| VIRUS ALERT (was: Ghost object) [message #21206] |
Thu, 17 August 2000 00:00 |
Martin Schultz
Messages: 515
Registered: August 1997
|
Senior Member |
|
|
!!!!!! ATTENTION -- VIRUS ALERT !!!!!!!
The Security Advisory Committee of the Expert Programmers
Association (SACEPA) announces:
Pavel R. has recently discovered the first IDL virus, codename
"ghostfont". This is an extremely dangerous beast, and it hits
the IDL community completely unprepared. In the past we have
always thought that viruses would be something that belongs to
Microsoft Windows, and that no one would care about an IDL virus,
because the user community is sparse enough to prevent serious
epidemics. Yet, here it is, and the bad news is: no one (not even
the EPA wizards) know how to remove it. We only know that the
drastic measure typical for infected Windows systems (clean your
disk and reinstall) will not be likely to succeed. What makes
this virus especially dangerous is IDL's platform independence.
And what worries us at SACEPA most is that this virus apparently
threatens the whole idea of open source software. Because IDL
programs are plain text files, it was never thought feasible for
a virus to attack, yet, here it comes. Open software can only be
rehabilitated if it is discovered that this is a bug in the IDL
main executable (which is not open source) or a simple
programmer's oversight.
Summary:
Virus name: ghostfont
Danger classification: 1* - probably mildly harmful, but risks
not fully analyzed yet
Virus action: produces IDLgrfont objects even if no one asked for
them and doesn't remove them upon cleanup. So far, no more
serious damage has been detected, but we cannot exclude that this
virus will expunge your harddisk.
Counter measures: Don't use Pavel's new program
For SACEPA signed by
Martin
PS: :-)
Pavel Romashkin wrote:
>
> David Fanning wrote:
>>
>> Pavel Romashkin (promashkin@cmdl.noaa.gov) writes:
>>
>>> And... here again comes IDLGRFONT, Array.
>>
>> Uh, you're not using one of my programs, are you. :-(
>
> Nope. And it is not happening today, either. The code is untouched. I am
> convinced it is a one-time glitch (that sometimes repeats at regular
> intervals :-)
> Solution: I'll just quit IDL to let it rest over the lunch break :-)
> Cheers,
> Pavel
--
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ [[[[[[[
[[ Dr. Martin Schultz Max-Planck-Institut fuer Meteorologie
[[
[[ Bundesstr. 55, 20146 Hamburg
[[
[[ phone: +49 40 41173-308
[[
[[ fax: +49 40 41173-298
[[
[[ martin.schultz@dkrz.de
[[
[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[ [[[[[[[
|
|
|
|
comp.lang.idl-pvwave archive
Members
Search
Help
Login
Home
