full-disclosure - The 'good worm' from HP

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From: nick at virus-l.demon.co.uk (Nick FitzGerald)
Subject: The 'good worm' from HP

Maarten wrote:

> Stuff like counter-attacking has been discussed often, whether in large open 
> forums such as FD or in more private circles.  Mostly, people were too 
> concerned to open themselves up for huge lawsuits and or for prosecution 
> even, but now that an important influential company like HP is suggesting 
> (building) it, this may well signifiy an important shift in the fight against 
> malware.  I, for one, welcome the initiative...

You need to read Vesselin Bontchev's classic "Are 'Good' Viruses Still 
a Bad Idea?" paper before you can even begin to enter this debate.  And 
if you think the age of that paper automatically disbars it from 
contemporary discussion, the reason there are no more recent papers 
worth reading is because no-one has meaningfully challenged Bontchev's 
position since that paper was written.

I hope the HP folk have read it and thought very carefully about all 
this...  (Sadly the media reports are too "light and fluffy" to make 
anything sensible of what HP is really proposing.)

-- 
Nick FitzGerald
Computer Virus Consulting Ltd.
Ph/FAX: +64 3 3529854