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Why Virus Writers are Useful
man_of_mr_e writes "Security site Zone-h.org has an interview with Professor Samuel D. Forrester, one of the worlds leading immunologists. In this interview he asserts that immunity is built by infection, and without it you would have a much weaker ecosystem. "
Plus, it REALLY helps the bottom line of Symantec and McAfee.
Don't anthropomorphize computers, they don't like it.
...criminals are useful because of the increase in security?
;)
I understand the point, but while response to a negative may bring about a better positive, not having the negative in the first place would, of course, be much better. But then, it's not a perfect world.
libertarianswag.com
I view them as job security (so does he I am sure).
After every big virus that comes out, I get at least 10 calls saying I think I have this virus. Of course they will pay me, but never will pay for antivirus software though! They think it is a rip-off
Comparing computer viruses to the biological sort is a BAD one. Firstly, you have to make a distinction between worms and viruses and such. Secondly, we don't infect new computers with lesser versions of MBLASTER, we patch the vulnerablilty.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
yes, he is. i don't understand why this is even news, we don't need a professor telling us that the best way to make systems more secure is to learn of the insecure parts of the system. If a virus doesn't exploit an insecurity, a hacker will; and often the results of that are far, far worse.
Nice troll...even managed to get it posted as a Slashdot article!
That may be true with a biological system, but it DOES NOT APPLY to electronics. The truth of the matter is, virus writers do nothing but cause havoc, and cost money. So I have a box that's unsecured...so what? That's MY business, NOT yours! Where does it say that you now have the right to fuck with it? Do you somehow think that by buggering it up, you're "helping" me? No, how you help is by leaving it the hell alone! What virus writers and crackers and kiddies do is the moral equivalent of wandering through a neighbourhood and trying everyone's door to see if it's unlocked and then stealing from those whose doors aren't locked. Either that or spraying grafitti or trashing the place. They are not heroes...they aren't "Morpheus" fighting against the "evil machines", they are common thieves and vandals and should be viewed as such and treated accordingly.
You're using her as bait, Master!
I've reluctantly come to appreciate the role that noisy blackhats and virus authors play in getting organisations to improve their information security infrastructure. If it weren't for them, I feel there would be a thriving underground economy of industrial espionage and personal information theft because it would be so easy. At least with the constant pressure applied by viruses and blackhats, the most gaping security vulnerabilities tend to get fixed, sooner or later (even if a few organisations end up being made examples to the rest).
Personally, I don't really care about catching virus authors and blackhats. I just care about keeping them out of the machines and networks I've been paid to care about.
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- Well written viruses properly designed for maximum impact, stealth and damage, propagated by terrorists or other people looking to take advantage of economic/information system instability, and
Security holes not noticed or taken seriously being used in a less random way that doesn't broadcast itself in an obvious way - thus giving people with criminal intentions a lot of access to computer power and the ability to use it stealthily.
Viruses force people to notice and take security holes seriously.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
The real benefit is that most of the virus releases are "essentially" harmless. Annoying, but not *really* damaging. So the fixes are done, and something viscious can't get in through the same hole.
Just try to imagine how bad things could be if someone set out to really damage your computer.
Let's pick an example, and say that someone released a virus that created a spoof of the MS Updater. Now people aren't surprised that it's engaging in horrendous uploads and downloads. And their computers could easily download all non-system files to the hacker (he'd better be off-shore, and working through cut-outs!). And it could download *anything* as a system fix. And get people to license it's installation on their system. It might well be that only the initial install would be illegal. Everything else would have been authorized through the EULA. With sufficient cleverness, even the initial installation might be EULA authorized. In that case would any laws be violated? No matter WHAT was done? I'm sure that an EULA could be created that, via obfuscated text, authorized the program to transfer all funds from your bank account to another bank account. And to max out your credit cards. (Fraud? What fraud? It said it clearly right there in the agreement!)
Of course to make the legal agreements binding one would need to provide some tender. Perhaps some png files? Of a sort that the person wouldn't want to be caught with? I understand that those are often exchanged for credit card information. It's just that this time it wouldn't be intentionaly done...perhaps. Certainly he wouldn't know the bill that was coming due.
Wouldn't that be a lot more effective than a simple "deltree C:". And they wouldn't even know that they'd been penetrated until they went to the bank. Even then they wouldn't know *why* their account was drained.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
" '..."They should stop, somebody stop them!" I hear all the time but... is this right?' "
Of course it's right. Just because the virus writers do play a role in the "ecosystem" of the Internet, doesn't mean that they shouldn't be prosecuted for it.
They knew in the middle ages that the black plague was being spread by the rats. Some towns cleaned up the sewers, and the water systems and killed off as many rats as they could find, those towns did relatively well during the plague. There were other towns that were convinced that the plague was sent by God (and maybe it was) and refused to clean or do anything about it, and those towns were wiped from the map.
The plague played an important part in our development as people. In fact bubonic plage is still being spread and caught by people. The results are very minor because most of us that have european ancenstry survived because our genes were stronger...but does that mean the water systems shouldn't have been cleaned by the few towns that did it? Absolutely not.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */