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Hub You - A Brief History of Internet Hoaxes
When the Internet first started to really get major synergy going many religious folks claimed it was the coming of the Beast. Needless to say they were not the early adopters. Today nearly every religious organization has a website and many even pay for key words. Paying up to $2.00 for Google “Key Words” for things words like; God, Church, Sunday Worship, etc.It appears that those who condemned the Internet early on, as a sign of the beast and the eventual demise of the Earth thru their belief in revelation in the literal sense have made a complete 180. Today one of the largest sectors on the Internet is that of religious websites. Why are we always getting in the way of our species’ forward progress? Religious groups should have embraced the Internet for its communication value. Instead they fought it like the plague. Each time a new technology or con
The Internet is a wonderful place for writers. With a variety of writing contests only a few clicks away, handy search engines to help with research for stories and novels, and numerous websites to read other authors' work, the Internet is a source of information and inspiration.It also brings the temptation to post our own work. Many writers long to share their creations, to reach out and touch others with their words. It doesn't matter if our readers live halfway across the world; many of us share the dream that somewhere someone will read what we have to say and for a moment there is that connection, however fleeting.With the Internet covering just about any topic and idea you can think of, it can somehow feel like a safe place to share your writing, even for the shyest of authors. There's a sense of anonymity for those who do not like to revea
Any one who uses email these days is familiar with the omnipresent spam fills up your inbox or your junk folder (if you are a bit more savvy). Worse than the "normal" spam are the hoaxes and urban legends that are sent out by well meaning but uninformed friends and family. I get several of these each month. I have worked hard to keep them to a minimum and have alienated several of my friends in the process. Have you ever wondered where or who started the hoaxes and urban legends. I mean who made up the first internet hoax? What was it? I wondered about it so I did some research. Here's what I found.
The First Hoax
Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC.org) has been providing the U.S. Department of Energy with incident response, reporting and tracking of computer security incidents since 1989. According to CIAC, the first known internet hoax was perpetrated in October of 1988 and was the so-called "2400 baud modem virus". The actual text of the hoax is shown below:
===================================================
SUBJ: Really Nasty Virus
AREA: GENERAL (1)
I've just discovered probably the world's worst computer virus yet. I had just finished a late night session of BBS'ing and file treading when I exited Telix 3 and attempted to run pkxarc to unarc the software I had downloaded. Next thing I knew my hard disk was seeking all over and it was apparently writing random sectors. Thank god for strong coffee and a recent backup. Everything was back to normal, so I called the BBS again and downloaded a file. When I went to use ddir to list the directory, my hard disk was getting trashed again. I tried Procomm Plus TD and also PC Talk 3. Same results every time. Something was up so I hooked up to my test equipment and different modems (I do research and development for a local computer telecommunications company and have an in-house lab at my disposal). After another hour of corrupted hard drives I found what I think is the world's worst computer virus yet. The virus distributes itself on the modem sub-carrier present in all 2400 baud and up modems. The sub-carrier is used for ROM and register debugging purposes only, and otherwise serves no othr (sp) purpose. The virus sets a bit pattern in one of the internal modem registers, but it seemed to screw up the other registers on my USR. A modem that has been "infected" with this virus will then transmit the virus to other modems that use a subcarrier (I suppose those who use 300 and 1200 baud modems should be immune). The virus then attaches itself to all binary incoming data and infects the host computer's hard disk. The only way to
Like any other business in any city, if you plan to start a school uniform business in Houston, you need to consider its both positive and negative points. In a recently broadcast program on radio, an expert compared the peak season business of school uniform to that of the Christmas by calling it second Christmas. With the opening of the schools sign boards and large posters are displayed in all the retail stores attracting the people to buy pens, calculator, files, books and pencils along with the school uniform.Back To School Bonanza:When you start a school uniform business in Houston, back to school bonanza is the thing you should focus on seriously. According the studies performed on the market behavior, parents tend to purchase new school uniforms and other equipments when the student joins a new school or they buy it when the old school uni
The First Hoax
Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC.org) has been providing the U.S. Department of Energy with incident response, reporting and tracking of computer security incidents since 1989. According to CIAC, the first known internet hoax was perpetrated in October of 1988 and was the so-called "2400 baud modem virus". The actual text of the hoax is shown below:
===================================================
SUBJ: Really Nasty Virus
AREA: GENERAL (1)
