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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

1216.0. "Ryan's Adolescence of P-1" by GLITTR::KLAES (Be Here Now) Thu Mar 24 1994 20:45

Article: 540
From: dg-rtp!decus.ca!ROBERTS (Rob Slade, Ed. DECrypt & ComNet, VARUG
      rep, 604-984-4067) 
Newsgroups: alt.books.reviews,alt.books.technical,biz.books.technical
Subject: "The Adolescence of P-1" by Ryan
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 22:30:51 GMT
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
 
BKADOLP1.RVW  931222
 
Ace Books
360 Park Avenue South
New York, NY  10010
"The Adolescence of P-1", Ryan, 1977
 
I still like this one the best.  While Ryan is not very good with
plotting, his characters, including P-1, are very sympathetic.  His
dialogue is witty, realistic and engaging.  His action is quirky and
amusing. 
 
P-1 is not, strictly speaking, a virus.  P-1 is a Shoch and Hupp type
of worm; a segmented program running on a number of computers. 
Initially a utility program to help steal time on multiple systems,
P-1 mutates into a living artificial intelligence. 
 
In order to avoid detection, P-1 increases the efficiency of
programming, storage and communications of the systems that are
subverted.  In this way the users do not see excessive processing
times, storage allocations or line charges.  P-1 thus anticipates Fred
Cohen's proposal of a compression virus and other beneficial viral
programs. 
 
The mechanics of security-breaking are not explained and, in any case,
would only be applicable to IBM 360 series.  The concepts, however,
are sound.  In one instance, the target system is alert and watching
for intrusion.  The solution is classic.  P-1 has subverted IBM, so
when a new system disk is requested, a trojan is tagged on to it. 
Trusted systems and all that. 
 
I thoroughly recommend it.  Took me ages to do this review, since I
kept getting caught up in it and practically reread the whole book. 
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993   BKADOLP1.RVW  931222
 
============= 
Vancouver      ROBERTS@decus.ca         | Life is
Institute for  Robert_Slade@sfu.ca      | unpredictable:
Research into  rslade@cue.bc.ca         | eat dessert
User           p1@CyberStore.ca         | first.
Security       Canada V7K 2G6           | 
 
%T The Adolescence of P-1
%A Ryan
%I Ace Books
%C New York, NY  10010
%D 1977
%G ISBN 0-441-00360-5

T.RTitleUserPersonal
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1216.1SPECXN::WITHERSBob WithersFri Mar 25 1994 14:098
I have to admit that this is one of my all-time favorite techno-sf-thrillers. 
This book, bear in mind, was written before Tom Clancy named the genre.  As can
be seen from the snippets here, the book deals with very dated technology, but
exploits it in some clever ways.

I think I may dig out my copy and reread it.

BobW
1216.2BUSY::SLABOUNTYIs this p_n great or what?Fri Mar 25 1994 21:085
    
    	I read this book twice in junior high school and loved it ... I'll
    	have to look around and get my own copy.
    
    							GTI