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UPi Info File #7
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< The United Phreaker's Incorporated Proudly Presents >
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< Stoned Virus Enters Politics >
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< By: The Lost Avenger >
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< An Upi Production 1990 >
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Reprinted In File Form On March 8, 1990
Orignally Publised In Toronto Computes March, 1990
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Stoned Virus Enters Politics
Politicians on Parliament Hill are less than thrilled with the antics
of a lobbyist who has infected at least 20 of their PCs and diskettes with a
virus that sends the message "legalize marijuana."
Although only a minimal amount of data was lost, Pierre Legault, chief
of computer systems in the House of Commons, says the February 14 appearance of
the virus saw his team devote two full days to scanning all 400 PCs and every
one of the diskettes in the House.
"We had to contact all the members and inform them that we would have
to come into their offices to check out their computer equipment. It was not a
lot of fun," says Legault.
The virus makes its presence known by flashing the message "Your
computer is stoned: legalize marijuana"--and then replicates itself until all
available memory is used up. It is the same virus that has run rampant through
Toronto universities in the last few months.
Legault is not sure how the virus--the first ever to strike the House
of Commons--infiltrated the system, but he says he is determined to find the
culprit.
"It could have been pretty bad, but we found it and quickly contained
it," says Legault.
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Mac Virus Brings Grief To Vaccine Makers
The appearance of a tough new breed of Macintosh virus has vaccine
companies running scared.
The WDEF virus saw Symantec lose thousands of dollars in one month and
led 1st Aid Software of Boston to throw in the towel, and announce an end to
further development of its Anti-Virus kit.
In a letter to owners of the Anti-Virus kit, president Susan Monjan
explained why her company would no longer go after "second-generation" Mac
viruses.
"Unfortunately, the introduction of stealth mechanisms (a virus which
contains a mechanism to disable anti-viral utilities) moves virus protection
into an entirely new arena. Attempting to deter mechanisms that are designed
to situation....Attempting to block stealth mechanisms by software thwart
detection is a no-win is comparable to the copy-protection wars of several
years ago with the endless cycle of response/counter-response: a situation
in which no one wins except the writers of anti-viral software."
The WDEF virus, which was discovered in Belgium in December, is unlike
other Macintosh viruses in that users do not have to run an application for the
virus to spread. It simply travels at the insertion of a floppy, says Karim
Esmail, a spokesperson for Symantec, the company which claims to have produced
the first vaccine. This virus is also unique in that it only infects the
invisible Desktop File, through which it copies itself from disk to disk.
While the WDEF virus does not eat files, it can cause disk crashes,
especially on Macintosh IIcx and IIci models when windows are moved, says
Esmail.
Esmail says the virus had the shipping department of Symantec in
chaos. Only a week before locating a vaccine for WDEF, Symantec had announced
version 1.2 of SAM, which eliminates the Mac virus Jude. Jude is a clone of
the common nVIR B virus, and was discovered in Switzerland in late November.
SAM version 1.2 was never shipped, however, because of the quick
turn-around in developing 1.3, which detected both Jude and WDEF.
By the end of the month 1.3 was outdated and version 1.4 was on the
shelves, because a new strain of WDEF had been detected.
Esmail said the effect of producing so many versions in so little time
saw Symantec Corporation lose $30,000.
What is worsening matters is that WDEF is travelling at breakneck
speed. While Esmail could not say how many computers were infected, he
acknowledged that it was more widespread than originally believed. First hit
were universities in Illinois, Texas and California, and The Computer Paper has
quoted another vaccine-maker as saying "virtually every (American) major
university" has been struck.
Mike Blumenthal of Club Mac in Toronto says he hasn't heard of any
reports of WDEF infection in this city. "But that might just be because it's so
embarrassing to admit that you've been sucked in."
If hit, an alternative to buying a vaccine to rid yourself of the
virus is to rebuild the Desktop file by holding down the Command and Option
keys while booting or inserting a file.
You may distrubute this file freely but may not change any part of this file in
whole or part without the written or verbal concent of the author.
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Call These Great Upi Boards!
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Node Number Board Name Sysop Baud
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Hq 416-Upi-Home The Northern Phreaker's Alliance The Lost Avenger 24
1 416-Upi-Nde1 The Shining Realm FrosT BitE 24
2 514-Upi-Nde2 The Order Of Kamikaze Tomcat 96
3 305-Upi-Nde3 Ferrari Mr. Ferrari 38.4
4 416-Upi-Nde4 Time Zone Destoryer 38.4
5 716-Upi-Nde5 The Knight's Society Jeff Knight 24
6 408-Upi-Nde6 The Unholy Temple Black Death 24
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03-08-89/007 Copywrite 1990 By The Lost Avenger-All Rights Reserved
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