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- VIRUS-L Digest Tuesday, 1 Aug 1989 Volume 2 : Issue 165
-
- Today's Topics:
-
- ftp addresses for VIRUS-SCAN program (PC)
- Missouri Virus (PC)
- virus info requested (no system given)
- New Israeli Boot Virus (PC)
- Re: 2 remarks about the name "virus"
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 08:42:48 -0500
- From: kichler@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Charles Kichler)
- Subject: ftp addresses for VIRUS-SCAN program (PC)
-
- What anonymous ftp sites are keeping up with the current virus
- detection/preventtion programs? I am particularily interested
- in the VIRUS-SCAN program. I would prefer to avoid calling
- HomeBase on my own funds. The university doesn't like us making
- phone calls on them.
-
- Charles "chuck" E. Kichler, Grad. Stud.
- Computer & Info. Science Kansas State Univ. * Yesterday,
- Internet: kichler@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu | I knew the answers.
- BITNET: kichler@ksuvax1.bitnet * Today,
- UUCP: {rutgers,texbell}!ksuvax1!kichler | they changed the answers.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 09:33:43 -0400
- From: "Dennis P. Moynihan" <DMOYNIHA@WAYNEST1.BITNET>
- Subject: Missouri Virus (PC)
-
- John MacAfee writes:
-
- "There has been some confusion about the Bantam Book's "Dos Power Tools"
- diskettes, and the recent Wayne State newsletter advising purchasers
- of the book not to use the diskettes has obviously concerned the
- editors at Bantam - and the warning is unwarranted...."
-
- Well, first off I'm glad that the diskette doesn't contain a virus--it's
- bad enough worrying about shared diskettes without having to worry about
- shrinkwrap stuff, too. I think, at the time, there was ample reason to
- be cautious about this product. The original posting was quite strong for
- a virus warning:
-
- "The occurrence was at the National Security Administration. The virus
- came into their shop on a disk shipped with the book - "DOS Power Tools",
- published by Bantam. This was the third report of the virus entering
- an installation on this book....".
-
- While John points out in his recent posting that Mr. Dimsdale
- 'believed' the infection came from the book and that two other
- organizations also suspected a 'possibility' of the disk being
- infected, these qualifiers are not to be found in the initial posting.
-
- We're in a situation here where we're not going to personally debug
- every new virus. We have to rely on the qualified and dedicated people
- who are already doing so. Virus-L is about the best forum for monitoring
- such activity. We're careful to take a report with weight the authors
- give it--when someone says "we're not sure yet" or "we believe", then we
- let them resolve that doubt before taking any action.
-
- I guess there is a two way lesson here. Readers of Virus-L have to be careful
- when evaluating a new report, and look for independent confirmation of
- reports before acting on them. However, I think this points out the need
- for utter clarity when offering a virus report to the list. People will
- act on them and there's no way of telling where something will end (sites
- will pass info on to others, the report may end up in a publication somewhere,
- etc.).
-
- For the record, I think everyone does take a tremendous amount of care
- with their reports and information, and the dedication of the group here
- is really amazing. And of course, the Hombase people are at the top of
- that heap. We'll our campus know that DOS power tools looks like a good
- buy after all.
-
- - --------------------------------------
- Dennis Moynihan (DMOYNIHA@WAYNEST1)
- Computing and Information Technology
- Wayne State University
- Detroit, MI
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 01 Aug 89 02:59:35 +0000
- From: mcvax!edvvie!eliza!andreas@uunet.UU.NET (Andreas Brandl)
- Subject: virus info requested (no system given)
-
- Hallo,
- I am looking for Anti-Virus-Software or Software to found viruses.
- If there is everyone out there who can help me, please write me.
- And if you don`t have Software i am also happy about a lot of sentenses.
- (New Virus, Software, Letters, .....)
-
- Please before you send programs, please Email me before. (andreas@edvvie.at)
-
- Many Thanks, Andreas
- - --
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
- EDV Ges.m.b.H Vienna Andreas Brandl
- Hofmuehlgasse 3 - 5 USENET: andreas@edvvie.at
- A-1060 Vienna, Austria/Europe Tel: (0043) (222) 59907 (8-16 CET)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 12:01:50 -0700
- From: portal!cup.portal.com!Alan_J_Roberts@Sun.COM
- Subject: New Israeli Boot Virus (PC)
-
-
- This is a forward from John McAfee:
- ==============================================================================
-
- I have received a copy of the boot virus reported by Yuval Tal and
- have included a check for it in the V32 of VIRUSCAN. The problem is that we
- don't have a name for it. I spoke with David Chess at IBM and suggested we
- call it the "Israeli Boot" since no other boot viruses have been reported
- from Israel. He found no problem with the name and I'd like to propose the
- name for general use. Any other name is also fine with me, but until another
- name is generally accepted the scan program will say "Israeli Boot Virus"
- whenever it's found. (I am aware that it is an unsatisfying name, it
- is marginally more descriptive than "Fred").
-
- JDM
-
- [Ed. "Fred", eh? Hmmm... :-)]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 19:06:43 -0000
- From: raph@planet.british-telecom.co.uk
- Subject: Re: 2 remarks about the name "virus"
-
- In comp.virus you write:
-
- >1. The English language has certain traditional ways of naming groups
- >of animals, e.g., a goggle of goblins, a school of fish, a pack of
- >wolves, etc. Since both `virus' and `Trojan horse' have some kind of
- >animal overtones, I wonder what other people (preferably English
- >majors) think is a good way to name a group of those beasts.
- >Definitely not `diskful'---a disk is likely to be anything but full
- >after a visitation. A test-tube of viruses? A can of worms? A pack of
- >Trojan horses? `This BBS offers a horde of Trojan Horses for
- >downloading.' Please reply directly to me, and I'll summarize in the
- >newsgroup.
-
- These terms are called 'venereal' terms, because they were used in
- venery, or hunting. Maybe your analogy is stricter than you thought.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of VIRUS-L Digest
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