Return-Path: XPUM04@prime-a.central-services.umist.ac.uk Received: from G.SEI.CMU.EDU by ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.3) id AA21749; Thu, 7 Jun 90 17:56:45 -0400 Received: from SEI.CMU.EDU by g.sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.5) id AA16415; Thu, 7 Jun 90 17:56:45 -0400 Received: from nsfnet-relay.ac.uk by sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.3) id AA14674; Thu, 7 Jun 90 17:56:35 -0400 Received: from sun.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk by vax.NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK via Janet with NIFTP id aa27388; 7 Jun 90 19:56 BST From: Anthony Appleyard To: DAVIDF@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk Date: Thu, 07 Jun 90 15:31:32 BST Message-Id: <$TGVGDBVHFKTN at UMPA> Subject: Virus-L vol 0 issue #0706 Virus-L Digest Wed, 6 Jul 88, Volume 0 : Issue #0706 Today's Topics forwarded info on NASA virus from Keith Peterson Scores Arrest RE: Scores Arrest Re: Scores Arrest ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 07:59:23 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: "Kenneth R. van Wyk" Subject: forwarded info on NASA virus from Keith Peterson From: Keith Petersen Subject: FBI to investigate rogue computer program at NASA FBI TO INVESTIGATE ROGUE COMPUTER PROGRAM AT NASA NEW YORK (JULY 4) UPI - NASA officials have called on the FBI to investigate a rogue computer program that has destroyed information stored on its personal computers and those of several other government agencies, The New York Times reported today. The program was designed to sabotage computer programs at Electronic Data Systems of Dallas, the Times said. It did little damage to the Texas company, but wreaked havoc on thousands of personal computers nationwide, company spokesman Bill Wright told the newspaper. Although damage to government data was limited, NASA officials have asked the FBI to enter the case since files were destroyed, projects delayed and hundreds of hours spent tracking the electronic culprit at NASA and at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Sentencing Commission. It was not known how the program, which damaged files during a five-month period beginning in January, spread from the Texas company to networks of personal computers and whether it was deliberately introduced at government agencies or brought in accidentally, the Times said. The computer program is one of at least 40, termed ''viruses,'' now identified in the United States, computer experts said. Viruses are designed to conceal their presence on a disk and to replicate themselves repeatedly onto other disks and into the memory banks of computers. The program currently being investigated is called the scores virus, the newspaper said. Some government officials say viruses are spread through informal networks of government computer users who exchange publicly available software. Viruses often lie dormant and then explode on a certain day or on contact with a specific computer program. They can erase entire disks, such as happened with a one word virus that flashed the word ''Gotcha!'' Kenneth R. van Wyk Hobbes: Wow, buried treasure right User Services Senior Consultant where you said it'd be! A Lehigh University Computing Center wallet full of money! Internet: Calvin: Yeah, it's Dad's. I buried it BITNET: here last week! -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 09:43:08 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: Joe McMahon Subject: Scores Arrest A quote from the Washington Apple PI Journal this month: "Donald Burleson of Fort Worth, TX has been arrested on felony charges as the creator of the Scores virus. If convicted of 'harmful access to a computer' he faces up to 10 years in jail. He is accused of executing programs 'designed to interfere with the normal use of the computer' and of acts 'that resulted in records being deleted.'" Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? - - Joe M. -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 11:36:00 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: "Jim Shaffer, Jr." Subject: RE: Scores Arrest >A quote from the Washington Apple PI Journal this month: >"Donald Burleson of Fort Worth, TX has been arrested on felony charges as >the creator of the Scores virus. If convicted of 'harmful access to a >computer' he faces up to 10 years in jail. He is accused of executing >programs 'designed to interfere with the normal use of the computer' and >of acts 'that resulted in records being deleted.'" >Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? Wide-open? You bet. Everybody at this site has been guilty of "(interfering) with the normal use of the computer" at one time or another :-) Nevertheless, you can't believe how happy I am that someone's gotten nailed for writing a virus. The only problem is, how is anyone sure that it's him? Anybody have any further info? _______________________________________________________________________________ | James M. Shaffer, Jr. | Bitnet: shafferj@bknlvms | | P.O. Box C-2658 | Internet: shafferj%bknlvms.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu| | Bucknell University | UUCP: ...!psuvax1!bknlvms.bitnet!shafferj | | Lewisburg, PA USA 17837 | CSNet: shafferj%bknlvms.bitnet@relay.cs.net | - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | "He's old enough to know what's right and young enough not to choose it; | | He's noble enough to win the world but fool enough to lose it." | | -- Rush, "New World Man", on _Signals_ | - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 16:01:00 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: WHMurray@DOCKMASTER.ARPA Subject: Re: Scores Arrest In-Reply-To: Message of 6 Jul 88 09:43 EDT from "Joe McMahon" >Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? I think they call that "frontier justice." I understand that you can still be hung there for rustling cattle (but not for shooting your wife). Yes, they are wide open categories. However, there must be very narrow specifications. It will be interesting to read them. My recollection is that SCORES had very specific targetes within EDS. Not exactly a "let's turn it loose and see what happens." Bill -------------------- *** end of Virus-L issue *** Return-Path: XPUM04@prime-a.central-services.umist.ac.uk Received: from G.SEI.CMU.EDU by ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.3) id AA25756; Tue, 12 Jun 90 06:23:35 -0400 Received: from SEI.CMU.EDU by g.sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.5) id AA12861; Tue, 12 Jun 90 06:23:32 -0400 Received: from nsfnet-relay.ac.uk by sei.cmu.edu (5.61/2.3) id AA03891; Tue, 12 Jun 90 06:23:19 -0400 Received: from sun.