Thread by @VessOnSecurity

OK, since Graham has stirred up old memories, gather again 'round the fire, kids, it's story time again...

Let me tell you about my own memories from that (non)event.

As you should know by now, it was mostly a marketing stunt started by John McAfee... 1/

https://twitter.com/gcluley/status/1103296104840478727

I mean, it wasn't exactly an obvious bullshit. We've had that one before, about the Datacrime (AKA the Columbus Day virus), which was supposed to activate at a certain date and cause destruction, except it wasn't widespread at all.

Well, Michelangelo was actually in the wild.

So, lots of journalists and AV people jumped on the bandwagon, giving advice, providing free AV programs (just for that virus), etc.

And we did clean up a lot. It was a bit like the Y2K problem - overhyped, but real.

I was a Ph.D. student at the time, at the University of Hamburg, under Prof. Klaus Brunnstein.

A few weeks before The Date, my prof goes on national TV, talks about the thing, and, among other things, mentions this.

You see, one of our students has developed a small DOS program that can detect and remove the virus (only this particular virus), so if anyone wants a free copy, send us a stamped envelope with a floppy disk and we'll send it to you.

Now, I had done something similar before. While still in Bulgaria, I was sending free copies of my AV programs to anyone who asked. Except Bulgaria has 8 mil. people, probably 8K of them had computers and less than 800 cared about viruses.

This was Germany. National TV.

So, over the next few days we received 27 (I think) mail bags, each about as big as a man, full of stamped envelopes with empty diskettes that we had to copy the program and send back.

And we managed it! We mobilized all the students at the Virus Test Center, I think we borrowed an automatic diskette feeder from Dr. Alan Solomon (who was using it to make copies of his software for customers) and managed it on time.

However, the university administration gave a strong advice to my prof Never To Do That Again.

Which reminds me of another funny story I experienced at that very time. You see, on the Michelangelo trigger date itself, I wasn't in Germany. I was in Israel, on invitation of an AV company there to give a lecture about virus infection techniques.

At that time the EU was but a dream and as Bulgarian, I was treated practically as a criminal at every country border and, of course, needed a visa for everywhere.

I applied for an Israeli visa, but it wasn't ready on time.

So, I resigned my self that I won't be able to go and told the company. Hours later, they called me back. No problem, they said, the visa is ready, there is just no time to put it on your passport. Don't worry, take a plane, they will know. HUH?!

This was before the global war on terrorism and the universal harassment at airports - but terrorism wasn't anything new for Israel. For other flights, you had to go to the airport half an hour before takeoff. For flights to Israel - 2 hours in advance.

And, believe me, they used every goddamn minute of it. They were extremely professional, too - nothing like the thugs in the USA. The last check was a young lady looking you in the eyes and asking questions - not even checking your luggage; that was already checked.

First, she asked the usual questions - where are you from, where do you work, where are you going, for how long, etc. Until we reached the "what is the purpose of your travel" question.

Oh, said I, I'm just going their on invitation to give a lecture about computer viruses. Ah, computer viruses?, said the lady. One of them activates tomorrow, doesn't it?

I was shocked. At that time, it was difficult to find even a computer guy knowing anything about viruses.

That a physical security person at the airport would know as much as that a particular virus activates on a certain date was certainly a surprise for me...

But I digress... Don't forget, I'm traveling with no physical evidence of having a visa.

So, I arrive at the Ben Gurion ariport, go to immigration officer (another lady, only not so young this one) and start, "Uhm, hi, you know, I have a bit of a problem..."

Oh, I know, says the lady, you're the guy who doesn't have a visa in his passport.

As the company promised, everybody already knew everything about me and there was no problem at all.

Then she asked a bizarre (from my point of view) question.

"Do you want me to put a stamp o your passport?"

I was like, WTF, is this optional? I mean, when you visit a foreign country, they always stamp your passport, no?

You see, said the lady, if you ever go to an Arab country, evidence in your passport that you've visited Israel might cause you problems.

So, I've been to Israel with no physical evidence - neither a visa, nor a stamp in my passport.

/the end