I've just discovered probably the world's worst computer virus yet. I had just finished a late night session of BBS'ing and file treading when I exited Telix 3 and attempted to run pkxarc to unarc the software I had downloaded. Next thing I knew my hard disk was seeking all over and it was apparently writing random sectors. Thank god for strong coffee and a recent backup. Everything was back to normal, so I called the BBS again and downloaded a file. When I went to use ddir to list the directory, my hard disk was getting trashed again. I tried Procomm Plus TD and also PC Talk 3. Same results every time. Something was up so I hooked up to my test equipment and different modems (I do research and development for a local computer telecommunications company and have an in-house lab at my disposal). After another hour of corrupted hard drives I found what I think is the world's worst computer virus yet. The virus distributes itself on the modem sub-carrier present in all 2400 baud and up modems. The sub-carrier is used for ROM and register debugging purposes only, and otherwise serves no othr (sp) purpose. The virus sets a bit pattern in one of the internal modem registers, but it seemed to screw up the other registers on my USR. A modem that has been "infected" with this virus will then transmit the virus to other modems that use a subcarrier (I suppose those who use 300 and 1200 baud modems should be immune). The virus then attaches itself to all binary incoming data and infects the host computer's hard disk. The only way t
To buy a house, you make a small down payment (usually up to 20% of the value of the house), then you look for the rest of the money from a lender (a mortgage). If you are not careful, you could end up making costly mistakes. There are some things that you could do before even applying for a mortgage to ensure that the biggest debt of your life does not end up being the cause of your death.The first tip is to fix your credit, if necessary, before applying for a mortgage. Obtain copies of your credit report from all three of the credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) long before ever applying for a mortgage loan. By law, each CRA has to give you a free copy of your credit report once a year if you ask for it. Look through your report and make sure that it does not have any erroneous entries. Sometimes similar names can get mixed up
SUBJ: Really Nasty Virus
AREA: GENERAL (1)
I've just discovered probably the world's worst computer virus yet. I had just finished a late night session of BBS'ing and file treading when I exited Telix 3 and attempted to run pkxarc to unarc the software I had downloaded. Next thing I knew my hard disk was seeking all over and it was apparently writing random sectors. Thank god for strong coffee and a recent backup. Everything was back to normal, so I called the BBS again and downloaded a file. When I went to use ddir to list the directory, my hard disk was getting trashed again. I tried Procomm Plus TD and also PC Talk 3. Same results every time. Something was up so I hooked up to my test equipment and different modems (I do research and development for a local computer telecommunications company and have an in-house lab at my disposal). After another hour of corrupted hard drives I found what I think is the world's worst computer virus yet. The virus distributes itself on the modem sub-carrier present in all 2400 baud and up modems. The sub-carrier is used for ROM and register debugging purposes only, and otherwise serves no othr (sp) purpose. The virus sets a bit pattern in one of the internal modem registers, but it seemed to screw up the other registers on my USR. A modem that has been "infected" with this virus will then transmit the virus to other modems that use a subcarrier (I suppose those who use 300 and 1200 baud modems should be immune). The virus then attaches itself to all binary incoming data and infects the host computer's hard disk. The only way t
The Internet has grown way beyond anyone expectation. Just how to make your own web site is the big question from every Mom, Pop and teen. You want to make a much better web site, but, everyone believes that in order to build a web site you need to learn HTML (the code that is used to create a web site).Well, that used to be the case, now, you can make your own web site in just a couple of days, and you won't even have to master HTML. You can design any type of web site, no matter what your background.Doctors, lawyers, simple everyday people like you and me have discovered a much easier way for you to make your own web site. There are not many products online that can help you build a professionally optimized web site, but there are however two such products online, that can help you make your own web site in record time. Reduce your learning curv
Everyone knows that one of the main perks of a job, if not the main perk of a job, is the insurance it provides. In fact, many people choose a job based on the insurance benefits, and some even leave a job if it does not provide adequate insurance benefits and search for one that does.When we think about the insurance benefits provided by our jobs, we first think of health insurance benefits. The health insurance benefits offered by our jobs are usually pretty decent deals because we can get them through group health insurance. However, what some of us neglect to consider is getting life insurance benefits through our jobs; in other words, getting a life insurance policy through group life insurance. If this is an option for you, it could help you get the lowest life insurance rate possible for you.Group life insurance is often less expensive
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Now for those of you that are unfamiliar with modems from that time period, the 2400 baud modem was the latest technology in 1988. It is certain that the hoax didn't propagate to nearly the degree that a similar hoax would today but in its day this hoax caused its share of headaches. On a lighter note, the 2400 baud modem hoax also spawned the spoof hoax shown below.
===================================================
Date: 11-31-88 (24:60) Number: 32769
To: ALL Refer#: NONE
From: ROBERT MORRIS III Read: (N/A)
Subj: VIRUS ALERT Status: PUBLIC MESSAGE
Warning: There's a new virus on the loose that's worse than anything I've seen before! It gets in through the power line, riding on the powerline 60 Hz subcarrier. It works by changing the serial port pinouts, and by reversing the direction one's disks spin. Over 300,000 systems have been hit by it here in Murphy, West Dakota alone! And that's just in the last 12 minutes.
It attacks DOS, Unix, TOPS-20, Apple-II, VMS, MVS, Multics, Mac, RSX-11, ITS, TRS-80, and VHS systems.
To prevent the spresd of the worm:
1) Don't use the powerline.
2) Don't use batteries either, since there are rumors that this virus has invaded most major battery plants and is infecting the positive poles of the batteries. (You might try hooking up just the negative pole.)
3) Don't upload or download files.
4) Don't store files on floppy disks or hard disks.
5) Don't read messages. Not even this one!
6) Don't use serial ports, modems, or phone lines.
7) Don't us
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