VIRUS-L Digest Tuesday, 6 Dec 1988 Volume 1 : Issue 34 Today's Topics: Morris' Criminality Re: Low-level hard disk format (PC) CHRISTMA EXEC [IBM VM/CMS] has reappeared! Virus Eradication Bill --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 5 December 1988, 15:08:38 CDT From: Nicholas Geovanis 312-996-0590 UWC6NTG at UICVMC Subject: Morris' Criminality Si Morris' actions and other criminal or semi-criminal activities, but all have missed an important point. Regardless of the exact state of the law, if a law enforcement officer witnesses a person disturbing the public's peace in any manner, that officer may detain that person, and that person may be prosecuted and punished in any manner that is not inconsistent with the law. There is little disagreement that Morris disturbed the "public peace,". although there are varying estimates of precisely how big the disturbance was. So far, he has not been reprimanded in the least. But if the guys down the block want to have some beers and whoop-it-up around 3 am., maybe play football in the park, the chances are good that they'll spend an evening in the lockup, since drinking in public is illegal, even though it's a victimless crime in itself, and since the park closes officially at 11 pm. It's even more likely that a teenager who steals $40 from a person who can afford the los he may even be idolized rather than prosecuted. Do you get the point? There's yet another massive double standard at work here. If you steal another person's. money (in the form of time or goods, and regardless of whether or not you use it for your own benefit), whether or not you're punished depends on how sophisticated your thievery was. If you're clever like Morris, you may get away with it. If you aren't, and your tool is a knife instead of a terminal, hope that you don't get caught. Nick Geovanis, UWC6NTG at UICVMC Sysprog U of Ill Admin Comp Ctr Chicago, Ill [Ed. Nick, you sent this file to me as (presumably) an IBM SENDFILE from some IBM mainframe. ASCII machines (like the one that I'm on) don't deal with these well; they turn end-of-lines into { brackets, etc. It takes me quite a bit of work to convert everything back into a readable format (anyone know if there's a GNU EMACS function to do this?), and I won't always have the time to do that (read: anyone sending mail in SENDFILE format (is that the correct term?) shouldn't be surprised if their messages don't make it into the digest). Please send mail as "normal" mail that the ASCII world can read properly. Thanks. While I'm on the subject of appropriate submission formats, I'd like to ask people to *please* include an appropriate SUBJECT line. A subject of "Re: VIRUS-L Digest V#1 I#27" is *not* an appropriate subject. I realize that the recent digesting of VIRUS-L is the cause of this, but we still need decent subjects. Here, too, I may not always have the time to make up a subject for the person sending the message in... I'd appreciate everyone's help on this. Ken] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Dec 88 20:45:37 ECT From: Ken Hoover Subject: Re: Low-level hard disk format (PC) A Low-level format/restructuring of the disk is a lot closer than you may think. To activate the low-level formatter that resides in your hard disk controller (this is for Western Digital controllers), get into DEBUG, and type g=C800:5 This will invoke the low-level formatter, and just follow the prompts. There are also commercial programs (ONTRAX comes to mind) that are designed to accomodate different disk drives. Remember to map the hard error locations onto the disk when you are prompted to. This is VERY important (I know, the company I got my PC from forgot to do this, and I spent three months fighing disk errors until I found out what was really wrong). There should be a list of hard errors attached to your drive (usually a sticker on top of the case), or they may be on a separate sheet which came with the unit. Don't EVER do this unless it's the ONLY solution (try everything else first) because this is a LAST RESORT. This is the hard disk equivilant of atomic warfare against errors/viruses. Good luck! - Kenneth J. Hoover UG Consulant T.J. Watson School of Engineering SUNY Binghamton Binghamton, NY, USA. BG1838@BINGVMA ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Dec 88 22:24 EST From: Jim Shaffer Subject: CHRISTMA EXEC [IBM VM/CMS] has reappeared! This turned up on, of all places, GAMES-L, and while our VAX is immune to it, I witnessed what it did to BITNet last year and don't wish to see it again. This "virus", for those of you not familiar with it, is a program that purports to draw a Christmas card on your screen. It does just that, but also searches your account for names and addresses and mails itself to all found. It is written in REXX, an easily human-readable language, and thus is only run (theoretically) by very stupid users. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a lot of those around last year. Maybe it was final exams draining people's brainpower :-) If I remember rightly, someone eventually circulated an altered version that also erased your disk for you. Or maybe that was the original, and it was altered not to erase later. In any event, the effects on BITNet are disastrous if, for some reason, lots of people run it without looking at it. - --Jim - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - To all those getting this note: The Christmas Exec virus has been released on the BitNet system once again! This sneaky program has been spotted here at the Univ of Arkansas several times. If you have seen this elusive program, please delete it from your reader before execution. It has been the major cause of BitNet problems{ in the past. Just a warning (flame me, and I swear...) Dave Boddie ************************************************************************* David Boddie | "If you hear thunder, don't worry, the light- Remote4 Operator |ning hit somethin else!" Computing Services | "M00seMan...With the propotionate strength, University of Arkansas |intelligence, and wisdom of a M00se. Bl00p... Fayetteville, Arkansas |there he goooeeesss!" (501)575-2908 | ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Dec 88 01:50:09 EST From: Steve Subject: Virus Eradication Bill First, I think it would have been useful to have had a copy of the bill which was being amended so that we could have the complete picture. Second, I think some definitions might be in order. What does the word 'insert' imply? Do I have to have an ordinary program to start with before I can 'insert' something into it, or can I write my own malicious program from scratch and then name it something familiar like 'Startrek' or 'WordStar' (and still be subject to this law)? Did the Internet Worm Program insert code into another program (I'm wondering if this amendment is somehow supposed to be a reaction to the Worm)? I don't think it did, unless you want to count the act of running a program as inserting commands into a program (the operating system). (Or maybe we should count the use of a program like the editor, presumably used to write the malicious code; that's not what the bill intends, but it's stated ratherly vaguely). I do like the qualifier 'malicious' because I think intent is important, but although the bill uses the word 'malicious' in its title, it actually says nothing about the actual intent of the harmful-code writer. I like it that the bill protects those who unknowingly spread a virus. On the other hand, the amendment makes it sound as though somebody can *knowingly* spread a virus, but if they didn't write it, they're safe from prosecution. Steven C. Woronick Physics Dept. SUNY at Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 11790-3800 Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own. Acknowledge-To: ------------------------------ End of VIRUS-L Digest ********************* Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253