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Fujitsu To Develop Vigilante Computer Virus For Japan

Posted by Soulskill on from the which-will-lead-to-anti-anti-virus-viruses dept.

wiedzmin writes "Japanese Defense Ministry has awarded Fujitsu a contract to develop a vigilante computer virus, which will track down and eliminate other viruses, or rather — their sources of origin. Are 'good' viruses a bad idea? Sophos seems to think so, saying, 'When you're trying to gather digital forensic evidence as to what has broken into your network, and what data it may have stolen, it's probably not wise to let loose a program that starts to trample over your hard drives, making changes.'"

5 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Um, no. by JustAnotherIdiot · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are 'good' viruses a bad idea?

    McAfee, Norton, AVG, etc have built businesses around good viruses.

    --
    What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
  2. Re:Source by AngryDeuce · · Score: 4, Funny

    Specifically, I.E. 6 users, because fuck them.

  3. Source of Origin by JoeCoder7 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What happens when the Fujitsu virus meets itself and destroys its own source of origin?

  4. Re:Ugh by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I propose then we name the new "good virus" "Agent Smith"

    Agent Smith: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your operating system and I realized that its not actually an operating system at all. Every OS on the Internet develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding hardware environment, but your Windows does not. Its installed on fresh hardware and grows and grows until every hardware resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to wipe the machine and start over. There is another program on the Internet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Windows is a disease, a cancer of the Internet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

  5. Re:Ugh by forkfail · · Score: 3, Funny

    Parody (tm) was retroactively patented last week, and the name trademarked and copyrighted. Use of the word Parody in it's verb form ("Parodying") is now an actionable civil offense.

    You can be sued for applying unlicensed Parody (tm) to any situation.

    You must have a valid license to apply Parody (tm). Furthermore, you need Parody Enterprise (tm) for any published, non-personal application of Parody. Parody Student Edition (tm) may only be used in an educational environment. Release of Parody (tm) works under GPL is prohibited.

    Note that a Parody (tm) license does not allow you to publish Satire (c); a separate license is required for such publications.

    --
    Check your premises.