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

Lame viruses nowadays

[CausticWindow]

Viruses were much cooler in the early nineties. They didn't spread as wildfire on the internet, but at least they did cool thing as code morphing to foil antivirus programs.

And why is this guy surprised that he doesn't get a grant for a "blanket solution" for viruses? I've got a blanket solution for world hunger and cancer, but I'm not getting any reasearch funding either.

Ah memories

[jawtheshark]

Back in the good old days, I actually let my computer infect on purpose. Just once, yes, it was a bitch to clean. I got however the opportunity to dissect the thing in memory. I do not remember what year it was, but the Tequila virus was spreading like a wildfire. My AV detected the diskette with Tequilla. I had nothing important on the machine, disabled the AV, and staring hunting.

While reading the live memory, I found a message stating "Tequilla and Beer forever" along with an address in Switserland if I recall correctly. Ah, those where the days.... Where viruses were no lame email worms but appended themselves to executables.

Re:Lets get this out of the way

[jonathan_ingram]

English isn't Latin -- there's nothing wrong with 'viruses'. There's no reason to out of our way to make English even more irregular than it already is -- particular when 'virii' wouldn't be correct Latin anyway (it would have to be 'virius', not 'virus', for 'virii' to work).

First PC computer virus

[mukund]

Here's the company which created the first computer virus for the PC architecture. Interesting story on this page.

20 years?

[Anonymous Coward]

it was around twenty years ago that a computer security reasearcher coined the term 'virus',

Right... except that in David Gerrold's "When H.A.R.L.I.E. was One" (1972) there's this bit of dialogue :

"Do you remember the VIRUS program?"
"Vaguely. Wasn't it some kind of computer disease or malfunction?"
"Disease is closer. There was a science-fiction writer once who wrote a story about it--but the thing had been around a long time before that. ....etc. etc.

(p. 175, in the 1975 Ballantine paperback reprint: I think I have the 1972 serialization in Galaxy somewhere in a box upstairs, but I can't be arsed to dig it out)

Actually, as described in the succeeding pages, VIRUS was more of a worm (a term coined by John Brunner in "The Shockwave Rider", but you knew that already); but the idea of malware called a virus was around in the early 70s at least.

Fred Cohen - BAH!

[HisMother]

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. Note that you'll never find an article quoting X as saying Fred Cohen is the father of computer viruses, unless X is Fred Cohen. He's shilling for his security consulting firm, plain and simple. He no more "invented" the computer virus than Al Gore invented the Internet. Please, Slashdot, stop feeding this buttplug's enormous ego!