VIRUS-L Digest Tuesday, 13 Jun 1989 Volume 2 : Issue 136 Today's Topics: Virus report from India (PC) Re: naming confusion Request for back issues of Virus Digest Re: No Publishers' Viruses A Taxonomy of "Electronic Biologicals" (Was: Net Hormones) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jun 89 16:25:05 edt From: cliff%cfa253@harvard.harvard.edu (Cliff Stoll) Subject: Virus report from India (PC) From NATURE magazine, volume 338, page 530,13 April 1989 Reported by K. S. Jayarman PAKISTANI VIRUS INVADES INDIAN NEIGHBOR 'C-Bran', a computer virus of Pakistani origin, has hit personal computers throughout India in what is thought to be the first epidemic of its kind in the nation. The incident highlights India's extensive trade in pirated software and copied floppy disks. In just four weeks, "C-BRAN" showed up in comptuer schools and a private company in Bangalore and in somee 20 companies in Bombay, including an international bank. The virus was also reported from Madras, Kanpur and Vijayawada, a small town where 750 of 1000 floppy disks used by a private company were found to be infected. Scientists at the Delhi University Computer Centre said their machines were invaded by the 'ashar' variant of the virus. Dr. N.C. Kalra of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, who detected 'ashar' in the institute's computer, blamed the epidemic on pirated software. No virus has yet shown up in computers linked by electronic networks but government agencies have been alerted. India's NICNET links the Cybercomputer mainframe computer in the Planniing Commission with portable computers in district headquarters while another network, ERNET links the computer centres of eight educational enstitutions. The six major commercial comptuer networks all claim to have strengthened their security system following the epidemic. Submitted by Cliff Stoll 12 June 89 Cliff@cfa200.harvard.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jun 89 09:26:57 mdt From: dinl!hull@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Jeff Hull) Subject: Re: naming confusion > If you wish to continue this discussion, fine. But if it's anything >more than a one-sentence apology for attributing false motives to me, >mail your remarks to me personally. VIRUS-L is not a forum for poli- >tics or slanders. Perhaps e-mail to the moderator of this newsgroup/mailing list would be sufficient to move your discussion with Mr. Morey elsewhere? > Y. Radai > Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem > > P.S. On another subject: In Issue 116 (May 16) I posted a list of >20 PC viruses and asked if anyone has comments to send them to me >personally. It turns out that precisely at that time we had mailer >problems and a lot of mail which was addressed to me didn't reach me. >So if anyone sent me mail and didn't receive a reply, please re-send. I was off the net for a month and didn't see your list. would you please e-mail me a copy? I am interested in developing a taxonomy of computer software with special interest in "biological" software, i.e., software capable of replicating itself, which includes viruses, worms, phages and others, and a secondary interest in penetration algorithms. Would you please favor me with any thoughts you have on this topic? Blessed Be, Jeff Hull ...!ncar!dinl!hull 1544 S. Vaughn Circle 303-750-3538 It was great when it all begaaaaan, Aurora, CO 80012 I was a regular faaaan, .... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Jun 89 09:36:18 mdt From: dinl!hull@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Jeff Hull) Subject: Request for back issues of Virus Digest I have recently (re)joined the net (darned job. Takes me away from the fun things in life.) and have just found the comp.virus newsgroup. Could someone please send me (all?) the back issues of VIRUS-L digest so I can catch up with what's going on? [Ed. That's quite a tall order - the archives are in the order of a few megabytes. You would do better to FTP them from IBM1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU if you have Internet access, or e-mail request them from LISTSERV@IBM1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (the e-mail must contain valid LISTSERV commands such as HELP, INDEX, GET FILENAME, etc.). The archives can also be found on lll-winken.llnl.gov.] - -- Blessed Be, Jeff Hull ...!ncar!dinl!hull 1544 S. Vaughn Circle 303-750-3538 It was great