[ale] McAfee Discovers First Linux Virus [clari.tw.comp

[Robert L. Harris]

tfreeman wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 13 Feb 1997, Jacob Langseth wrote:
> <<snip>>
> > The author later stated that he wrote Bliss to debunk those still claiming
> > that virii cannot exist under unix (though there have been several --
> > Thompson's cc/login trojan from Bell Labs, RT Morris's internet worm, and
> > one in Ludwig's Giant Black Book of Computer Viruses), and posted a binary
> > of the current version (bits fipped, of course).  The 'virus' is not
> > linux-specific, btw (though I think it's probably limited to systems w/
> > ELF format binaries).
> 
> I have a problem, and perhaps the gentle readers of this list can point to
> a resolution. The common media usage of computer virus is _any_ malignant
> code place on a computer. Thus, Trojans, worms, and such are virii
> (viruses?) in media talk. For some reason - to me a virus is a special
> breed of malignant code(and they need not be malignant either): code which
> attaches to an exicutable file and is executed inplace of or in addition
> too the original file's code. (Similar to the incorporation of a biologic
> virus into the host cell's genetic material.) Under my understanding then,
> worms, Trojans, and such are different creations, biologically more
> similar to bacteria and/or parasites.
> 
> Am I nuts, or are we going to have to call all malignant code "virus" and
> find a language of taxonomy to classify and understand the various
> security threats?

I tend to agree with you.  Otherwise, when some joker on a pc creates a
file called autoexec.bat the does a deltree c:/*.* he's just created
a virus, which he hasn't.

Robert
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------
Robert L. Harris          |		Friends help you move.
System Engineer For Hire. \_		Real friends help you move bodies.  

Email:
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DISCLAIMER:
  These are MY OPINIONS ALONE.  I speak for no-one else.

perl -e 'print
$i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'