Re: A new level of sophistication in cyber security

From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Sat May 20 2000 - 02:09:13 MDT


Harvey Newstrom noted in a parenthetical:

>(The I-Love-You virus was really a Microsoft-specific backdoor that
>did not affect any non-Microsoft operating system or any
>non-Microsoft product.)

This isn't 100% right. Running the VBS script without Outlook
installed will still do damage to your computer. (The new FW worm
will, for example, still set the length of all your files to 0, even
if you've never installed Outlook.) What ILOVEYOU and its family
won't do without Outlook is spread to others.

So, it's true that this won't affect any non-Microsoft operating
system (since the VBScript won't work there), but mailers like Eudora
are still vulnerable to these e-mails. Anybody foolish enough to
double click on the VBS in Pegasus Mail will wish they hadn't.

-Dan

      -unless you love someone-
    -nothing else makes any sense-
           e.e. cummings



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