I was concerned about the virus notice, too, so I asked one of the computer
support system staff at the National Cancer Institute who has provided
reliable information in the past and here's what he said.
Nancy Breen
----------
From: St. John, Andy (EPN/337)
To: Breen, Nancy
Subject: RE: [PEN-L:5786] re: new virus
Date: Thursday, August 22, 1996 3:25PM
PKZIP300 is:
1) At least 2 years old
2) Incapable of destroying modems
3) It is a "trojan horse" program rather than a virus.
The main difference is that a "trojan horse" does not infect systems and
spread to other files, it merely takes some sort of (generally destructive)
action. In this can, it does wipe the hard drive, although I am not sure to
what exent it can be rebuilt. I have never heard of a "cuckoo's nest"
virus.
I was one of many virus "bulletins" issued as hoaxes, purportedly by the
Department of Commerce.
- Andy
----------
From: Breen, Nancy
To: St. John, Andy (EPN/337)
Subject: FW: [PEN-L:5786] re: new virus
Date: Thursday, August 22, 1996 2:16PM
what's the word on what follows?
Nancy
----------
From: pen-l
Subject: [PEN-L:5786] re: new virus
Date: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 8:25PM
Now people are being warned not only to not load anything titled 'Good
Times"
but, there is also a warning not to load PKZIP300 which is a cuckoo's nest
virus modeled to look like the compression program PKZIP. Apparently
PKZIP300 is brand new, it wipes the hard drive, destroys modems of 14.4 kbs
or larger, and there is no known cure. This warning was passed on to me by
someone who says it was issued by the federal government. However, I have
no
way of verifying the information.
maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
