[Ti] i386 viruses

[Chris Olson]

On Nov 25, 2005, at 7:57 PM, Mikael Byström wrote:
> Weren't there a public contest some time ago with the objective to  
> write malicious code that appeared to be benign? I don't remember  
> the details just now.

It was pulled shortly after it was announced.  More of a publicity  
stunt, I think, than anything else.

> Anyway, there could be potentially malicious code hiding also in  
> Open Sourced code and it could be hard or not so hard to spot  
> depending on who's reading it.

Possible, but highly unlikely it'll propagate.  There's just to many  
eyes looking at it, and it's *extremely* hard to hide in open source  
code because things won't checksum.  Look at the FreeBSD incident  
several years ago.

> Generally I agree with the idea that it is probably harder to write  
> viruses for OS X. But is really ease the reason virii is ramping in  
> the windowsworld one may ask.

Every successful business model has its own ecosystem.  Bill Gates  
knew long ago that software is the key factor in the ecosystem where  
a successful consumer operating system rules.  Software is a vicious  
circle of development, sales, support, upgrades, and money changing  
hands.  That's why linux and open source models, IMHO, will never  
rule - the open source model is based on software politics, not  
business acumen.

Viruses and worms are software, and part of the Windows ecosystem.   
The Windows security and support    industry generates billions of  
dollars every year.  I'm sure you can read between the lines.  People  
who think computer viruses come from a bunch of kid hackers who want  
to wreak havoc don't have a clue.  Ever heard of "designed  
obsolescense"?

If a company wrote the perfect operating system and application suite  
that "just works" and doesn't need support they'll go broke because  
it's a one-time sale.  Gone is the need for computer security firms,  
IT departments, help desks, support contracts, etc., etc., etc..  You  
hold the lofty goal of the "perfect" OS and application suite up for  
all to see, but you never get there --- by design.

-- 
Chris

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