Viral Cure Could 'Immunise' The Internet

Edward Lewis Ed.Lewis at neustar.biz
Fri Dec 9 14:57:56 UTC 2005


At 9:30 -0500 12/9/05, sgorman1 at gmu.edu wrote:
>Thought folks might find this interesting
>
>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8403
>
>Viral Cure Could 'Immunise' The Internet, New Scientist
>
>Excerpts: A cure for computer viruses that spreads in a viral fashion could
>immunise the internet, even against pests that travel at lightning speed, a
>mathematical study reveals.
>
>Most conventional anti-virus programs use "signatures" to identify and block
>viruses. But experts must first analyse a virus before sending out the fix.
>This means that rapidly spreading viruses can cause widespread damage before
>being stopped.
>
>
>Source: Viral Cure Could 'Immunise' The Internet, Kurt Kleiner, NewScientist,
>05/12/01

This has been thought of many times.  My spin around this was 
attached to DARPA's Active Network 
(http://www.darpa.mil/ato/programs/AN/).

The eternal question in security is "what are you defending against?" 
Because of that, security will always have a strong reactionary 
element.

I can't cite any, but I recall hearing some claims that viruses in 
the past were meant to fix problems or highlight in a benign way the 
presence of problems.  It's been tried in real life, I don't see that 
a mathematical study is going to come up with a result that is more 
meaningful.
-- 
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Edward Lewis                                                +1-571-434-5468
NeuStar

3 months to the next trip.  I guess it's finally time to settle down and
find a grocery store.



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