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" 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 ********************* Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253