti-viral tool kit we use here at Goddard (it's based
- on Disinfectant and includes some neat HyperCard stacks as well).
-
- - -- Brian Lev
-
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | NASA SCIENCE INTERNET NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER |
- | Code 930.6, Goddard Space Flight Center |
- | Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA |
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
- | Phone: 301-286-7251 FAX: 301-286-5152 |
- | NSINIC::NSIHELP or nsihelp@nic.nsi.nasa.gov or NSIHELP@DFTBIT |
- +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 07 Jun 92 11:31:00 +0100
- From: Anthony Naggs <AMN@VMS.BRIGHTON.AC.UK>
- Subject: "Menem's Revenge" virus (Amiga)
-
- The following is lifted from the news pages of the British mag "Just Amiga
- Monthly" (JAM), which I received yesterday. I am unable to confirm the
- accuracy of this material, and the Metropolitan Police Computer Crime Unit
- (London) didn't mention it to me when I spoke to them recently.
-
- + FRESH WARNINGS AS NEW VIRUS SPREADS
- +
- + A new Amiga virus called Menem's Revenge is sweeping the country.
- +
- + It is a particularly nasty file or 'link' virus that starts a task
- + called a single space. This task's sole job is to patch the LoadSeg
- + vector in DOS. It thus infects programs that are run.
- +
- + It is triggered through the Amiga's internal time clock will write its
- + messages to files on DH0: and/or DF0:. The message it writes and then
- + displays as an alert is "Menem's Revenge has arrived / Argentina still
- + alive".
- +
- + Because it can write to executable files, those files may very well
- + crash, or not run at all, after being infected. Menem's Revenge adds
- + 3,076 bytes to each file it infects.
-
- The news item recommends the use of Virus_Checker as protection from this
- virus, and as it advertises version 6.05 on a JAM disk later in the magazine
- I presume you should use at least that version.
-
- Anthony Naggs
-
- Internet: amn@vms.brighton.ac.uk or xa329@city.ac.uk
- Janet: amn@uk.ac.brighton.vms ( cbs%uk.ac.brighton.vms::amn )
- or xa329@uk.ac.city ( cbs%uk.ac.city::xa329 )
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 21:51:03 +0000
- From: rslade@sfu.ca (Robert Slade)
- Subject: Re: MVS Virii (IBM MVS)
-
- While not, in the very strictest sense, a virus, the CHRISTMA EXEC of
- 1987 nevertheless was a self-reproducing object which operated with
- IBM mainframe systems and over mainframe network links.
-
- While no data was at risk, CHRISTMA resulted in denial of service and
- extra time expended in its removal.
-
- I will be covering it and similar mainframe/network programs in coming
- columns.
-
- =============
- Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | Lotteries are a tax
- Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | on the arithmetically
- Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca | impaired.
- User CyberStore Dpac 85301030 |
- Security Canada V7K 2G6 |
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 10 Jun 92 13:06:17 -0400
- From: "David.M.Chess" <CHESS@YKTVMV.BITNET>
- Subject: re: Mainframe viruses (was: MVS Virii)
-
- "Tim Hare" <SS942TH@DOT1.MAIL.UFL.EDU> (in a posting that's been
- sitting in my mailbox for quite awhile) asks about mainframe viruses,
- trojan horses, and the like. Such programs certainly exist, and a few
- (the CHRISTMA EXEC for VM/CMS/RSCS, for instance) have become briefly
- widespread. In general, though, we have not seen any viruses become
- endemic in the mainframe area the way we have on all popular
- microcomputers. The reasons for this are partly technical and partly
- cultural. Viruses don't become widespread unless they can spread
- faster than they are caught. Access controls help to slow spread
- (although I would claim that the access controls that separate my PC
- from your PC are as strong as any mainframe access controls that
- separate one userid from another!). But at least as importantly,
- there are many fewer people at this moment walking around with 9-track
- tapes reels in their back pockets than there are people with
- diskettes. The micro world is just a more tightly-connected graph
- (and it has many more nodes) than is the mainframe world. Someone
- could write a mainframe virus (as Cohen has shown, this is technically
- possible on, roughly, any general-purpose computer), but it'd be
- unlikely to get anywhere before going extinct.
