Re: TrendMicro goes ...

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rMslade () shaw ca>]

Date sent:              Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:39:48 +0000 (UTC)
From:                   security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>

> : USPTO 5,623,600:
> : 
> : http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
> : Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-
> : bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=5,623,600.PN.&OS=PN/5,623,600&R
> : S=PN/5,623,600
> : 
> : was originally filed 26 September 1995 and MIMEsweeper was definitely 
> : being publicly talked about in terms of using it as an Email gateway 
> : virus scanning service earler than that, as this archived Usenet post 
> : from 3 July 1995 clearly shows:
> : 
> : http://groups.google.com/group/comp.security.misc/browse_thread/thread/7 :
> 2827a6c05f2853d/d74f6ab12ce7251e?lnk=st&q=#d74f6ab12ce7251e

I can probably pull out some stuff that predates that handily.  People dealing with 
CHRISTMA in 1987 were putting up mail filters, and those dealing with Morris in 
1988 and WANK and HI.COM in 1989 (I think) would have been filtering ftp.  
PC AV stuff wouldn't have been looking towards those functions as early, since 
Concept didn't come out until mid-94 (I think?) and sneakernet was the most 
common vector prior, given BSIs and program swapping.

> I didn't find anything right off, but I certainly 
> remember BBS' in the early 1990's (well before '95) doing virus scanning 
> of uploaded files. One might argue that such activity would be prior-art 
> to using FTP to upload files and scanning.

Interesting point.  Manual operation, but it makes the automating "obvious."  In 
fact, I rather suspect that there were BBS utilities that *did* automate the 
scanning of all uploads: I didn't run a BBS, but I recall similar functions mentioned 
by the BBS moderators to whose boards I was uploading info.

> At the time, I felt this list was fairly complete. It isn't. 

I believe I had about 60 AV specific proggies on the list around that time.

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
If we knew what we were doing we wouldn't call it research now
would we?                                    - Albert Einstein.
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm
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