The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1988 Page: 7 of 16
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Virus contaminates Rice computers
by Grace T. Chen
A computer vims generated by
Cornell University graduate student
Robert T. Morris, Jr. attacked Rice
University's computer systems at
9:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 2.
The virus was detected Thursday
morning.
Morris' experiment with an elec-
tronic-mail system led to a nation-
wide plague jamming over 6,000
computers.
Morris implanted his experimen-
tal program in ARPANET, a Defense
Department network widely used by
researchers at many universities,
including Rice. Morris had intended
for his program to live undetected in
ARPANET, slowly and secretly copy-
ing itself from one computer to the
next A design error caused the pro-
gram to replicate too quickly, filling
available storage space with gibber-
ish.
Director of Computer Sciences
Priscilla Huston said, "Essentially
what happened was that the virus
...tried to get in, but the situation was
not acceptable. It was trying to take
advantage of a system design error
that was put in to test the mail sys-
tem. It was not a bad problem, but
took some effort to put in the patches
to make sure that itdidnt getworse."
Director of Networking and Plan-
ning Ferrill Gerbode and his col-
leagues worked Thursday morning
to prevententry of the virus, which at
one point escalated attacks to every
three minutes.
Gerbode said the attack was dis-
covered primarily because the ad-
dress transmitted from Cornell
seemed atypical. Each student at
Rice has a mailing address in the
main-frame computer system.
By 2 p.m. Thursday, Rice person-
nel had patched all the system's
holes. A meeting of system manag-
ers and computer system depart-
ments took place Friday to discuss
the virus.
Huston said it was unlikely that
Rice students would generate com-
puter viruses. "Rice does have a pol-
icy where we ask the students to sign
something that says if they are to
send mail from one school to another
that they will use it for academic
purposes."
Huston said she feels the success
of computer networks depends upon
a system of trust
"I think it is great for people to be
inquisitive, butthey must also under-
stand their responsibilities in re-
spect to that...if the educational re-
search community defaults on its
responsibilities, well lose a great
opportunity for our nation and our
students."
Cornell officials have not yet de-
cided upon disciplinary actions to
take against Morris, but one consid-
eration is expulsion from the univer-
sity.
Carr
FROM PAGE 4
the commentary by Jeff Solochek
and Pat McGarrity?
They both told me separately
before they wrote that editorial that
they were going to do something of
the sort I had no idea they were
going to hit that hard....
Did that surprise you?
...I was told I would never believe
where the stuff came from in the
Senate.... I thought they were kind of
harsh on Dennis. I thought Dennis
did his best to be impartial. He let his
conscience guide him He put a lot of
thought into what he did a long time.
Hejust did what hethoughthe had to
do. I didn't see there was any call for
them to come down on him like that
About the Thresher coming down on
the SA about the closed meeting,
that's perfectly understandable, and
perhaps they should have come
down on me for that too for not
openly opposing it I thank them for
the bit of partisanship—they came
up to me and they said so, but I
thought they were being kind of
unfair.
Any other political plans?
Well, IVe still got my concern
over key issues, things like a student
on the Board of Governors. I was
planning to do some committee
work....There are a lot of non-elected
people working on SA committees. I
can do that You dont have to have a
title.
And the election for External
Esperanza
FROM PAGE 1
tees in order to meet any Esperanza
cost overruns.
"I'm not planning on cutting out of
any of the other budgets at all," Gsell
said.
Esperanza will take place 10 p.m.
to 2 a.m. Saturday, November 12.
Buses will run between Rice and the
dance every half-hour starting at 9:30
p.m., with stops at Wiess, Baker, and
Brown Colleges. Tickets will cost
$25 per couple through Friday, No-
vember 11, and $30 per couple at the
door. Tickets may be purchased
from college RPC representatives or
executive officers.
There will be a cash bar at the site.
Each person over 21 will receive one
free drink, and all other drinks will
cost $3. The disc jockey will be Hori-
zon.
Seeing the Proctor?
If someone has to go before Proctor Edward Holt for any discipli-
nary reason, they have the right to have a University Court Ombuds-
man present with them to make sure their rights are protected.
If someone is going to appear before the Proctor and wishes to have
an Ombudsman with them, they should call University Court Chair-
man Bill Barrett at 630-8434 or Student Association President Andy
Karsner before their meeting with the Proctor.
Starting Friday, November 11...
MOVIES
AT
THE PUB
also...
