[108259] in Cypherpunks
VIRUS CAN SEND DATA OVER THE INTERNET
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (FitugMix)
Tue Feb 9 23:29:49 1999
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 05:12:09 +0100 (MET)
From: FitugMix <tonne@thur.de>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: FitugMix <tonne@thur.de>
VIRUS CAN SEND DATA OVER THE INTERNET
A new virus, dubbed Caligula, is capable of retrieving information off of a
computer and sending it to an FTP site run by the hackers who created the
virus. Caligula steals a user's PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) key ring and
sends it to The Codebreakers' FTP site. The key ring is encrypted and very
difficult to break, so the user's security is probably not at risk, but the
virus illustrates the capability of having one's files stolen off the
computer. Caligula is one of a several increasingly complex viruses, the
result of more voluminous operating systems and applications software that
provides camouflage for a large virus file. "(A virus) used to be written
in assembler and made as tiny as it could be," says a technical director
with security firm ICSA. Now, hackers like The Codebreakers can "do it
with
impunity and are protected by the First Amendment while dramatically
contributing to the problem. If they were slapped by the law, it might
give
them an incentive to stop." (TechWeb 8 Feb 99)
"we have to yet really seriously debate the constitutional issues and
whether or not we're willing to give up more freedom in order to have
more security" -- U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, 3 Feb 1999
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Ben Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759
