20 Years of Virii

DenOfEarth writes "News.com has an article outlining that it was around twenty years ago that a computer security reasearcher coined the term 'virus', and how the things have been running amok. Interestingly enough, when said researcher applyed for research funding to look into a blanket solution to this possible 'virus' problem, he was turned down."

Comments

Lets get this out of the way

[Anonymous Coward]

Virii is not a word.

Drive safely.

20 years and a little analogy to biology

[EmCeeHawking]

Put enough people into a system and it starts to behave like an organic system rather than individuals each doing their thing.

Viruses, worms, trojans are way past the point of being expressions of individualistic derangement.

They represent the nasty side of the biology of the Net: the fact that any simulated or real ecosystem produces more parasites than non-parasites, and that non-parasites have to spend a significant amount of energy fighting off the bugs.

Two decades is not significant in itself, but it should be a stark warning that viruses are not going to go away, that the Net is turning "wild", and that we need something other than daily antivirus updates to keep our systems safe.

Re:20 years and a little analogy to biology

[.com b4 .storm]

Two decades is not significant in itself, but it should be a stark warning that viruses are not going to go away, that the Net is turning "wild", and that we need something other than daily antivirus updates to keep our systems safe.

I agree completely. And I think this "something" fits into your analogy of the net being like an organic system. If you have any realistic expectation of staying alive and healthy, chances are you do not go around licking stairway railings or sticking your finger into electrical sockets. Knowing that these are not things one wants to do if one wants to stay alive, the average person consciously avoids doing such stupid things.

And so it will need to be in the online world as well. If you have any reasonable expectation of keeping your computer running well (and keeping your data/privacy under your control), you cannot just go around running random programs with purple cartoon apes as mascots, and you cannot just go around opening every e-mail you receive. People will need to learn such things, just as we have learned what things are conducive to staying alive. Granted, many of the problems we experience today are the result of technology failing to protect people and their computers (automatically executing attachments, anyone?)... But a significant part of it is also a lack of education (or responsibility) when it comes to being a safe citizen on the net.

The solution

[bigberk]

blanket solution to this possible 'virus' problem

There is one solution to the 'virus' problem that everyone in the networking and security field knows about, but which few professionals endorse due to conflicts with business and commerce.

The solution to 'viruses' is diversity in systems. This stems from the biological viewpoint which makes us realize that while one type of system may be vulnerable to a specific flaw, a mix of different systems (each with their own properties) will offer greater resilience.

Think of the Internet, and how much trouble has been caused by Microsoft Windows viruses. Because of the Microsoft monoculture, the Internet has come to the brink of disaster several times (worm outbreaks; flooding of DNS root servers; and most notably, spam and increasingly fragmented global communications as a result).

Re:Fred Cohen - BAH!

[NegativeK]

Any time you read an article and see Fred Cohen's name, you can stop reading right there, because you know another so called "journalist" has fallen hook, line, and sinker for this guy's self-aggrandizing line of bullshit.

I'm calling you on this one. I've been reading quite a few books on viruses, and I've read Cohen's paper from 1984 on viruses, and his A Short Course on Computer Viruses. Both are _very_ informative. The paper from 1984 described experiments back in the day when people would say that there system is absolutely secure, no way to doo anything to it, period (people still say it, but back then, others believed them.) His Course on Viruses is also excellent - it has a very concise set-theoretic basis for viruses. He may very well be whoring for his security company (I wouldn't know), but don't doubt this man's ability to write concise, accurate, funny texts on the subject.