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk by vax.NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK via Janet with NIFTP id aa09075; 12 Jun 90 10:58 BST From: Anthony Appleyard To: KRVW <@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK:KRVW@sei.cmu.edu> Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 11:02:08 BST Message-Id: <$TGVTCZHTCBKZ at UMPA> Subject: Virus-L vol 0 issue #0706 Virus-L Digest Wed, 6 Jul 88, Volume 0 : Issue #0706 Today's Topics forwarded info on NASA virus from Keith Peterson Scores Arrest RE: Scores Arrest Re: Scores Arrest ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 07:59:23 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: "Kenneth R. van Wyk" Subject: forwarded info on NASA virus from Keith Peterson From: Keith Petersen Subject: FBI to investigate rogue computer program at NASA FBI TO INVESTIGATE ROGUE COMPUTER PROGRAM AT NASA NEW YORK (JULY 4) UPI - NASA officials have called on the FBI to investigate a rogue computer program that has destroyed information stored on its personal computers and those of several other government agencies, The New York Times reported today. The program was designed to sabotage computer programs at Electronic Data Systems of Dallas, the Times said. It did little damage to the Texas company, but wreaked havoc on thousands of personal computers nationwide, company spokesman Bill Wright told the newspaper. Although damage to government data was limited, NASA officials have asked the FBI to enter the case since files were destroyed, projects delayed and hundreds of hours spent tracking the electronic culprit at NASA and at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Sentencing Commission. It was not known how the program, which damaged files during a five-month period beginning in January, spread from the Texas company to networks of personal computers and whether it was deliberately introduced at government agencies or brought in accidentally, the Times said. The computer program is one of at least 40, termed ''viruses,'' now identified in the United States, computer experts said. Viruses are designed to conceal their presence on a disk and to replicate themselves repeatedly onto other disks and into the memory banks of computers. The program currently being investigated is called the scores virus, the newspaper said. Some government officials say viruses are spread through informal networks of government computer users who exchange publicly available software. Viruses often lie dormant and then explode on a certain day or on contact with a specific computer program. They can erase entire disks, such as happened with a one word virus that flashed the word ''Gotcha!'' Kenneth R. van Wyk Hobbes: Wow, buried treasure right User Services Senior Consultant where you said it'd be! A Lehigh University Computing Center wallet full of money! Internet: Calvin: Yeah, it's Dad's. I buried it BITNET: here last week! -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 09:43:08 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: Joe McMahon Subject: Scores Arrest A quote from the Washington Apple PI Journal this month: "Donald Burleson of Fort Worth, TX has been arrested on felony charges as the creator of the Scores virus. If convicted of 'harmful access to a computer' he faces up to 10 years in jail. He is accused of executing programs 'designed to interfere with the normal use of the computer' and of acts 'that resulted in records being deleted.'" Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? - - Joe M. -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 11:36:00 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: "Jim Shaffer, Jr." Subject: RE: Scores Arrest >A quote from the Washington Apple PI Journal this month: >"Donald Burleson of Fort Worth, TX has been arrested on felony charges as >the creator of the Scores virus. If convicted of 'harmful access to a >computer' he faces up to 10 years in jail. He is accused of executing >programs 'designed to interfere with the normal use of the computer' and >of acts 'that resulted in records being deleted.'" >Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? Wide-open? You bet. Everybody at this site has been guilty of "(interfering) with the normal use of the computer" at one time or another :-) Nevertheless, you can't believe how happy I am that someone's gotten nailed for writing a virus. The only problem is, how is anyone sure that it's him? Anybody have any further info? _______________________________________________________________________________ | James M. Shaffer, Jr. | Bitnet: shafferj@bknlvms | | P.O. Box C-2658 | Internet: shafferj%bknlvms.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu| | Bucknell University | UUCP: ...!psuvax1!bknlvms.bitnet!shafferj | | Lewisburg, PA USA 17837 | CSNet: shafferj%bknlvms.bitnet@relay.cs.net | - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | "He's old enough to know what's right and young enough not to choose it; | | He's noble enough to win the world but fool enough to lose it." | | -- Rush, "New World Man", on _Signals_ | - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 88 16:01:00 EDT Reply-To: Virus Discussion List Sender: Virus Discussion List From: WHMurray@DOCKMASTER.ARPA Subject: Re: Scores Arrest In-Reply-To: Message of 6 Jul 88 09:43 EDT from "Joe McMahon" >Those sure are wide-open categories as crimes, aren't they? I think they call that "frontier justice." I understand that you can still be hung there for rustling cattle (but not for shooting your wife). Yes, they are wide open categories. However, there must be very narrow specifications. It will be interesting to read them. My recollection is that SCORES had very specific targetes within EDS. Not exactly a "let's turn it loose and see what happens." Bill -------------------- *** end of Virus-L issue ***