- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

'Virus Alert!' or 'Re:Stan the Savior?'
by StanSquncr 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

whgiii(a)invweb.net - << Yes Stan and you are here to "save" us all. >> If you look up in your definition of the word "save", maybe, EXCEPT, there's bound to be at least a couple of people on this list that don't need saving. ;-) But really, what I'm here to save, is your computers - ======== Subj: What if - God and SuperMan got into a fight - no, I found this on a Rush newsgroup - ----------------------------- Subject: If Rush was a computer virus... From: lotus(a)hogpe.ho.att.com (-R.CAPIK) Date: 21 Mar 1996 17:16:10 GMT What if there was a Rush Limbaugh computer virus. What might it do? What about some other political figures... ? Ron Capik [aka: the NJ Editorial Minstrel ] ----------- Forbes virus: Makes all your programs give 17% of their resources back to your system. We have no idea what the system will do with the resources. (Only applies to earned resources.) At a cost of millions (in un-earned resources), the virus runs for a short time then quits. <see Perot virus> Buchanan virus: All your icons move to the far right of your screen. Bill Clinton virus: Your pointer jumps back and forth across the middle of the screen, seems to drift to the left and you can't seem to pick any programs. If you have a sound card you may hear the sound of rushing [white] water. Limbaugh virus [aka: ditto virus]: All icons line up under the Rush icon where ever it may go. Bill Clinton #2 Icons turn purple and explode. (May be triggered by conservative input) Dole virus: We don't quite know what it may do, but it seems to have been in the system for a very long time. May cause system to enter sleep cycle. Perot virus: Ran for a short time in 92 then quit. It may also be active for a short time in 96. May cause space alien problems with daughter programs. Hillary virus: Causes text to appear on your screen years after you lost it. May trigger "Bill Clinton #2" virus. May also cause rushing [white] water sound. ---------- What if, Stan had written those virus descriptions? - Buchanan virus [aka - "Sap" (of the 'Family (Values) Tree')]: All your icons move to the far right of your screen, and then, any icon that depicts a face gets covered up by a white coned shape hat (and sheets, if the icon is of a whole person). The rest of the icons turn into pitch-forks, and swastikas. The (now) covered 'people' icons then grab the 'pitch-fork' icons, and run off the *extreme* right side of the screen. The swastikas remain on your screen, and cannot be removed, for they are burned into the phosphor. Your computer then logs on to America OnLine, goes to the 'government' forum, and then the (now) covered 'people' icons return (in groups), with the 'pitch-fork' icons, to the screen, and start attacking America (OnLine), starting with the 'government' (forum). The instant the Buchanan virus infects your computer, it attempts to kill all forms of the 'Jerusalem' virus (but it never gets them all). Limbaugh virus [aka - "Whiner"]: All icons line up under the Rush icon wherever it may go. As soon as 'Limbaugh' infects your computer, it (along with any other virus that will join it) attempts to kill the 'Clinton' virus, and the 'Hillary' virus (but doesn't succeed, only weakens them temporarally, then they become much stronger, and impossible to remove for another '4 More Years!'). Then it starts attacking any other viruses 'Limbaugh' thinks is vulnurable, including the viruses that had joined it in attacking the 'Clinton' viruses. The only viruses that the 'Limbaugh' virus has been know to truly rid your system of, though, is the 'Limbaugh' virus, and the virus' that believe that the 'Limbaugh' virus is a 'truth detector' type virus, or that the 'Limbaugh' virus is on 'loan from god', etc. The 'Limbaugh' virus self-destructs after 7 or 8 years (and it can't understand why). Gingrich [aka - "KingRich" (King of the Rich)]: This virus affects applications that have an ability to recreate previous commands given to that application while editing a document of that application, using a 'history' or 'undo' command. 'KingRich' attaches itself to the 'history' files, and selectivly changes certain portions in it. So if you make a mistake, and you need to go back and recreate your file before your mistake, you can still go back, but you'll probably find the icons that represent your best work that you had placed on the left side of your screen, now on the right of it, and those icons that open your worst work, and previously placed on the right, you'll now find that on the left. Gingrich #2 [aka - "CryBaby"]: This virus goes to the back of your pci, vesa,16bit, or 8bit bus, and makes your hard drive make a real loud 'whining' noise and your soundcard starts making a 'crying' sound through your audio setup or speakers. On your screen, 'CryBaby' places the message "I'm going to shut the system down because I had to go to the back of the bus!", and it causes your computer to go into 'default' (meaning, it causes you to lose your CMOS memory, and it restarts with power-on 'defaults'). And we now know what the Dole virus will do - Dole virus [aka - "Quitter"]: This virus attacks your hard drive, causing it to make a real loud 'whining' noise. Then it quits, and you never have to worry about it again. To learn how to detect and remove these viruses from YOUR system, register at - What's A Meta U (and What's It 2 U?) http://members.aol.com/WhatsMetaU ===== Stan

