85 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
85 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
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====================== BULLETIN #1 =======================
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The following 2 Articles I got from 2 magazines (I will give the reference
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at the end of the article), and I thought that you might like to see this.
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WARNING!
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Warning: Someone is trying to destroy your data. Beware of the SUDDEN upsurge
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of "Trojan Horse" programs on Bulletin Boards and in the public domain. These
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programs purport to be useful utilities, but, in reality, they are designed to
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sack your system.
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One has shown up as EGABTR, a program that claims to show you how to maximize
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the features of IBM'S Enhanced graphics Adapter, and has also been spotted as
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a new super-directory program. It actually erases the file allocation tables
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on your hard disk. For good measure, it asks you to put a disk in Drive A:,
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then another in Drive B:. After it has erased those FATs too, it displays,
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" Got You! Arf! Arf! "
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Don't run any public-domain program that is not a known quantity. Have someone
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you know and trust vouch for it. ALWAYS examine it FIRST with DEBUG, looking
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for all the ASCII strings and data. If there is anything even slightly
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suspicious about it, do a cursory disassembly. Be wary of disk calls
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(INTERRUPT 13H), especially if the program has no business writing to the disk.
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Run your system in Floppy only mode with write protect tabs on the disk or junk
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disks in the drives.
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Speaking of Greeks bearing gifts, Aristotle said that the unexamined life is
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not worth living. The unexamined program is not worth running.
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- The Editors of PC
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July 23, 1985
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Volume 4, Number 15
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Another bit of information I got from the ARPANET: Be careful what you put into
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your machine. There is out there making the rounds of the REMOTE BULLETIN
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BOARDS a program called VDIR.COM. It is a little hard to tell what the
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program is suppose to do.
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What it actually does is TRASH your system. It writes garbage onto ANY disk it
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can find, including hard disks, and flashes up various messages telling you
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what it is doing. It's a TIME BOMB: once run, you can't be sure what will
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happen next because it doesn't always do anything immediately. At a later
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time, though, it can CRASH your system. Does this remind you of some of the
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imbecilic copy-protection schemes threatened by companies such as Vault and
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Defendisk? Anyway, you'd do well to avoid VDIR.COM. I expect there are a
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couple of harmless-perhaps even useful-Public Domain programs floating about
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with the name VDIR; and, of course, anyone warped enough to Launch this kind
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of Trap once, can do it again. Be careful about untested "Free" software.
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Computing at Chaos Manor
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From the living Room
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By Jerry Pournelle
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BYTE Magazine, The small systems Journal
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###############################################################################
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Well there it is, If you happen to see any of these files on this, or any other
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RBBS, IBBS, FIDO or any other board, PLEASE leave the SYSOP a message or a
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and let him know about the file. I will List 2 other Files that I am aware of
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that will also do damage as has been reported in the past:
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1. STAR.EXE presents a screen of stars then copies RBBS-PC.DEF
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and renames it. The caller then calls back later and d/l the
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innocently named file, and he then has the SYSOP'S and all the
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Users passwords.
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2. SECRET.BAS This file was left on an RBBS with a message saying
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that the caller got the file from a mainframe, and could not get
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the file to run on his PC, and asked someone to try it out.
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When it was executed, it formatted all disks on the system.
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We must remember, that there are a Few idiots out there who get great pleasure
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from destroying other peoples equipment. Perverted I know, but we, the serious
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computer users must take an active part in Fighting against this type of stuff,
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to protect what we have. Be sure to spread this bulletin to other Boards
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across the country so that as many people as possible will be aware of what is
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going on. Thanks alot!
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........................ Kerry
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The Flint Board
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Flint, Mich
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(313) 736-8031
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Flint Board
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