-
- - - -- -
- David M. Chess | * Undecidable Signature ?Virus *
- High Integrity Computing Lab | Copy me to your .sig iff you don't
- IBM Watson Research | think I'm a signature virus!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 06 Jun 92 01:12:55 +0000
- From: as194@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Doren Rosenthal)
- Subject: Virus Detection Software Review
-
- Doren Rosenthal
- Rosenthal Engineering
- 3737 Sequoia
- San Luis Obispo, CA USA 93401
-
- This June '92 issue of "Shareware Update" magazine (P.O. Box
- 2454, White City, OR 97503-9901) is devoted to virus detection
- software and includes several articles including an especially
- insightfull one from Ross Greenberg.
-
- Doren Rosenthal
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 05 Jun 92 22:22:08 +0000
- From: mkkuhner@phylo.genetics.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner)
- Subject: Re: Taxonomy of viruses
-
- bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de (Vesselin Bontchev) writes:
-
- [discussion of parsimony analysis]
-
- >Well, this is essentially what we are doing now... Unfortunately, it
- >cannot be automated or even formalized - as you said, it reflects our
- >intuitive ideas about virus relationship.
-
- Taxonomy was originally based on the biologists' intuitive ideas about
- organism relationships too, but algorithms for describing and
- systematizing these intuitions still proved useful.
-
- I agree, however, that it will be very hard to do anything mechanical
- about classifying viruses. It was hard for biologists, and a
- biological organism is easier to get a grip on than a computer virus.
-
- Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 06 Jun 92 18:26:53 +0000
- From: shadmas@sdf.lonestar.org (Tom Downs)
- Subject: Polymorphic Virii
-
- I appreciate the discussion on polymorphic viruses. One of the users
- suggested moving the discussion to E-Mail. I would prefer that you
- didn't because I feel that the subject of Polymorphism is very
- pertinent. We are going to have to understand them to combat those
- types of viruses.
-
- Tom Downs
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 07 Jun 92 04:57:15 +0000
- From: markd@psy.uwa.oz.au (Mark Diamond)
- Subject: Re: BAD IDEA (was: Where can I find Virus signatures?)
-
- Zmudzinski recently replied to a query on this bulletin board by
- saying to the enquirer that "if you haven't already got a collection
- of virus signatures then you aren't a legitimate researcher". I think
- this is a olish view that smacks of a guild memtality.
-
- Those in the business of producing anti-viral software obviously have
- little difficulty in acquiring new viruses. Others, like me, who have
- an academic research interest in virus algorithms,always seem to have
- an impossible time obtaining copies of new viruses. I have had to
- rely on the high turn-over of foreign students in our department
- (mostly from Indonesia and Pakistan) to bring infected discs with
- them. I always check their discs before they can use them in a
- Department machine, and I trade them a clean disc for their infected
- ones. It has been an extremely slow and tedious process obtaining the
- viruses this way, and could have been made a hell of a lot easier if
- some of the other people working in the field had been willing to
- share their knowledge. Also, with the number of bulletin boards open
- to virus-producers, its about time that those of us of the other side
- of the line began being a little bit more free in sharing what we've
- learned.
-
- M A R K R D I A M O N D markd@ psy.uwa.edu.au
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 07 Jun 92 11:51:53 +0000
- From: rob@wzv.win.tue.nl (Rob J. Nauta)
- Subject: Misinformation does more damage than viruses themselves
-
- Unfortunately misinformation about viruses still does more damage than
- the viruses itself. The following article appeared in the Dutch
- magazine 'Computable' dd. june 5 1992:
-
- "Professional computer users underestimate the threat of computer
- viruses, that are no longer exclusively spread by illegal games and
- bulletin boards.
-
- This conclusion was made by the Pilotteam Computer Criminality of the
- Dutch police in a report about the Michelangelo virus.
-
- [...] "
-
- The article continues with conclusions that almost nobody of the users
- hit by the virus had a backup to fall back on.
-
- It's sad to see the police, and especially the special Pilotteam who
- really should know better, spread such misinformation. I've attened
- several lectures of the chief of that team, H. Onderwater recently, and
- his stories consist mostly of popular folklore and fables about
- hackers, which seem to have originated from 'Wargames' and the press
- reports of the German CCC. He continues to spread the fables of hackers
- being able to increase their bank account and highschool grades, that
- every hacker supports the CCC 'freedom of information for all' policy,
- and is out to view your hospital data. He also claims many companies
- prefer to employ hackers, even though not a single case of this claim
- is known.
