New subject: Getting OT:Re: question about viruses

17 Feb 1999

Friends:

First, let me apologise for the anti-spam message I sent to this
group.  I did not properly check the destination address before
sending, and it was inadvertent.

Second, about computer viruses.

Sam Ismail said that he had an article from the LA Times dated
in 1986.  I would love to see the article.

Ward D. Griffiths III noted the value of the idea as described in the
book by John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider.  It is an excellent
book but, the worm (or virus) issue is ancillary to the plot of the
book.  Still, in my paper, Apple Worm (published in the November
1986 issue of Call A.P.P.L.E. magazine - as the cover story), I
make reference to the book.

In this paper, Apple Worm, I provide a detailed design of a virus
program which would operate upon Apple II computers, via the
Hello program mechanism.  As far as I know, it is the first such
exposition of the techniques of computer virus writing ever
published, though I am aware of some descriptions of the idea
as far back as 1972.  This earliest description is published in the
journal Software: Practice and Experience.  There is another
early publication of this nature in the journal Communications of
the ACM, written by Schoch, et al.  I do not remember the date of
the article but, I do have a copy.  I will do the necessary research
and report the information, if no other person bets me to the punch.

It is very likely that my paper, Apple Worm (written together with the
late James R. Hauser, a former professor of mine at the California
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo), is a major
influence upon the proliferation of computer viruses at that time.   :)

As far as I know, the Brunner text is the first mention of the concept
of a computer virus in the literature, as the paper in Software:
Practice and Experience mention only the game DARWIN, as
played at the AT&T Bell Labs.  Interestingly, DARWIN is the source
of motivation for A. K. Dewdney's construction of the game Core
War.

William R. Buckley

-----Original Message-----
From: Ward D. Griffiths III &lt;gram(a)cnct.com&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 1:06 PM
Subject: Re: question about viruses

...
 On Wed, 17 Feb 1999, Charles Oblender wrote:

  Could any one point me to a source for the
history of viruses and
 computer worms.  I'm doing a recearch paper and I'm looking for sources. 
Well, the origin of the words themselves applying to computers is the
novel _The Shockwave Rider_ by the late John Brunner.  Highly
recommended, though somewhat dated technically now (unavoidable in any
writing about computers set decades in the future -- and this novel
was published in 1975).

Other than that, you might try digging through the web pages of some
of the anti-virus product vendors.
--
Ward Griffiths
"the timid die just like the daring; and if you don't take the plunge then
you'll just take the fall"                                Michael Longcor