At 05:16 AM 11/15/98 -0500, Ford Prefect wrote:
>There's a reported *NIX "virus" of olden days, which was very cleverly
>written. It was encapsulated into the "login" program, so when a certain
>user logged in, it gave them root access, whether or not they actually had
>an account on the box. The roots of the virus were actually in the
>compiler, and when the compiler saw it was making login it would add the
>code. Of course, there was also code so that if the compiler saw it was
>making itself (IE, the source lines were found and removed), it would
>re-add the code, thusly it was a kind-of "virus".
>
>Don't know the truth behind this, just remember reading about it in "The
>Hacker's Dictionary" :>
-- It's true, see the ACM turing lecture by Ken Thompson (I think..) with
the title something like "On Trust.. in Systems" Probably Mid 80's in CACM.
Gregory Guthrie
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Gregory Guthrie
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (515)472-1125 Fax: -1103
Computer Science Department
College of Science and Technology
Maharishi University of Management
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