BEGPAN6.CVP  931103
 
                           Getting Help
 
This is *very* difficult.  Who do you turn to?  Who do you trust? 
Who can help?
 
Do not automatically trust your local repair shop.  Computer retail,
rental and repair outfits have become significant vectors for viral
spread.  They may very well have superlative skills in diagnosis and
repair, but being able to put a computer together, or take it apart
and find out why it isn't working, is not the same as study and
research in the virus field.  The number of experienced and
knowledgeable virus researchers in the entire world is probably less
than one hundred:  the number of "instant experts" on the basis of
possession of an out-of-date scanning program is in the hundreds of
thousands.
 
The preceding may be seen as a slap at computer repair people.  It
is in no way intended to be so.  The point that I am trying to make
is that knowledge about viral programs is extremely specialized. 
Computer repair is highly skilled and specialized itself--but not in
the virus area.  Nor is this to say that help desk personnel,
computer consultants, systems integrators or even data security
specialists, have any advantage in dealing with viral programs,
unless they have made specific study in the field.
 
Enough with the bad news.  Where *can* you find help?
 
The only place to get accurate and timely information, for most
people, is from the virus discussion groups on computer networks.  I
am referring to the international networks; the Internet and
Fidonet; rather than commercial systems, no matter how large. 
Compuserve has at least three "virus" related forums:  all are
merely technical support venues for specific commercial products. 
Of the various "virus" discussions on commercial systems I am only
aware of two with any substance.  Therefore, whoever you call on for
help should have access to, and read regularly, VIRUS-L on the
Internet, comp.virus on Usenet and either VIRUS, VIRUS_INFO or
WARNINGS on Fidonet, or VirNet which uses Fidonet technology.
 
It is, of course, very easy to *say* that you keep up with the
latest research and not quite as easy to test the statement.  Here
is a quick check.  At the risk of sounding like I have an ego the
size of Manhattan:  if they don't know me, it is highly unlikely
that they know the field.
 
No, I am not just a conceited windbag trying to blow my own horn.  I
could easily name a dozen people who are more expert than I (and
would immediately get into trouble by *not* naming a dozen more,
equally qualified, whose names momentarily escaped me).  The point
is that I post articles on a weekly basis (or better) to pretty well
anywhere of any significance.  On second thought, maybe the fact
that I am *not* one of the big names is an advantage.  If they know
me, they really do read *all* of the information.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993   BEGPAN6.CVP  931103
 
============= 
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Institute for  Robert_Slade@sfu.ca      |  for the triumph of evil
Research into  rslade@cue.bc.ca         |  is for good men to do
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Security       Canada V7K 2G6           |            - Edmund Burke