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capable person, and I'm frankly not very good at assessing this over the
phone - I get many calls asking for viruses. So, since I can't be sure
that the person asking is a suitable candidate, I have so far always
refused. If a bona fide government department were to approach me, I
would probably feel different, but that hasn't happened.
One of the people who felt differently on this point, has obtained
copies of Brain and Italian. He has said that he will give copies to
anyone responsible person who asks him, for research purposes. I don't
know how he will decide, but I hope and pray that he is better at
judging character that I believe possible, and able to detect a
plausible liar. He says that he is acting from the highest, noblest
motive - freedom of information. I used to believe in freedom of
information myself, so I can almost understand him. But I profoundly
disagree with what he's doing, as the easiest way to write a virus, is
to disassemble someone else's, and change it to do what you want.
How to learn more
- ----------------The best way to keep up to date with virus developments is on Connect
(01-863 6646 - 1200, N, 8, 1). There are a number of conferences
devoted to viruses. This article was posted to Connect in conference
connect.virus on January 10th and I will be posting further updates to
this list of known viruses with their symptoms and effects as soon as I
have details.
One thing I have done is write a program for testing anti-virus
products. This uses a few different methods for writing to the boot
sector of floppy diskettes - TESTVACC is quite harmless, of course, but
it is doing something that many viruses do. Many anti-virus products
claim to be able to detect and/or prevent this sort of thing, so you
install your anti-virus program, and then run TESTVACC. TESTVACC tries
to write a simple message to the boot sector of the floppy disk, using
four different methods, any of which could be used by a virus.
I've tried several well-known anti-virus products, and although it
detected the first two methods of writing to the boot sector, it didn't
notice the third or fourth method. You can inspect the boot sector
afterwards, using whatever disk sector editor you like, and draw your
own conclusions. I'm making TESTVACC shareware, so it is available from
the User Group Library.
Also we hope to run a special series of workshops on viruses in the near
future. If you would like to take part then please write to me at the
User Group. This workshop will look at ways of reducing the risk of
infection, what to do if you think you are infected and in the event of
infection how to disinfect your systems.
Submitted by: Alan Jay (alanj@ibmpcug.CO.UK), Editor, Connectivity,
the newsletter of The IBM PC User Group, UK.
- -Alan Jay @ The IBM PC User Group, PO Box 360, Harrow HA1 4LQ ENGLAND
Phone: +44 -1- 863 1191
Email: alanj@ibmpcug.CO.UK
Path: ...!ukc!pyrltd!slxsys!ibmpcug!alanj
Fax: +44 -1- 863 6095
Disclaimer: All statements made in good faith for information only.
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