Re: Message from my ISP

From: Mike (michael.owen@hushmail.com)
Date: 01/27/03 

From: "Mike" <michael.owen@hushmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 20:44:11 -0000

"Melissa" <Melissa@UPAlliance.orgDDD> wrote in message
news:3e34443c$1_3@omega.dimensional.com...
> "Mike" <michael.owen@hushmail.com> said, and I quote:
>
> >> it leaves me a little nervous about this kind of thing. He said the
only
> >> way to totally prevent it from happening would be to keep your main
> >> computer off the internet. Can someone tell us more about that kind of
> >> thing?
> >
> > Yes, it sounds impractical and silly. Did you need us to tell you that?
>
> No, I needed you to make meaningless idle comments.

Finally, someone asks me to play to my strengths....

On the subject of the possible hard-disk destroying virus, just consider the
idea itself.

1 - Why would the American government want to erase all the hard drives of
the nation when they are under attack? What does the average american have
on their hard drives which must be blocked from the invading country?

2 - If the American government DID want to erase said hard drives, only a
given number of people will be on-line when they decide to launch their
magical "virus." What about the computers that aren't on-line at the time?

3 - Any truly new virus will get through virus scanners - the military
doesn't need to make it for this to be true, as that's just how virus
scanners work.

If anything, working computer hard drives would be vital - a modern
underground could make excellent use of steganography and information hiding
research, not to mention the wealth of encryption tools in use today.
Controlling the information flow in a country used to free flows of
information would be difficult, to say the least. Heck, cypherpunks might
even become socially acceptable.

I just can't see any reason to take it seriously. Security people can be a
bit full of it sometimes - particularly ones who've worked one contract ages
ago for the military. I think you just met one of these goofballs. Next time
you see him, slap him with a large haddock and say I said "hi." 

--
Mike

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Dual boot and virus
    ... they may infect the OS in use or whatever they find on the ... but if you had a virus in the RAM and you ... |> systems and asking about viruses and worms. ... | Safest way is to use two separate removable hard drives. ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: Antispyware and Solaris
    ... this only works on Windows machines. ... I had a friend named Jeff who worked as a lab assistant in ... Part of Jeff's job was to ensure nobody left clutter on the hard drives ... It wasn't meant to find a virus. ...
    (comp.unix.solaris)
  • Re: Some portable hard drives upload stored info to Beijing websites without users knowledge
    ... VIRUS: Investigators say the tainted Maxtor portable hard disc, ... Seagate, uploads information saved on the computer automatically to Web ... The Investigation Bureau said the tainted portable hard drives automatically ...
    (rec.music.gdead)
  • Re: AVIs Have Mysteriously Been Stricken Unplayable/Unreadable? (Worm/Virus)
    ... If it is the virus that I ... its quite old and overwrites various file types with source ... > find myself in the midst of a virus attack as I logged online to grab ... > hard drives, and the affected files reside on only one of the hard ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: AVIs Have Mysteriously Been Stricken Unplayable/Unreadable? (Worm/Virus)
    ... I wonder whether you are simply missing a codec or some ... The virus, was real enough. ... > updates, including updates to ... >> hard drives, and the affected files reside on only one of the hard ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)