when it all begaaaaan, Aurora, CO 80012 I was a regular faaaan, .... ------------------------------ Date: 12 Jun 89 23:28:43 GMT From: dinl!hull@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Jeff Hull) Subject: Re: No Publishers' Viruses In virus-l 2:130, L. Anne Cole asked, >>> >>> Is it possible that the software packagers are spreading viruses to their >>> competition (for obvious reasons). "Hi, I'm a virus, are you a database? >>> Are you my database? CRUNCH." Sounds rather strange, but... while in virus-l 2:131 Gordon Meyer responded, >> >> While I would like to think this isn't happening, there is evidence to the >> contrary. In article <0001.8906081951.AA00599@ubu.CC.Lehigh.EDU> VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU writes: > >Let us set the record straight on this subject: > >No known software publisher has ever intentionally released a virus >into circulation, HORSEFEATHERS! Perhaps you mean to say no software publisher is publically known to have intentionally released a virus into circulation. By definition, you, nor we, do not know of "secret" or "undiscovered" releases of viruses by software publishers. there may be some or there may be none. But YOU DON'T KNOW! >nor is it likely that any would do so, as it would >be contrary to their interests. HORSEFEATHERS! Several scenarios have been proposed in which a software publisher would gain some advantage from releasing a virus, provided only that knowledge of such behavior could be kept secret. Anne Cole provides one such in her article cited above. The undetected release of a virus in a purportedly stolen copy of proprietary software could easily deter people who might otherwise be just a little casual in their software acquisition policies. A clear benefit to software publishers. >Viruses threaten the entire software industry Not clear. And certainly not proven. >and expose the releasing party to an enormous legal liability. If caught and if sufficient evidence can be collected to prove such in a court of law. >As "evidence to the contrary" Mr. Myer cites an article he read which >in turn vaguely suggested that some (unnamed and unnameable) >developers "might be introducing viruses as a means to fight software >piracy." Mr. Meyer did not offer any evidence. I wish he would! Or anyone else out there who has some EVIDENCE. Not just a story without substantiation. >The idea of releasing viruses to protect intellectual property rights >sounds as bizarre to us as would be the idea of bombing libraries to >protect authors' copyrights. Let's compare apples to apples, please. The accurate comparison is the bombing of a printing shop which makes copies of a book without paying the author's royalties. A clear benefit to the author. Blessed Be, Jeff Hull ...!ncar!dinl!hull 1544 S. Vaughn Circle 303-750-3538 It was great when it all begaaaaan, Aurora, CO 80012 I was a regular faaaan, .... ------------------------------ Date: 13 Jun 89 16:01:07 GMT From: dinl!hull@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Jeff Hull) Subject: A Taxonomy of "Electronic Biologicals" (Was: Net Hormones) In article <0001.8906122012.AA00724@ubu.CC.Lehigh.EDU> Dr. David S. Stodolsky <@uunet.uu.net:stodol@diku.dk> responds to earlier discussions and questions raised by Chris McDonald regarding Dr. Stodolsky's paper "Net hormones: Part 1 - Infection control assuming cooperation among computers " In an article that I haven't seen yet, D. Platt discusses biological analogues for software. [ Platt, D. (1989b, May 10). Biological analogues. Virus-L Digest , 2(112).] At the 10th National Computer Security Conference (Oct 1987) a paper was given on the Taxonomy of Computer Viruses. In my opinion, that paper should be expanded upon, developed into a comprehensive taxonomy of computer software, and should be made available to every university library and computer scientist. My attention has been diverted to other endeavors in the intervening year and a half, so possibly such work is on-going without my being aware of it. If so, would this group kindly direct me. If not, could we start such a compilation and classification? Blessed Be, Jeff Hull ...!ncar!dinl!hull 1544 S. Vaughn Circle 303-750-3538 It was great when it all begaaaaan, Aurora, CO 80012 I was a regular faaaan, .... ------------------------------ End of VIRUS-L Digest ********************* Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253