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Canadian University to Begin Training Hackers
torok writes "According to an article at The Edmonton Journal, The University of Calgary is going to start teaching select computer science students to write software viruses in a special new disconnected lab. Will Canada be accused of training the world's next generation of cyber-terrorists... or peacekeepers?"
As a software engineer, I have to say that the perceived "skill" required to write a virus is blown way out of proportion.
There's nothing inherently special about a virus or a worm. They're actually very simple, and most malware writers today are not very talented. They produce bloated, barely functional software (scripts, for the most part today) that is only dangerous because the average user is so trusting. I remember when viruses were actually smaller than the files they infected...
Got coders in your firm? If they're capable of writing inter-operation layers for your apps or database frontends, then they're capable of writing viruses and worms far worse than bugbear. But chances are they don't, because it's a waste of time.
Those students don't need specialized virus-writing courses. A simple assembly course would put them lightyears ahead of the "bad guys" if they actually paid attention for once.