920302 DEFMTH9.CVP BBS danger myth I hear it from almost everyone I talk to about viri: "I'm in no danger, I don't use a modem". Yes, there are pirates, crackers and phreaks out there who frequent bulletin board systems. Yes, there are even pirates, crackers and phreaks who run boards. Yes, if you hang around even the best BBSes, you will find lots of messages from ankies, techno-weenies and people to who spelling and grammar are foreign concepts. But bulletin board systems are not going to "automatically" infect you. Modems cannot infect you. Reading messages cannot infect you (albeit you might come across an ANSI bomb, but they can't "infect" you). Even downloading and running programs is not that dangerous. (In nine years of working with the local and remote "on-line" community I have not yet downloaded a single infected file, at least not one that wasn't sent to me by another researcher.) Bulletin boards are not the major "vector" in the spread of computer viral infections. I can even go a fair way to "proving" that statement. The most "successful" viral programs have always been boot sector infectors. From my experience and studies, there are more copies of "Stoned" out there than all other viral programs combined. And boot sector infectors are not spread over bulletin boards. (I said "are not". I didn't say "can't". Yes, you can use TELEDISK or SENDDISK. Yes, "droppers" are possible, and even known. But droppers are extremely rare, and most people don't even know what TELEDISK is.) Thus, the major vector *must* be disk swapping. Bulletin boards are not the enemy. In the computer virus arena, bulletin boards may be your greatest friend. Where can you get information about computer viral programs: from newspapers which state that backups are all the protection you need against Michelangelo? from magazines which state that you need to disconnect the hard drive if you get an infection? from television stations which speak of BSIs and show the screen produced by Cascade? You read a lot of nonsense on BBSes and networks about viri, but you get some information, too. And the shareware programs are generally the best, cheapest and most up to date. After all, you can't even get DISKSECURE commercially. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1992 920302 DEFMTH9.CVP ============== Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca | "Do you get guns with your Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca | gun magazines? No. Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca | Do you get viruses with your User p1@CyberStore.ca | virus magazines? Yes." Security Canada V7K 2G6 | - Kevin Marcus