Re: Viral Cure Could 'Immunise' The Internet

["Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () cs columbia edu>]

In message <Pine.GSO.4.58.0512091602160.20032 () marvin argfrp us uu net>, "Christ
opher L. Morrow" writes:
> On Fri, 9 Dec 2005 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.
>
> I think they call this 'welchia'... I don't recall it doing all that many
> 'good' things, unless 'raising customer traffic rates' qualifies as
> 'good'.
Besides, it's *unauthorized*.  I don't want random strangers deciding 
when my machine should be patched.  I think, in this forum, we all know 
that patches can have bad side effects.

                --Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb