My Table of Contents
Intro
Well, I should start by saying that the reason that the option for a report on computer viruses exists is due to a problem that a student in the generation before me had. Here is an except from a letter written to Prof. James from Akira Sasabe (G7) about his problem.
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 17:59:32 -1000
I just hope that I find out the cause of this problem so other people who
do not have computers at home will not suffer like me...
(A famous, if relatively harmless, prank in earlier computers was the
"cookie" program which ran on PDP series computers. This program would halt
the operation that the victim was working on and present a message
requesting a cookie. There are consistent reports of viral programs
following this pattern, including a very detailed report of a "Spanish
Cookie" virus, however the author has never seen any such program. In the
absence of such data I have, regretfully, come to the conclusion that this
is another piece of computer folklore which has mutated into legend.)
Another interesting prank is a program called PARASCAN or paranoid scanner
which pretends to be an anti viral scanner, but in reality falsely report
all sorts of unheard of viruses. Other "famous viruses" like the "AIDS" Trojan
is not actually a virus because it doesn't actually meet the criteria set
forth as a definition. However, I don't know if that really matters. I think
one of the main things that I learned while researching this is there's more
than one way to skin a cat, and in many ways a skinned cat is a skinned cat.
Most people seem to have a bit of healthy fear of viruses. It seems a bit ironic
that it really seems to be the people who don't have computers who are
affected the most (at least here in the university). It's the users of the computer
labs, shuttling their precious files back and forth on floppies on a gigantic
relatively unsecured group of computers all tied to a LAN. They are the ones who
are at risk the most, and where as if you have your own computer you can take
precautions, there isn't much the lab users can do.
So, for future generations who are writing reports on viruses, I would
recommend checking my links first. If they still work I'm sure you'll find the
information there to be of use. Second, If your writing this for Prof. James class, I
would recommend making your basic html frame work first, then later going
back to write the report. After much experimentation I have found this method
to be the most efficient.
Another thing I've learned is a better understanding of what a hoax sound like.
The less time I spend on the hoaxes the more time I have to worry about things
that can actually effect me.
From: Akira Sasabe
To: Leon James
Subject: My Report 2
Dr. James,
I decided to retype the whole thing today and I did just about the half of
it now, and the information seems to appear all right on my web page. It
was really unfortunate since this time I decided to use computers only at
Porteus and Moore Hall. I still do not know what was the cause of the
virus problem, but I think as long as I stick with one computer, it
seems to be OK. I found my "favorite" computer at Porteus and do my best
to secure the seat whenever I come in to do the work. My Impression
I can only assume from the snippet of the letter provided and by the nature
of the assignment, that Mr. Sasabe had an unfortunate run in with a computer
virus. It's terribly unfortunate, but I can't really find myself worrying
about that too much. It's just seems much more likely that my computer will
have some sort of hardware failure than any trouble with a virus. I don't
worry about viruses much, mainly because I don't run strange programs. I
have a virus checker on my computer, but I leave it turned off most of the
time because it often impedes the installation of new software. I asked
around, but everyone I know how have had any experiences with computer
viruses are all about hoaxes and chain mail more than anything else.
My Interpretation
In the instructions for this report we were asked to give our
interpretation. The article, from what I could tell, was about software
programs called Teardrop and Land which crackers use to tie up internet
servers. If my understating is correct, these programs are actually run
from the crackers computer and sends false messages, requests etc. My point
is, if that's the case, although destructive, it doesn't fit the definition
of a virus.
The Sources
My Additions
What are Computer Viruses?
Computer Viruses are programs designed to replicate itself on a computer
unknown to the user. This can attacks the software, known as a malicious or
just designed to be there, know as benign the It is my understanding that
this is a kin to a vandal who goes out and "tags" things like buss benches.
It's a sort of status thing for a programmer with too much time on there
hands.
How do they work?
Viruses attach themselves to files, when that file is run or executed, the
virus then replicates itself. Is is interesting in as far as there are no
email viruses that can be transmitted by jut reading an email. If someone
were to actually email you a virus, it would have to be in a program that
you download and then run separately. In my understanding (which I admit is
still limited) all warnings about email viruses are hoaxes (see section on
hoaxes).
Famous Viruses
Strangely enough, the more interesting thing that I found out about weren't
about viruses at all, but more about pranks in general. Here is a quote from
A History of computer viruses That I found quite amusing
Virus Myths
Virus myths are very popular. It seems that a week doesn't go by that I don't
get some kind of email in warning me about some kind of mythical virus.
Mainly they are all variations of the "good times" email virus, stating that
if you open any email with the the words good times in the header, your
computer will crash. Like I said before, there is no such thing as an email
virus.
I can only speculate that virus hoaxes are popular because they are a much
easier prank to pull of than actually writing a virus. You can get someone
to waste there time and cause aggravation all without doing more than
writing a letter. People propagate them because in there mind in forwarding
you this useless bit of mail, which is usually written like a chain letter,
they are doing you a favor. They think they are protecting you when there
actually being duped.
Possible Significance
As for the possible evolution of electronic entities from computer viruses:
Far be if from me to ever rule anything out completely, but for the time
being it sounds like sci-fi to me. These are analogies in a way that people
make models for the human mind, there is a connection but it doesn't
describe the process exactly, nor should you think it should.
Reacting to Viruses
My Report compared to others
I admit looking at others report during the making of mine and I feel that for the
most part, their's seem to have more technical information. I tried to basically try
to keep this all in my own words and have a relatively conversational tone. I
think that's what sets my work apart from most of the others of the same subject.
Also, I tried not to get sidetracked too much by things similar to a virus like Trojans
and worm and stick strictly to viruses. I did enjoy reading their reports though.
They were very good.
For Future Generations
Conclusions
So, what I've learned is that there a lot of unfortunate things that can happen to
a computer that have nothing to do with viruses. A lot of these can be avoid
by the home user by controlling what they run on there computer. This may
seem paranoid to many, but I don't run disks that I've used at a school lab. Any
work that I do there, I convert to text and mail to myself rather than save as a
file to run at home. I know that text won't harm my computer, but I can't be to
sure of a document for a program that I've made in the labs.