Instructions for the Report on the
Psychology of Computer Viruses

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...

**Start with an Introduction on your thoughts about Mr. Sasabe's problem. What is the history you have with computer viruses if any? Are you worried about it? Does your computer have a virus checker right now? Ask around and see if you can find a person to interview who has exprienced a computer virus problem. Report your interview details. (Have you answered each question?)

**Discuss your interpretation of this news item in Edupage Online, December 1997:

DOE ISSUES WARNING ON CRACKER TOOLS The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a bulletin warning that two new computer attack tools, known as Teardrop and Land, are being used maliciously by crackers intent on breaking into computer systems and networks. The software sniffs out vulnerable servers and launches attacks based on the "denial-of-service" strategy that overwhelms servers with bogus messages, blocking out legitimate traffic. "They hit the button and go down to the cinema with their girlfriends," says a senior systems consultant with the Defense Information Systems Agency. "They come back and see that they have looked at 200,000 systems." (TechWeb 24 Dec 97)

**Now read these Online Resources on Computer Viruses
Use this list to start with. You need to list these in your report, along with the additional ones you find, especially those more recent than the links below.
For general security information see:

1. ciac.llnl.gov/ciac
2. www.mcafee.com/support/techdocs/vinfo/default.asp
3. IBM's virus warning site
4. Computer Virus Myths
5. Symantec's Anti-Virus Research Centre
6. www2.offutt.af.mil/wipo/virushoax.html
7. csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/virus/

Under separate **tagged sub-headings (for the Table of Contents), make a list of the online resources you recommend and give a description of each place--what there is to find there and why you recommend it.

After that, make each of these a section with its own tagged sub-title:
**What are computer viruses? What is their purpose? Who creates them? Why?

Note:

It might help you to see what I wrote to one student in G8 who was doing this report and asked me to look at it. Here was my advice. Be sure you follow this advice in doing your report!

I looked at your report 1 on computer viruses. The material you have from IBM is informative, however, you need to remember that what is wanted is YOUR PROCESSING of that material, not the DIRECT QUOTING of it. It is of less value to quote than to tell it the way YOU UNDERSTAND it, and send the reader to the original, when they want the original story rather than your processing of it. If you quote, it should be minimal.

So, sit back and without the original, try to tell the story of computer viruses. See how much you can explain and where you feel your understanding is insuffiecient. Go back and read more until you feel you understand. Then do the notes again without looking at the original. Your task is to EXPLAIN to a friend what it is in as accurate a way as you can, making sure your friend understands what you understand. All right? Try it. It leaves you with a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and love (better than the feeling of plagiarism--leaving the original to do the work you should be doing).

So: let these questions guide you in your account:

**How do they work? How do they spread? What types are there?

**What are some famous viruses in the history of computer viruses?

**What are virus myths? Describe some that you find astonishing. Why do people propagate them?

**Discuss the significance of the existence of computer viruses. How are they like biological viruses in function? Could there be an evolution in cyberspace of virtual "entities" like there is in natural space for biological organisms? The current breaking news says that they're coming out with intelligent agents software that seek out and attack computer viruses wherever they can hide on the Internet or on your hard drive. This sounds like a cyberspace immune system with T-cells, etc. Do you see merit in these analogies? Could they be real rather than just metaphor?

**How do people react to viruses? Describe a major computer scare (be sure to give your live absolute reference link so people can jump there for a first hand look). How does this impress you and what does it show you?

**Check what our students have said in our Forum Discussions on this topic.   What is your reaction?  How much in depth did they discuss it?

**Take a look at how other students in your class have done this report (when the drafts are posted). Describe your impressions and reactions to the reports you look at--link to them. How do they compare with yours in
(a) content, (b) approach, and (c) presentation.
Note: hurry up and post your draft of this report so others can complete this part of it!! Please email the class when your report is first posted.

**Add a tagged Conclusion section explaining how you think future generations can use your document for studying the psychology of computer viruses. How can they further your project to its next step? Summarize the steps you've taken and those of other G8 students, then indicate future directions for G8 and beyond--be very specific. Consult your class notes to see what you have on it, or bring it up on class email discussion.

**What are your final conclusions or Epilogue? What have you learned? What are your recommendations? Note: It's important that you dialog about this in class, on the email discussion, and with friends--or else your ideas will remain unnecessarily restricted. So: bring the question up in class email discussion when you're thinking about this and preparing to write this section of your report.

**Add a centered h1 heading, calling the document:
Report on the Psychology of Computer Viruses:
xxx

**Place a Table of Contents at the top of the document with links to all the tagged sub-titles.

_____ Note: Students often forget this item--but it is required: The first item in the Table of Contents MUST be called Instructions for this Report and it must be a live link to this document, whose address relative to your document is

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy9/g9com409.html

**Type this into the [title] field:  Computer Viruses by FN LN Gxx/Fall 1998 University of Hawaii

_____ Be sure you add a Navigation Table and e-mail button at the bottom of the document.

_____ Using your web browser, check your document screen by screen: no screen should be made of just one paragraph (i.e., no paragraph should exceed one screen full--it's too hard to read that way!)

_____ Spell check your document before uploading!!

_____ Check the visibility of your text: patterned backgrounds are not allowed. Darker colors are not allowed. White bgcolor is always excellent, especially if you vary the font face, color, and size to enhance visibility and emphasis (no blinking text allowed). Remember: your text looks different in different browsers and computers, so you need to experiment and ask others. You may also use graphic enhancers such as color bars, color dots, icons. However, animated icons are a problem if they distract attention from the text. Using the Table tag in html allows easy control over the color of each column and the placement of text on the screen. See this example for how to change the color of fonts. See this student's effective use of varied font faces, colors, and sizes.

_____ Check the way your document loads after it contains everything. How long does it take? Does text appear on the screen while one waits, or is it blank? Slow loads and blank screens are not allowed, so you must choose graphics that are low in memory size!