Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!cgs From: cgs@umd5.umd.edu (Chris Sylvain) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Software Package Inoculates Disks Against Computer Viruses Keywords: Center for Computer Disease Control Message-ID: <2792@umd5.umd.edu> Date: 5 Jun 88 20:42:09 GMT Organization: University of Maryland, College Park Lines: 36 [ I'm posting this article verbatim as printed in the _News Breaks_ section of the April 28th issue of EDN as authored by Steven H Leibson. The part I think is of most interest is the bit about the _Center for Computer Disease Control_. ] After one of its computers became infected with a destructive virus program (sometimes called a Trojan horse program), Sophco Inc (Boulder, CO, (303) 444-1542) added an inoculation module to its $195 Protec software-pro- tection package for computers running MS-DOS version 3.0 and higher. An engineer at the company had downloaded a seemingly innocuous program (an X- rated animated graphics program) from an electronic bulletin board to a com- puter's hard disk. That program contained an infectious module that installed delayed-action routines into executable software on the hard disk. Later, the routines destroyed the files on the disk. [See what having lust in your heart will do to you?] Protec version 3.2 can safeguard your programs with a protective virus program called Vaccinate, which you install in your executable files with ano- ther program called Syringe. The Protec system also includes a decoy program called Canary that you can use to test suspect software. You include Canary on a floppy disk along with the dubious software and run the suspect program. If the Canary program "dies" after the suspect program finishes, you know there's a virus program on your disk. [Anyone have any guesses how that sup- posed to work?] [Now here is the part I find most interesting:] Sophco has also initiated the Center for Computer Disease Control, which will act as a clearing house for information about such antisocial soft- ware. -- --==---==---==-- .. and shun the frumious Bandersnatch! .. ARPA: cgs@umd5.UMD.EDU BITNET: cgs%umd5@umd2 UUCP: ..!uunet!umd5.umd.edu!cgs