90 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
90 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
The following text is copyright (c) 1987-1990 CompuServe Magazine
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and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of CompuServe.
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CompuServe Magazine's Virus History Timeline
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CompuServe Magazine is published monthly by the CompuServe Information
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Service, the world's largest on-line information service with over 600,000
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subscribers worldwide.
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If you would like to become a CompuServe subscriber, call
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1-800-848-8199 to receive a copy of the CompuServe Information Service
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membership kit.
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- 1987 -
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"VIRUS" INFECTS COMMODORE COMPUTERS
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(Nov. 20)
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A "virus" has been infecting Commodore's Amiga computers, and what was once
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considered an innocent bit of hacking has turned into a disaster for some users.
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The "virus" is a secret modification to the boot block, an area on many disks
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using operating system facilities of the Amiga. In addition to its transparent
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purpose --- starting the operating system -- the virus contains code that can
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infect other disks. Once a virus infected disk is used on a computer, the
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computer's memory becomes a breeding ground and all other bootable disks that
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find their way to that computer will eventually become infected. Any exchange of
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diskettes with another computer then infects the new computer.
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Although the original intention of the virus apparently was benign, it may
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have spread to thousands of Amiga computers and disrupted their normal
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operations. Since some commercial software developers use coded information in
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the boot block of their distribution disks, the virus can inadvertently damage
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these disks and render the software useless. Knowledgeable users say the virus
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was meant to be a high-tech joke that displayed a message after it had
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completely infiltrated a user's disks library.
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According to Amiga technical support personnel, the only sure way for users to
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keep the virus out of their systems is to avoid warm starting the computer. It
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should always be ¸'wered down first.
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--James Moran
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VIRUS MOVES TO IBM COMPUTERS
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(Dec. 7)
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On the heels of the Amiga virus, reported recently in Online Today, a new
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apparently less benign virus has been making the rounds of IBM personal
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computers. The IBM-related virus was first noted at Lehigh University where,
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last week, a representative in the User Services section reported its discovery
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by student consultants.
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As with other similar viruses, this one is spread by means of an infected
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system file. In this case, a hacked version of IBM's COMMAND.COM processor is
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the host that harbors the virus. Once infected, the host PC will then infect
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the first four computers with which it comes in contact. In all cases, the virus
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is spread through an illegally modified version of the IBM command processor.
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Once the host has infected four other computers, the host virus is reported to
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purposely destroy the boot tracks and allocation tables for all disks and
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diskettes that are online to the host computer. The action renders the disks
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completely unreadable, even when reconstructs are attempted with popular disk
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repair software.
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The consultant at Lehigh University who first alerted general users to the
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virus says that it can be detected by examining the date on the COMMAND.COM
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file. A recent date would suggest that the file had been illegally modified.
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--James Moran
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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS MESSAGE TIES UP IBM'S ELECTRONIC MAIL SYSTEM
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(Dec. 12)
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IBM nearly lost its Christmas spirit yesterday. It seems that a digital
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Christmas card sent through its electronic mail system jammed computers at
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plants across the United States for up to 90 minutes.
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The Associated Press quotes IBM spokesman Joseph Dahm as saying the incident
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caused no permanent damage, but forced the company to turn off links between
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computer terminals for a while.
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AP says, "Curious employees who read the message discovered an illustration of
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a Christmas tree with 'Holiday Greetings' superimposed on it. A caption advised,
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'Don't browse it, it's more fun to run it.' Once a person opened the computer
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message on their screen, it rarely accepted a command to stop the message from
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unfolding on the screen. As a result, several people shut off their computers
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and lost reports or mail that had not previously been filed."
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Apparently the message also automatically duplicated itself and was sent to
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other workstations.
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Online plants in Texas and New York were affected, Dahm said. Meanwhile,
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sources said that other facilities in Charlotte, N.C.; Lexington, Ky.;
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California and Europe also received the message.
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Federal agents even may investigate the incident, the wire service says, since
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the message apparently crossed state lines.
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--Charles Bowen
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