Virus sources

Viruses do not just appear, there is always somebody that has made it and they have own reason to so. Viruses are written everywhere in the world. Now when the information flow in the net and Internet grows, it does not matter where the virus is made.

Most of the writers are young men. There are also few university students, professors, computer, store managers, writers and even a doctor has written a virus One thing is common to these writers, all of them are men. women do not waste their time writing viruses. Women are either smarter or they are just so good that never get caught.

2.4.1 Why do people write and spread viruses?

It is difficult to know why people write them. Everyone has their own reasons. Some general reasons are to experiment how to write viruses or to test their programming talent. Some people just like to see how the virus spreads and gets famous around the World. The following is a list from news group postings alt.comp.virus and tries to explain why people write and spread viruses:

they don't understand or prefer not to think about the consequences for other people they simply don't care

they don't consider it to be their problem if someone else is inconvenienced

they draw a false distinction between creating/publishing viruses and distributing them

they consider it to be the responsibility of someone else to protect systems from their creations

they get a buzz, acknowledged or otherwise, from vandalism

they consider they're fighting authority

they like 'matching wits' with anti virus vendors

it's a way of getting attention, getting recognition from their peers and their names (or at least that of their virus) in the papers and the Wild List they're keeping the anti virus vendors in a job.

2.4.2 To whose advantage computer viruses are written?

Copyleft (cl) is distribution of programs without registering the software, i.e. using a cracked copy. The practice is widely used in the territory of former USSR even by medium and big companies, to say nothing of ordinary users. This software is stolen, which involves criminal responsibility (see legal notice). One of the general valuables of our culture is a generosity, and you can't do anything about it. But at least freeware lovers should know that proceeding with the practice could be risky. That's the first use of computer viruses - as a sort of compensation to software developers.

In the very same way writing viruses usually does not bring profits to the author. At least when the authors of a virus and a cure to it are different persons. The situation is quite different when they are not, especially if the person manages to hide the fact of the double-dealing. And that is the second advantage of computer viruses.

Yes, developers of antiviral software gain money from selling their remedy to a new widely hyped by the mass media virus. Agitation can grow so strong that all and everyone dash to buy an antiviral protection against even a most harmless virus. The ordinal behavior of share indexes in stock exchanges while a computer virus epidemic is to fall. Somehow, the shares of such companies as Symantec (which is famous for its Norton Antivirus) will soar up to the sky.

The tendency is especially significant in the world of emerging New Economy. This fancy word means an economy, based on computer services as the engine of the development. The system takes place in the United States. That is why we hardly ever hear the names of Dow Jones and Standard & Poor's in the mass media nowadays. Their place is occupied by NASDAQ Composite index, based on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system. The index is responsible for the performance of high-tech companies, the base of the New Economy.

We can't say for sure, but maybe in the nearest future the index will be influenced more by computers themselves, than brokers and dealers in the world stock exchanges. IBM Corporation has recently presented its new invention - an automated broker, which is indeed a mainframe (a very big computer) with specialized software. It is a descendant of mainframe DeepBlue, well known for its skills in chess field. Unfortunately, it seems that bad times have come for the whole economy of USA, which also means problems for NASDAQ.

Nevertheless the initiative of IBM should certainly be greeted. Automated brokers seem to understand the volatility of indexes in a much quicker and rational way than human beings. There is an only drawback to eliminate - the problem of artificial intellect. Machine can't think as a human.

Maybe computer viruses could be of any use here too. After all, the flights to the Moon become a simple effect of inventing the new ways of civil population extermination during the Second World War (ballistic rockets). A wish to kill people did a fantastic daydream become reality within fifty years. The first computing machine was actively used while the first atomic bomb development. So sometimes even very bad, much more dangerous than viruses (name at least one person being victim of a cruel computer virus), can highly assist to the progress and bring a greater profit.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 815