University Daily Kansan / Thursday, October 20, 1988
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Science
Computer viruses
NEIL C. PINCHNKnight-Ridder Graphics Network
By Katy Monk
Kansan staff writer
Some are benign, doing no more than flashing a message on the user's screen and then disappearing. Others are malicious, hiding in the host long enough to themselves and then destroying programs and documents.
Either way, computer viruses have caused something close to panic since they first appeared several years ago.
"In the world of computing, there has arisen a bit of concern about it," said Doug Heacock, KU Academic Computing Services user education specialist. "There's a certain amount of paranoid."
Some of that may be due to media hype, Heacock said. A recent Time magazine cover story was titled "Invasion of the Data Snatchers!" A 'virus' epidemic strikes terror in the computer world."
Computer viruses act in much the same way as biological viruses. Both are bits of coding — programmed to infect computers and force the host to replicate the virus. Born move from host to host; both require a host to survive. Even their names are often misleading.
But unless they are specially fortified against viruses, computers have no immune systems.
And unlike human viruses, all computer viruses are deliberately created by programmers.
A virus is transmitted to a computer's hard disk as a sort of program carried in an infected disk. Hacecook or other malware can infect the operating system, infecting applications as they are run, or goes directly for applications even if they are not used. Once in a program, it takes over and can create such viruses by erasing files, forming the hard disk or garbling data.
The mission of viruses is twofold. Haeckel says. First is to replicate themselves, which distinguishes them from other forms of computer mischief. Second, he said, is to wreak havoc on the system.
Most viruses attack only executable files such as programs, not touching data files such as the ones many students store on their personal floppy盘. But any program that contain programs are at risk from infected computers.
Programs with names such as Virus RX and Interferon have been developed to detect existing viruses; others, known as host vectors, are also available. Heacock said many were available at the computer center's 1-window to be checked out or copied for no charge.
Other, more common sense safeguards exist. Heckoc
infected several precautions for guarding against infection:
1. Make sure your computer is protected.
2. disks come with write-protect tabs so that the
computer can tell you it a program is unexpectedly
running.
3. Keep your operating system clean.
`don't use borrowed disks, which may be infected; if you do, charge them by write-protecting them or test them`
- use commercial software purchased at a computer store, not second-hand or pirated software;
if possible, use a program that locks your hard disk before you use a program for the first time;
be cautious about downloading programs from electronic bulletin boards
Bulletin boards are public-access systems in which anyone, using telephone lines, can upload a program (enter it into the bulletin board) or download one for his use. Many bulletin board operators screen all uploaded programs for viruses or other malevolent programs, but only those that are downloaded before the operator has a chance to screen it.
Dale Gadd, systems operator of the Pink Flamingo Cafe, a Lawrence bulletin board, said he was more concerned with Trojan horses, which destroy data but do not replicate themselves, than he was with iruses.
Gadd, who said he'd had 22,000 calls on the board in the past year, said "Everybody has heard of somebody who thinks they are really quite rare. They're fairly sophisticated things. If you're using bulletin boards you may be."
But John McAfee, founder of the Computer Virus Industries Association in Santa Clare, Calif., saw more than 100 people infected with the virus.
McAfee said the association had identified 25 strains of virus since the first virus, the "Pakistan Brain," popped up in January 1986. McAfee's association consists of 13 firms that manufacture and market anti-viral solutions.
The association, formed in February, has verified 42,000 viral infections in individual personal computers;
The most prevalent virus, he said, is the SCORES virus, which infects Macintosh computers. The virus was named for the file called SCORES that mysteriously appears in infected computers.
Most people who think their computers are infected actually only have a malfunction, a bad program or some other problem. McAfee said. But when a virus is present, it does its damage by the time it is recognized.
"Every virus that has been released is still at large." he said. "It's like the flu. I'm not sure that we'll ever eradicate completely any virus in the public domain. The best we can hope to do is control it."
SCORES copies itself into the system folder and then attaches itself to a system file. Any program executed
"You can treat the symptoms and feel better, but the disease remains uncured."
Worse, he said, "in nine out of 10 cases, when a virus strikes and a person recovers the system, they do not adequately erase the virus. When they bring the system to the surface, the virus reacts, the virus will reactivate and destroy material again."
KU equipment also susceptible
By Katy Monk
Kansas staff writer
Computer viruses are becoming a fact of life, and the University of Kansas is not immune.
Dog Hexcouch, Academic Computing Services user education specialist, said a virus first hit KU in the spring, when a journalism student acquired a program infected in an accident at the manufacturer.
Bob Bissom, assistant professor of journalism, said a virus that flashed a message of peace on users' computers could have been the program called Freehand when the program was being designed. Freehand is published by Aldus Corp.
"Altus pulled Freehand off the market and sent out a clean version." Bassow said.
"It crashed his system," Basow said.
But by that time, it was too late for the student
"I crushed his custom." Barney said.
Several other incidents have been reported on campus since that time, and even the computer center has been closed.
Heacock said a Macintosh computer in the user area had become infected with the SCORES virus during the summer. A student detected the virus when he checked the terminal before using it.
"It was probably there for only a day or so, but it had already begun to replicate." Hogg said.
Computer center staff posted a notice that the machine was infected, and they worked to eradicate the virus by completely erasing and then restoring the computer. It is checked every week for recurrence of the virus.
SCORES has spread to several sites on campus, and the disease has given the breed of one incidence of a virus called nVIR as well.
SCORES has been detected at University Relations, Hinesock said, as well as at the Art and Design printing department.
Emerson said he thought the virus had been introduced from a disk obtained at a trade show. No damage was made, but it cost him a day's work erasing the disk and rewriting copies of programs from originals.
The lab now uses Vaccine, a preventive program,
to warn of viruses attempting to enter the system.
"It was a big deal," Emerson said. "But it made us all nervous."
Computers used by Kansan business staff and graphics designers also have been protected by Vaccine since one computer was infected with SCORES several weeks ago, jeanne Hines, faculty adviser for sales and marketing, said she thought the infection had come from a student's disk.
The virus crashed a Pagemaker software program and rendered it unusable. Hines said. When they erased the infected program and attempted to reinstall the software, the virus resurfaced and damaged the original software.
Hines said backup copies were not involved, so purchasing new software was not necessary.
Although the computers are now protected, Hines said she was concerned that the student with the infected disk could still be spreading the virus unintentionally.
"I'm confident that it was purely accidental," Hines said. "But the same person that infected our computer last time could conceivably infect it. Someone is probably on a disk and, I must certain, doesn't even realize it."
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