Assessing Internet Viruses Like Human Epidemics

underpar writes "This ComputerWorld.com article discusses the UCSD's $6.2 million attempt to study Internet viruses in a manner similar to the study of human epidemics. Stefan Savage, a computer science professor, is quoted in the article as saying, 'We'll be focused on what vectors are used, just like in assessing West Nile, to spread computer viruses and ultimately try to develop defenses to prevent them from spreading.'"

Comments

Hasn't this been done before?

[wikdwarlock]

This hardly seems like a novel idea. Isn't the whole calling a computer virus a "virus" supposed to help us understand it in a biological/human way?

Fixes

[Zevets]

While this will study will explain how viruses spread, will it really tell us how to cure viruses.

We all know how smallpox spreads. We do not know how to cure it.

We know how viruses spread, but we only know how to remove it from a computer, not how to fix the problems of viruses.

This study will show us where to put better virus filters, which is useful, but it will not tell us how to stop the creation of viruses and malware, which is what we really need.