-
- The story of viruses being spread only by hobbyists via bulletion
- boards and cracked games is a very persistent one. It is a very popular
- theory because it allows companies to ban use of all games and public
- domain software to prevent viruses. They then rely on this policy as
- sole protection, just like an ostrich sticks his head in the sand. If a
- virus does show up, it is blamed on some employee who brought in a game
- or public domain software.
-
- Recent discoveries of viruses in shrink-wrapped software and demo disks
- has proved relying on the assumption of viruses spread by games and
- BBSes is a big risk, which leads to a false sense of security.
- Unfortunately companies are more interested in formal policies than
- practical security. Unless this attitude changes, false information and
- virus panic will cause more damage than the occasional virus itself.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 06 Jun 92 02:20:09 -0400
- From: mcafee@netcom.com (McAfee Associates)
- Subject: McAfee CLEAN-UP 91B and WSCAN91 uploaded to SIMTEL20 (PC)
-
- I have uploaded to WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil
-
- pd1:<msdos.trojan-pro>
- CLEAN91B.ZIP CLEAN-UP Version 91-B virus disinfector for PC's, LAN's
- WSCAN91.ZIP SCAN for Windows Version 91 shell program
-
- CLEAN-UP VERSION 91-B, WSCAN91 RELEASED
-
- Version 91-B of CLEAN-UP has been released. This version replaces V91
- and adds a remover for the Multi-2 virus which has been reported as widespread.
-
- Version 91 of WSCAN has been released. This version brings all of SCAN
- V91's features to the Windows environment.
-
- VALIDATE VALUES FOR CLEAN and WSCAN:
- CLEAN-UP 91B (CLEAN.EXE) S:96,124 D:06-01-92 M1: C7BA M2: 019B
- SCAN FOR WINDOWS V91 (WINSTALL.EXE) S:13,263 D:05-28-92 M1: 0251 M2: 09F0
- SCAN FOR WINDOWS V91 (WSCAN.EXE) S:87,870 D:06-04-92 M1: 13C4 M2: 08FD
-
- Aryeh Goretsky
- McAfee Associates Technical Support
- - - - -
- McAfee Associates | Voice (408) 988-3832 | mcafee@netcom.com (business)
- 3350 Scott Blvd, Bldg 14 | FAX (408) 970-9727 | ObQuote: "Log... from Blammo"
- Santa Clara, California | |
- 95054-3107 USA | BBS (408) 988-4004 | CompuServe ID: 76702,1714
- ViruScan/CleanUp/VShield | USR Courier DS 14.4Kb| or GO VIRUSFORUM
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 06 Jun 92 22:25:37 -0400
- From: Jon Freivald <jaflrn!jaf@uunet.UU.NET>
- Subject: Scan updates available (PC)
-
- I have the following available on my mail-server now:
-
- scan91.zip
- clean91b.zip
- netsc91b.zip
- vshld91.zip
- wscan91.zip
- virus-l.faq
-
- Please be advised that I have changed my mail-server software, however,
- it should properly process all requests sent to the old one. To
- retrieve any of the files listed above, send a message to:
-
- jaflrn!mail-server@uunet.uu.net
-
- Include in the message body the line (here "filename" represents the
- file you wish to retrieve from the list above) below - the part in
- brackets ([]) is optional, as it will automatically send .zip files in
- uuencode format:
-
- get dos/virus/filename [uuencode|xxencode]
-
- For a list of all available files, include the line "get index" in your
- message. If anyone has any problems using the new mail-server, please
- let me know right away.
-
- Jon
-
- =============================================================================
- Jon Freivald ( jaflrn!jaf@uunet.UU.NET )
- Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it.
- =============================================================================
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 15 Jun 92 08:42:09 +0700
- From: frisk@complex.is (Fridrik Skulason)
- Subject: F-PROT 2.04 (PC)
-
- Version 2.04 - major changes:
-
- The program can now scan into DIET-compressed files
-
- Variant identification is now even more accurate than before - in
- particular regarding EXE-infecting viruses.
-
- The disinfection capabilities have been improved somewhat - the
- program can now disinfect several viruses which were only detected in
- previous versions.
