Chapter 125
I'm here, Kirk. You're two minutes late.
PICKY PICKY.
I had to sit through a half hour of Madonna explaining why she m.a.s.t.e.r.b.a.t.*es on MTV.
LIFE'S A CESSPOOL. THEN YOU DIE.
You sound happy tonight.
I'M NOT EXACTLY PLEASED, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU MEAN.
What have you got?
WE'VE LEARNED A LOT. FIRST OF ALL, DGRAPH IS INFECTED.
No s.h.i.+t.
PROFANITY. BIG BROTHER AND FREEDOM ARE LISTENING. REALLY. WE FOUND DOZENS OF DIFFERENT VIRUSES IN LOTS OF DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF DGRAPH. SOMEONE PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO THIS. I HAVE NEMO AND EVERY PHREAK I KNOW WORKING ON IT TO SEE WHAT OTHER VERSIONS THERE ARE. AND I'M SURE THAT HALF THE HACKERS IN THE COUNTRY ARE DOING THE SAME THING NOW. WORD GETS AROUND. BUT THAT'S NOT THE HALF OF IT.
Continue, oh messenger of doom.
THERE'S MORE ABOUT THE FREEDOM BOARDS. I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN WHAT WE FOUND.
I'm hanging on your every byte.
GOOD. FIRST OF ALL, I HAD NO IDEA HOW BIG THE FREEDOM LEAGUE WAS. OVER 1600 MEMBER BBS'S HERE AND IN CANADA.
Is that large?
THAT MAKES THEM A FULL FLEDGED NATIONAL NETWORK. ALMOST A MIL- LION PEOPLE BELONG. BUT THE BEST PART? THE FREEDOM LEAGUE SOFTWARE IS FILLED WITH VIRUSES TOO.
You've got to be kidding. A million people in on it?
NO, NOT AT ALL. COULD BE JUST A FEW.
A few? How many are a few?
QUIET! THE FREEDOM LEAGUE RUNS A SORT OF FRANCHISE SERVICE FOR BBS'S. THEY GIVE YOU ALL OF THE TOOLS AND TOYS AND SOFTWARE TO HAVE YOUR OWN FREEDOM LEAGUE BBS. SO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO, CAN SET THEMSELVES UP FOR FREE. FREEDOM GIVES THEM EVERYTHING BUT A COMPUTER AND A MODEM.
And in exchange, they have to sell Freedom Software.
NOT EXACTLY SELL, SHAREWARE IS FREE TO DISTRIBUTE, IN THEORY ONLY A FEW PEOPLE MAY EVEN KNOW ABOUT THE INFECTIONS. WHOEVER IS DESIGNING THE PROGRAMS HAS TO BE IN ON IT.
And the franchisers, of course! They set up their own distribu- tion of viruses.
I WOULD GUESS THAT ABOUT 100 OF THE FREEDOM BBS'S KNOW ABOUT THE INFECTIONS.
Why, how do you know that?
GOOD GUESS. WHEN FREEDOM STARTED UP BACK
So it was staged, set up?
MUSTA BEEN. NOT CHEAP. A GOOD BBS TAKES ABOUT $10,000 TO GET GOING.
A million bucks. Chump change.
FOR WHO?
Just a friend. What else?
THEY'VE DISTRIBUTED MILLIONS OF PROGRAMS. MILLIONS.
Is every one infected?
I GUESS SO. EVERY ONE WE'VE LOOKED AT IS.
Who else knows.
NEMO, PHREAK PHRIENDS. IN A COUPLE OF DAYS YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GIVE FREEDOM AWAY. IF IT'S INFECTED, WHICH IT IS, IT'S ALL OVER FOR THEM. THEIR REP IS SHOT.
Aren't you worried about a repeat performance on your computers?
NO. I MOVED WHAT WAS LEFT OF MY EQUIPMENT AND WE SWITCHED TO CELLULAR CALL FORWARDING. CAN'T BE TRACED FOR MONTHS. BUT I APPRECIATE THE CONCERN.
I'll call you. My main man is going to want to talk to you.
Monday, January 18 New York City Times
dGRAPH INFECTED WITH VIRUS: DGI OFFERS FREE UPGRADES.
by Scott Mason
In an unprecedented computer software announcement, DGI President and industry magnate Pierre Troubleaux admitted that every copy of dGraph sold since late 1987 contains and is infected with highly dangerous and contagious computer viruses.
He blamed Taki h.o.m.osoto, chairman of OSO Industries, and the parent company of DGI for the viruses that Troubleaux said were implanted on purpose.
Mr. h.o.m.osoto had no comment on the allegations.
Since there are so many different viruses present in the dozens of dGraph versions, (Mr. Troubleaux estimates there may be as many as 500) it is impossible to determine the exact detonation dates or antic.i.p.ated damage. Therefore DGI is offering free uninfected copies of dGraph to every registered user.
Industry reaction was strong, but surprisingly non-critical of DGI's dilemma. In general the reaction was one of shock and disbelief. "If this is true," said one source, "the amount of damage done will be incalculable." He went on to say that since the virus problem has been largely ignored, very few businesses have any sort of defensive measures in place. Estimates are that large companies have the most to lose when the dGraph Virus explodes.
The major software manufacturers came to DGI's support saying, "...it was bound to happen sooner or later. We're just glad it didn't happen to us." Leading software firms including Micro- soft, Lotus, Computer a.s.sociates and Borland have offered their disk duplication and s.h.i.+pping facilities to a.s.sist DGI in dis- tributing over four million copies of the program.
Even with such support policies by DGI and the a.s.sistance of the software industry, there is a great fear that the infected dGraph programs have communicated viruses to other programs and comput- ers. According to Ralph Potter of the International Virus a.s.so- ciation, "This is a disaster of unfathomable proportions. It could not be much worse than if DOS had been carrying a virus for years. The designers knew what they were doing, waiting so long before the viruses were triggered to go off. The ultimate Trojan Horse."
The National Computer Systems Laboratory at the National Insti- tute of Standards and Technology issued a terse statement saying that they would soon publish recommended procedures to minimize the effects of the current virus crisis. They predicted at least 2 millions personal computers would be stricken with the dGraph Viruses.