Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!rutgers!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
From: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The Ultimate Fix!!!
Message-ID: <384@uwslh.UUCP>
Date: 25 Sep 88 17:37:27 GMT
References: <693@zehntel.UUCP>
Reply-To: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts)
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison, State Hygiene Lab
Lines: 84

In article <693@zehntel.UUCP> donw@zehntel (Don White) writes:
>[So far... ]
[ ... ]
>    Here is an updated suggestion which I DARE you to find flawed. 1/2 ;-)
>
>    If kickstart (both ROM and Disk) were distributed with a WORKBENCH checker
> you would be told automatically when your disk was not standard. If you have
> attempted to load a copy-protected program then you will simply accept that
> it is non-standard. And documentation should warn you that you are subject to
> having other disks harassed. There is NO WAY TO GET PAST THIS WARNING because
> it is in ROM or a write-protected kickstart. (System Master disks should be 
> distributed with NO WRITE PROTECT TABS!!! I.E ALWAYS PROTECTED!!!)
>
>    This method would incur some cost. Any time Workbench changed, KickStart
> would have to be redistributed. But there would always be dependable warning
> when you first stuck a virused disk in your system. It would be READ before
> it was RUN. This insures that no bad code is executed!!
>
>    Come on now! Wouldn't this work?

     Yeah, this sounds like it would work.  However, the only way to
make *certain* one had the right boot block is to keep an *exact* copy
in the ROMs.  Any less information is liable to be broken; note that
this is the major problem with checksums.

     One problem is what to do with non-standard (i.e. custom)
boot-blocks.  Should a requester be posted when one is found?  I find
that annoying because then I have to hit a mouse button every time I
want to boot a commercial game.  For that manner, any intrusive
warning will be annoying.

     This probably would not be as effective as you think.  My
reasoning: the workbench should always check out; however,
non-standard boot blocks would not.  So when people booted with a disk
containing a non-standard boot-block, a message would appear (like
"this is a non-standard boot block: use it at your own risk!").  Given
that there are a lot of games and other programs with non-standard
boot blocks, people would soon ignore the warning for anything but a
bootable workbench disk.

     So what do you have?  Some more precious ROM memory used for
checking only Workbench disks.  This is probably better done with one
of the current virus checking programs.  For example: write your own
program that has an exact copy of the Workbench boot-block embedded in
it.  Put it first in your startup-sequence.  There will be a small bit
of overhead for comparing the two, but not too bad.  The only time
that the program needs to be changed is when another release of the
Workbench comes out, which is not all that frequent anyhow (there have
only been three or four released to the public so far, in about that
many years).

     The Kickstart check would work, but it consumes precious ROM
space and penalizes those who do usually get viruses (I have never had
problems with them myself).  Furthermore, it would only solve part of
the problem of viruses that reside in the boot block.  There will
probably be other forms of viri (or is it virii, or is it viruses?) in
the future that do not use the boot block as their residence.

     By far the best solution has already been mentioned by a wise
net-person: *IGNORE* the virus writers; i.e. do not give them any free
publicity (like these messages are), do not keep posing solutions to
them over the net, do not flatter them in any way (including calling
them names and such).  I have a feeling that if these virus-writing
dudes do not get any form of acknowledgement, they will begin
producing more interesting and visible software, like useful PD
programs, because they will be noticed more.

    The other solution is practice "safe [disk] sex!"  Think of those
write-protect tabs as disk-condoms, and USE them as protection.
Backup your stuff more.  Never trust a PD disk until its boot-block
has been examined, and be wary of PD programs.

> Don White
> {ihnp4 | akgua | seismo}!zehntel!donw

					.oO Chris Oo.
-- 
Christopher Lishka                 ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene                   lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu
Immunology Section  (608)262-1617                            lishka@uwslh.uucp
				     ----
"...Just because someone is shy and gets straight A's does not mean they won't
put wads of gum in your arm pits."
                         - Lynda Barry, "Ernie Pook's Commeek: Gum of Mystery"