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From: ewiles@netxcom.UUCP (Edwin Wiles)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Trojan Horse a Myth?
Message-ID: <561@netxcom.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Dec-87 10:01:40 EST
Article-I.D.: netxcom.561
Posted: Mon Dec  7 10:01:40 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Dec-87 12:44:55 EST
References: <459@gtx.com>
Reply-To: ewiles@netxcom.UUCP (Edwin Wiles)
Distribution: na
Lines: 28

In article <459@gtx.com> al@gtx.UUCP (Al Filipski) writes:
>
>It seems to me that the Professor is being quite naive.  We all know
>how easy it would be to create a Trojan Horse Program, and even, with a
>little more difficulty, make it infect the user's system in subtle
>ways.  As for the question, "has anyone actually been hurt by one of
>these?", I only know third-hand accounts.  Can anyone relate a
>first-hand account of damage done to his/her system by a malicious
>Trojan Horse?
>

See the last few issues of RISKS digest on this network.  There is actually
a message from a student who wrote a virus (admitedly designed NOT to do
damage, but ended up doing it anyway).

Additionally, there have been reports in the new 'misc.security' newsgroup
of a virus that was DEFINITELY harmful, and caused serious damage.  These
reports were apparently made by a university prof. who got burned by it.

They may not directly qualify as 'trojan horses', in that neither of them
was designed to allow illicit access to the infected systems, but they
easily could have been designed to do so.  And their spread rate is
incredible.
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