[87174] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Viral Cure Could 'Immunise' The Internet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Edward Lewis)
Fri Dec 9 09:58:15 2005
In-Reply-To: <f6c8dc9761f85.43994eb8@gmu.edu>
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2005 09:57:56 -0500
To: sgorman1@gmu.edu
From: Edward Lewis <Ed.Lewis@neustar.biz>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
At 9:30 -0500 12/9/05, sgorman1@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.