-
- The program is now faster than before - for example the scanning speed
- on our primary development machine went from 23 files/sec to 40
- files/sec, but the relative speed increase might be even greater on
- slower machines.
-
- Version 2.04 - corrections:
-
- The heuristic analysis produced a false alarm on a program named
- DDIR.COM, (C) Charles Petzold - fixed.
-
- The scanner reported some versions of 123.COM as "Possibly infected
- with a new version of Frogs" - fixed.
-
- The program only detected around 99.86% of MtE encrypted files - this
- should be fixed now.
-
- OPTLINK-packed programs, such as the Norton Utilities are no longer
- flagged as packed in heuristic analysis. The programs are actually
- packed, but users were not aware of that, which has caused considerable
- confusion.
-
- Version 2.04 - minor improvements:
-
- The following command-line switches have been added:
-
- /APPEND - used with /REPORT. Append to an existing file.
- /NOBREAK command line switch added - disables ESC during scanning
- /NOWRAP - do not wrap text in the report.
-
- Version 2.04 - new viruses:
-
- The following 72 new viruses can now be detected and removed.
-
- _16850
- Black Jec-(4B, 6B, 8B and Digital F/X)
- Breeder
- Cascade (1621 and 1704-B2)
- Close
- Cossiga (883 and Friends)
- Creeper (252 and 475)
- Danish Tiny (191 and Brenda)
- Dark Avenger (1687 and Milana)
- Datalock-1043
- Diamond-Rock Steady
- Dutch Tiny-99
- Eddie 2 (B and C)
- Europe '92 (424)
- FGT
- Fichv EXE 1.0
- Flash-Gyorgy
- Freew-718
- Gotcha-E
- Got You
- Intruder-B
- Jerusalem (AntiCad-Tobacco, CNDER, IRA, Mummy-1.0, Mummy-1.2 and Triple)
- Joe's Demise
- Keypress-1744
- Kit
- Ko (407 and Birdie)
- Macedonia
- Malaga (only file infections)
- Murphy-Tormentor-D
- Nines Complement (706 and 776)
- Plaice (1129 and 1273)
- Plovdiv-1.3B
- Possessed-2443
- RNA-1
- Shirley-Vivaldi
- Squawk
- Stupid-Profesor
- Suriv 1 (Anti-D and Xuxa)
- SVS
- Swedish Boys (Data Molester, Headache and Why Windows)
- Tabulero
- Terminator-918
- Troi II
- Vienna (637, Betaboys, BNB, Memo 2.0, Parasite-2 and Violator-B2)
- Violetta-1024
- Yankee (1909 and Login)
-
- The following 21 new viruses can now be detected but not removed,
- only deleted. This is because they overwrite infected files, or
- damage them irreversibly.
-
- BloodLust
- Burger (560-J, 560-K)
- Leprosy (B2,Busted and Scribble)
- SHHS
- Tack
- Trivial (30D,31,35,45B,Banana,Hastings and NKOTB)
- Vengence (A,B,C,D,E and F)
-
- The following 14 new viruses can now be detected but not removed.
-
- _572
- Denzuko-PC Club
- Ear-6
- EMF
- Enemy
- Hafenstrasse-1641
- HH&H
- Munich
- Phoenix
- Scion
- Screamer II
- Starship
- Vienna-712
- Vsign
- Yankee-Micropox
-
- The following 43 viruses that could be detected but not removed with
- earlier versions of F-PROT can now be disinfected.
-
- _5792
- Anthrax
- Best Wishes (970 and 1024)
- Caz-1159
- Compiler (1 and 2)
- Cookie (7360 and 7392)
- Diamond (Damage-A, Damage-B, David and Greemlin)
- Forger
- Freew-692
- Gotcha-D
- Halloween
- Helloween
- Hero (394 and 506)
- Intruder
- Liberty-SSSSS
- Many fingers
- Mosquito-Pisello
- Murphy (Bad Taste, Cemetery, Kamasya, Migram-1, Migram-2, Tormentor-A
- and Tormentor-B)
- Nov. 17.
- Peach
- Possessed-2446
- RNA2
- Sadist
- Sentinel-1
- Shirley
- STSV
- Swiss-143
- TV
- Vcomm-2
- VVF 3.4
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of VIRUS-L Digest [Volume 5 Issue 116]
- ******************************************
- onthald le dhenonthald le dhenonthald
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