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Subject:Re[2]: Word Macro Virus From:Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM Date:Wed, 7 Feb 1996 07:08:00 -0600
It is not really a virus, but more a trojan horse.
BTW...It's actually a macro, not a virus.
In the interests of precise language, I feel I should point out that it *is*
indeed a virus.
1) Trojan horses are programs which claim to do one thing but actually do
another. They cannot spread from system to system except as their original
program is passed from user to user. The Word virii can enter a system on one
document, and leave to infect another system on another document. That is the
behavior of a virus, not a Trojan.
2) The language a virus is written in is immaterial to its identity as a virus.
It is quite possible to write a virus in *any* language, macro languages
included.
The fact that this virus comes without a payload is probably what leads to the
confusion of it with a Trojan. (BTW, there is a provision for a payload in it,
but it hasn't been enabled.)
I've a hardcopy of the macros involved in this sequence of virii. It simply
reinforced my belief that competent programmers write programs; incompetent ones
write virii. There's nothing creative in it.
Now, back to business!
Have fun,
Arlen
arlen -dot- p -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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