Are Good Computer Viruses Still A Bad Idea?

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Term Paper Title	Are Good Computer Viruses Still A Bad Idea?
# of Words	4602
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	18.41

Are "Good" Computer Viruses Still a Bad Idea?

Are "Good" Computer Viruses Still a Bad Idea?

     Vesselin Bontchev
     Research Associate
     Virus Test Center
     University of Hamburg
     Vogt-Koelln-Str. 30, 22527 Hamburg, Germany
     bontchev@fbihh.informatik.uni-hamburg.de [Editor's note: Vesselin's
     current email address is bontchev@complex.is]

During the past six years, computer viruses have caused unaccountable amount of
damage - mostly due to loss of time and resources. For most users, the term
"computer virus" is a synonym of the worst nightmares that can happen on their
system. Yet some well-known researchers keep insisting that it is possible to
use the replication mechanism of the viral programs for some useful and
beneficial purposes.

This paper is an attempt to summarize why exactly the general public appreciates
computer viruses as something inherently bad. It is also considering several of
the proposed models of "beneficial" viruses and points out the problems in them.
A set of conditions is listed, which every virus that claims to be beneficial
must conform to. At last, a realistic model using replication techniques for
beneficial purposes is proposed and directions are given in which this technique
can be improved further.

The paper also demonstrates that the main reason for the conflict between those
supporting the idea of a "beneficial virus" and those opposing it, is that the
two sides are assuming a different definition of what a computer virus is.

1. What Is a Computer Virus?

The general public usually associates the term "computer virus" with a small,
nasty program, which aims to destroy the information on their machines. As usual,
the general public's understanding of the term is incorrect. There are many
kinds of destructive or otherwise malicious computer programs and computer
viruses are only one of them. Such programs include backdoors, logic bombs,
trojan horses and so on [Bontchev94]. Furthermore, many computer viruses are not
intentionally destructive - they simply display a message, play a tune, or even
do nothing noticeable at all. The important thing, however, is that even those
not intentionally destructive viruses are not harmless - they are causing a lot
of damage in the sense of time, money and resources spent to remove them -
because they are generally unwanted and the user wishes to get rid of them.

A much more precise and scientific definition of the term "computer virus" has
been proposed by Dr....

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