Monday Night Football
• Oilers vs. Cleveland this Monday
Mexican Night, every Tuesday
• $1 Dos Equis, Tecate, Sympatico
• $1.25 Corona
• $1.25 Nachos, Burritos
• $1.75 Chili
V.P.—I don't know. I resigned to
avoid precisely what's happened, so
my purpose in resigning seems kind
of empty right now. I don't know if I
want to go back....There are always
errors in judgement..But that was
nothing to resign over, and indeed
that's not why I resigned. Am I going
to run again? I don't know. I'm not
sure right now.
THE RICE THRESHER FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1988 7
CAMPUS CRIME STATISTICS
Crime Statistics for the week of 11/3/88 to 11/9/88
U/2/88 835 pm LotO
11/2/88
11/3/88
11/3/88
11/4/88
11/4/88
11/4/88
11/4/88
11/5/88
11/5/88
11/6/88
11/6/88
11/7/88
930 pm
1030am
Lot M
LotO
835pm Alumni Drive
530pm LotO
927 pm Lot P
1030 pm Sewall Hall
1030pm Sewall Hall
130 pm Brown College
1130 pm Brown College
425 pm Sewall Hall
830 pmMudd Turnaround
3:48 pm RMC
Auto Accident Car drove on too of
entrance post Dannie to vehicle, no
paaaenger kyuries.
Damaged Property. Person dented
vehicle while attempting to ck*e door.
Burglary - Auto. T-Tops last seen
locked to vehicle at 730 am. On return T-tops
missing.
Traffic Violation. Part-time student driving in
excess of 15 mph. Citation forwarded to proc
tor.
Burglary - Auto. Vehicle policed in lot at 930
am. On return, owner found Texas license
'owed Vehicle. Red Ford Mustang parked in
Twe?$§5cje!s^ BMW in handicapped
space at loading dock.
Towed Vehicle. Blue Chevy 2 door in handi-
capped space. Vehicle was ticketed and towed.
Burglary - Habitation. S75 stolen from
dorm room.
Violation of Alcohol Policy. Unauthorized
floor party observed. Three minors stopped
i beer.
with I
Towed Vehicle. Fiat 2 door in Handicapped
space. $55.00 fee payed to prevent towing.
Towed Vehicle. Red Acura parked in Mudd
turnaround.
Theft of Photograph. "Lovett Hall Fireworks"
in silver frame missing from Blair
11/7/88 530 pen Parking Lot C
11/7/88 830 pm MuddBldg.
11/8/88 130 am Lovett College
11/8/88 925 pm MuddBldg.
11/8/88 631 am Chemistry Bldg.
11/9/88 1230 am Parking Lot S -1
11/9/88 124 am Parking Lot H
i.I./ Parked auto. Bhie Chevy Citation
struck from rear, causing damage to left rear
quarter panel.
Towed Vehicle. 1986 blue VW parked in handi
capped space.
A Rice student had a disagreement with his
girlfriend which resulted in Physical
contact (assult by touch) Both parties stated
all was OK and that they would not see each
other for a day.
Towed Vehicle. Blue Nissan Stanza parked in
Handicapped space.
CriminalMischie"
Jet. White mailbox found
damaged next to room #112.
Theft - Auto. Black Cutlass Supreme 2 door
found missing when owner returned at mid-
night
Assault Complaintant and suspect had a fight
but later shook hands and left the scene
THE CLASS OF '52 COUtDN'T
I?
1
J
Folks here are still talking about
"The 1952 Incident." For some reason
still unknown, a certain graduating class
at a certain university missed what was
certainly the opportunity of a lifetime.
The chance to meet with a recruiter
from the National Security Agency.
Maybe they were busy that day. May-
be something else caught their eye. But
the fact remains, a meeting with NSA
could have meant a future full of chal-
lenging, exciting projects.
Now you've got the same chance. Our
recruiter will be visiting campus soon in
search of talented mathematicians,
computer scientists, electrical engineers
and linguists. And we're looking for
people who want to work on important,
hands-on assignments right from the
start of their career.
NSA is the agency responsible for
producing foreign intelligence informa-
tion, safeguarding our government's
communications and securing computer
systems for the Department of Defense.
And we're equally committed to help-
ing you make your future strong. So do
yourself a favor and meet with us. You
don't need 3-D glasses to see that it's a
great opportunity.
NSA will be on campus December 2 inter-
viewing seniors majoring in Electrical
Engineering, Computer Science, Math and
Language (Slavic, Near Eastern, Asian and
Spanish).
StXU£>>
National
Security
Agency
Attn: M322 (AAM), Ft. Meade, Maryland 80755-6000
An equal opportunity employer U.S. citizenship required for applicant and immediate family members
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McGarrity, Patrick & Sendek, Joel. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 76, No. 10, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1988, newspaper, November 11, 1988; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245706/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.