1 0

Re: [Off-Topic] "Curfews"
by David Rosoff 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 09.59 PM 6/1/96 -0400, Duncan Frissell <frissell(a)panix.com> wrote: >I'm afraid that some courts have explicitly held that "the child does not >have a right to liberty but only a right to custody." That is old law, >however. Kids have lost many rights recently too including gun rights, etc. I've known for a while that I have no rights as a minor. [ironic smilie] >Of course curfew laws only control the inarticulate and scruffy. Well >dressed children (coat and tie for the boys dress or suit for the girls) who I'll wear a suit if it means I won't get picked up ... :) >can claim that they are out doing tons of protected things like work and >school and worship and political campaigning and "trying to save street >children for Jesus" will not be picked up. They can also say things like >"Ossifer, I'm peaceably assembling to petition the government for redress of >grievances. It's in the First Amendment. You could read about it and >everything." You suggest that we minors stand up for ourselves? How odd. I'm sure no one has ever thought of that before, President Clinton especially. Since any nationally imposed curfew wouldn't have a leg to stand on in the first place, this can only improve the situation. >Home schooled children face this problem frequently and can usually find >something to say. Kids older than 15 or so can claim to be "emancipated >minors." Parents can emancipate their children by signing a simple >declaration to back up this claim. A good idea in any case. This sounds interesting. What are the particulars of being an emancipated minor? >"Whose children never got stopped by cops because at 14 they passed for 21. >Clothing and bearing alone can do it." I wish I were so lucky. At 15 I seem to pass for ... 12. I guess if the cops read from right to left ... - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Rosoff (nihongo o chiisaku dekimasu) drosoff(a)arc.unm.edu For PGP key 0xD37692F9, finger drosoff(a)acoma.arc.unm.edu or get from keyservers pub 1024/D37692F9 1995/07/01 David Rosoff <drosoff(a)arc.unm.edu> Key fingerprint = 25 7D AA 01 85 41 43 89 50 5A 33 76 F1 F1 99 67 I accept anonymous mail. If I didn't sign it, you don't know I wrote it. - --- "Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will / To strive, to seek, to find-- and not to yield." ----- "Ulysses", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMbNsyxguzHDTdpL5AQGvfwP/f2PDE5JPiczwY/5EFt/ziT9UePbcxCV0 UCbYdkbl9hoNlMphUu+O+zneGntCVOIiEoPZLTpK35TYFgA/MCOQhuiCYnvbInMo pZlmnTvyoUI1rkHTUzf2cHRg1+18ieJqDDqBqBb58ZxaLxxJ1crUDrL+QHC/QZE9 mAiLT9tnwgc= =/+GV -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

No Subject
by qut＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

list cypherpunks

1 0

No Subject
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Hey, I requested off this list ages ago. >Why don't you simply pull my >subscription and we'll ALL be happy? :-) >Stan Because we are all laughing at you, you stupid bastard.

1 0

No Subject
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

...and then there is the "StanSquncr" virus that prompts you to pawn your computer for a $20 crackrock. Two hours later, you find yourself on a street corner sucking dick for $5 rocks. I'm your REAL daddy, Stan.

1 0

Chaffing and Winnowing
by Anonymous Sender 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Aside from the considerable overhead created by C/W, I observe a possible pitfall. suppose I start every new message at ID# 0. The first time I C/W a message everything works fine. The next time I C/W a message with the same MAC, I give some very juciy clues to what both messages were. This is because the item that the MAC applied to was an ID number and a bit. well, that bit is either zero or one... so any bit that corresponds between my first and second message will yield an identicle MAC, thus making it easy for anybody to seperate some of the wheat from the chaff, merely by simple observation. though in a real implementation, I probably wouldn't be so niave as to start every new message with the same packet ID, I point out that there's an upper limit on the amount of data that should be transmitted before a new authentication key should be arranged... that is assuming that the ID field was of finite size. Rivest mentioned in passing using a 32 bit ID. That's an impressive number of bits to C/W, but certainly not unattainable. -SM2k

1 0

Re: Why PGP isn't so ubiquitous (was NRC Session Hiss)
by Clay Olbon II 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Mon, 3 Jun 1996, TT <apache(a)quux.apana.org.au> wrote: >I think it is actually easy to use, although granted others may not; but >that people tend not to use it as a matter of course (and it is my belief >this is a desireable thing) due too the time taken to manually sign mail >or sign and encrypt. Lets face it the average user has trouble with a >dos command prompt and until there is a point and click emailer easily >available most people just won't try PGP for email. Most people I have encountered don't use PGP because of the initial learning curve, more than the overall ease of use. I work in a small office that is separate from corporate HQ. I have been trying for over a year to convince people to use PGP for intra-office communication. What I have found is that for people within the office, it is fairly easy - hands-on instruction works well. Convincing folks at HQ has been a royal pain however. Most of the problem appears to be the "you mean I have to learn new software?" variety. Once I have coached someone over the "knowledge hump" (often by phone), they tell me that using pgp is pretty easy. <disclaimer> We use Eudora Light for the Mac, YMMV </disclaimer>. The trick is convincing the user that the benefits associated with using pgp are greater than the initial pain. This is something I have only accomplished with a few people. This educational process will continue to be the stumbling block for widespread use until there is truly seamless encryption. My fear is that seamless encryption will be weak; witness the widespread use of 40bit Netscape and the supposedly 40bit default behavior for S/MIME. I think that export controls are a driver towards weak defaults. OK, that last part was a WA tangent from my "ease of using pgp" thread. It's late and I'm hungry. Sue me. Later, Clay --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clay Olbon II | Clay.Olbon(a)dynetics.com Systems Engineer | ph: (810) 589-9930 fax 9934 Dynetics, Inc., Ste 302 | http://www.msen.com/~olbon/olbon.html 550 Stephenson Hwy | PGP262 public key: on web page Troy, MI 48083-1109 | pgp print: B97397AD50233C77523FD058BD1BB7C0 TANSTAAFL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Re: NRC Session Hiss
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 15:58 6/3/96, Raph Levien wrote: > Basically, an exportable S/MIME client can transmit messages up to >1024/40 bit RSA/RC2 (or RSA/DES), and receive messages up to 512/64 bit >RSA/RC2 (or RSA/DES, but in the latter case I would imagine it's actually >restricted to 512/56 because of the keysize of DES). Note that the >asymmetry actually points in different directions for the public and >symmetric keysizes. What will be the maximum keysize for a domestic encryption client? It it is larger than 1024 bits, there will be interoperability problems with foreign clients. If the domestic client is limited to 1024 bits, it would set a bad precedence, since it would effectively require that the encryption key is smaller than the largest signature key. Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not those of my employer. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

2 1

Re: Arms Trafficker Page Made CNN!
by assassin＠gladstone.uoregon.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Do you have the cnn story on .../arms-trafficker/? Just what mention of it was made? -A.

2 1

CWD: "Jacking in from the "One that Got Away" Port
by declan＠well.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(By Brock Meeks / brock(a)well.com / Archived at http://www.cyberwerks.com/) CyberWire Dispatch // Copyright (c) 1996 // Jacking in from the "One that Got Away" Port: Washington, DC -- President Clinton call your spooks, get FBI Director Louis Freeh on the phone. Tell them to order in pizza. Bill, it's going to be a long night. All your plans to hold the U.S. crypto market hostage have just been fucked... and you didn't even get kissed. A virtual tactical nuke was hurled into the arcane subculture of encryption technology Monday when RSA President Jim Bizdos revealed that his company's Japanese subsidiary had developed a monster chipset capable of scrambling voice and data real time with a so-called "key length" of up to 1024 bits. That key length stuff is just so much gibberish to those playing without a scorecard, so let me drill down on it for you. Basically, the longer the key length, the harder it is for a message to be broken by "brute force" automated attacks. Current U.S. laws prohibit the export of any encryption device with a key length longer than 40-bits, or roughly the equivalent of Captain Crunch decoder ring. For hardcore math types, I'm told that a 1024-bit key length is 10 to the 296th power more difficult to break than 40 bits. Bizdos, speaking during lunchtime at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) 6th Cryptography and Privacy conference, told how his Japanese based company, Nihon-RSA, developed a set of two chips capable of scrambling messages at a level that will make the spooks in the Puzzle Palace (the National Security Administration) cough up hair balls that would make the First Cat Socks envious. Bizdos seems to have found crypto's magic bullet; a legit way to essentially give the finger to U.S. export laws for crypto product. For years now the White House has been locked into a kind of crypto war. The Administration insists that strong encryption products must not be exported for fear that "terrorists, child pornographers and drug barons" and a rabble of assorted "bad guys" would snag the technology and proceed to plot the destruction of the "World As We Know It"... or at least Western Democracy, if the inbred Iranians got in line first. The White House crypto-fascist team, led by the NSA, FBI and assorted military hawks, have offered braindead compromise plans, including three versions of the "Clipper Chip." This is a plan whereby you can buy strong locks for your data with the simple caveat that when you buy and use the products, you have to put the decoding key "in escrow." This way if a law enforcement agency ever has the need to unscramble any of your messages -- without you knowing it -- they can simply ask for these escrowed keys and have them handed over. Yes, even your local sheriff's department can ask for the keys. Now, the government promises it will use this power only for good and never for evil. Honest, that's what they say. Of course, the Justice Department, in writing the rules for getting the keys, totally absolves any law enforcement agency of all harm if this power is abused in any way. Oh.. and if that power is abused, the sheriff or the FBI or fucking Park Police for that matter, can still use any "evidence" they gin up on you. Honest, I'm not making any of this stuff up. So the battle has raged. The industry has been loathe to develop such products only for the American market because the cost of producing essentially duplicate products for domestic and foreign markets just wouldn't be cost effective. So, you and I are stuck having to use some pretty tedious encryption technologies, such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), which is great, but tough to use. Or we can use the Captain Crunch Decoder ring equivalents available off the shelf. In the meantime, other countries are happily making and distributing robust encryption technologies, at a possible loss of up to $60 billion for U.S. companies. In fact, it's a crime even to put a program like PGP on your laptop and go overseas. The State Department calls that "exporting." The government recently dropped a case against Phil Zimmermann, the inventor of PGP, after putting him through several hellish years in which they threatened to toss his ass in jail. There Phil would no longer be a threat to society at-large, but instead become a "girlfriend" for a 265 pound felon named Spike. Phil's "crime"?? That somehow his PGP app had been uploaded on to the Internet and whisked around the world. Phil didn't do it, but the U.S. government cried "export violation," anyway, eventually telling him, "Oh, never mind." So Bizdos, tired of fighting the wars here, enlisted the help of the Japanese. After setting up his Japanese unit, he hired a crack team of Japanese crypto experts who essentially "reverse engineered" the company's own U.S. crypto product, according to Kurt Stammberger, RSA director of technology marketing. It was a brilliant move. Bizdos can't be slammed by the State Department for violating crypto export laws because, well, he didn't export a damn thing, except some U.S. greenbacks, which of course, could have gone to U.S. cryptographers, but let's not quibble about jobs. Anyone want to kick around the subject of global competitiveness? What's happened here is the Japanese have now trumped the entire world on the crypto market. What's more, Clinton's brain-dead allegiance to the FBI, et al., has now allowed the Japanese government, which still owns a large share of NTT, which owns a minority share of RSA's Japanese subsidiary, to have a lock on the world's strongest encryption technology. Can you say "Remember the VCR" or "Remember the Semiconductor" or how about "Thanks, Bill. We're fucked." The boys in the Pentagon made a stink a few years ago when a Japanese company made a play for Fairchild, a top defense contractor. It was feared that the Japanese, by swallowing up the U.S. company, would also gain access to technologies vital to the U.S. military. The deal was squashed. Natch... now it looks like the G.I.'s with the stars on their shoulders have just put their spit-shined combat boots up their own ass by supporting Clinton and his continued ban on crypto exports. "We truly have ceded this market Japanese companies," Bizdos said. "It's almost too late to turn it around." Some 15 COUNTRIES have already placed orders for these chips, Bizdos said, adding that the Japanese will not build the chips with a key escrow function. EPIC Director Marc Rotenberg said he was told by a Japanese representative that the country's constitution wouldn't allow key escrow because it doesn't allow wire-tapping. Umm... maybe the Japanese just don't have *really* bad guys like the FBI assumes we have here. What's more, Bizdos says the deal with NTT is "no coup." He says the Germans and French "aren't far behind" in developing similar technologies. The RSA bombshell "fuels the argument that this stuff can't be contained in our own borders," said PGP's Zimmermann. Just how the relationship between NTT and RSA works out isn't set, Bizdos acknowledged. "They'll pay us a royalty for the chips they sell," he said. "We're working it all out." Meanwhile, from my office window here in DC I've already counted 17 Domino's Pizza delivery bikes go screaming by on their way to the White House. Through my telescope I can see the White House balcony; it looks like Bill is sick, like he's just heard some "really bad news." And behind him, just inside the double-doors, on a persian rug placed there by Warren G. Harding, I think Socks the Cat has just coughed up a hairball... or maybe it was Louis Freeh. From this angle, I just can't be sure. Meeks out... ------------ Additional reporting by Declan McCullagh (declan(a)well.com)

2 1