[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

ARTICLE: the _real_ info on the "Hare Krishna" virus...



I find it funny that just days after ghen@netcom.com criticized
someone else for giving misleading information, that the "Hare
Krishna" virus article appeared. That article was so rife with
inaccuracies that I have to wonder where Hindustan Times gets its
information.

If you want real information on this virus, check out any of the
anti-virus software companies. For example, I'm including excerpts
from the McAfee site, specifically
http://www.mcafee.com/cgi-bin/w3com/start?mcafee+v_1455


The article claimed that the virus was "Indian" - note that
the virus experts don't seem to agree:

#      Discovery Date
#                                July, 1996
#      Origin
#                                Europe
#      Length
#                                7610 Bytes
#      Type
#                                Multi-partite Virus
#                                Memory Resident
#                                Stealth
#                                Polymorphic
#      Prevalence
#                                Common

The article also claimed that the virus "targetted" pornographic
downloads, or something to that effect. Anyone with a mild
understanding of computer science should be able to determine exactly
how difficult that would be. Instead, we see that it behaves just like
any other virus:

# Method of Infection
# 
# Multi-partite viruses have two main routes of infection; either as a
# Master Boot Record/Boot Sector Virus or as a File Infecting Virus.
# 
# Most infections occur when a computer attempts to boot from an
# infected floppy diskette. The boot sector of the diskette has the code
# to determine if the diskette is bootable, and to display the
# "Non-system disk or disk error" message. It is this code that harbors
# the infection. By the time the non-system disk error message comes up,
# the infection has occurred.
# 
# Once the virus is executed, it will infect the hard drive's MBR and
# may become memory resident. With every subsequent boot, the virus will
# be loaded into memory and will attempt to infect floppy diskettes
# accessed by the machine.
# 
# The second route of infection is by receiving an infected file through
# a multitude of sources including: floppy diskettes, downloads through
# an online service, network, modem connections, etc. Once the infected
# file is executed, the virus may activate.

Of course, those intent on petty political personal propaganda, etc.,
etc., etc., are free to keep reposting that copyrighted UPI
article. We all know how to use the 'n' key.

-Vivek

P.S. I'm curious to know if the original poster on SRH received
permission from UPI to post that article. 



Follow-Ups: