Subject: Dir.Byway Virus (NewsClip) From: anonymous-remailer@shell.portal.com (unknown) To: cypherpunks@toad.com ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You misspelled VIRUS-L@lehigh.edu

Burlington, Mass. Aug. 7 -- A new, hazardous computer virus is

A news story, with all *that* entails.

virus, dubbed "Dir.Byway," is described as a super-fast, polymorphic infector affecting desktops, notebooks, and even computer networks.

So it's a polymorphic fast infector that attacks EXE and COM files. So what's new? File infectors are never as successful as boot sector infectors, anyhow.

Dir.Byway triggers if the current DOS date is set to the year 1996 or above, and the day of the month is equal to the month's number multiplied by two and two is added, like in 01-14-96 or 12-26-96.

The first date should obviously be 01-04-96, based on the description given. Do you trust someone who can't multiply and add to correctly report on something technical, like computer viruses? -- David R. Conrad, ab411@detroit.freenet.org, http://web.grfn.org/~conrad/ Finger conrad@grfn.org for PGP 2.6 public key; it's also on my home page Key fingerprint = 33 12 BC 77 48 81 99 A5 D8 9C 43 16 3C 37 0B 50 No, his mind is not for rent to any god or government.