I used to work for one of the antivirus companies. So I do know a bit about viruses, but am by no means an expert. I didn't do much deconstruction work, except on Unix.

A lot of the viruses out in the wild now are viruses that started out as a proof of concept and then somebody else ran with it. (See Concept & Melissa for examples). Trojans are probably a bigger threat in my opinion, but the definitions have intertwined over the years.

I'm against posting virus code even if it's harmless. It can inspire an otherwise unoriginal script kiddie to release what was before in a out of the way place. It can also have legal consequences. I'd rather not open up perlmonks to that sort of exposure. We can talk about it and I'd even go for posting snippets of code that is considered dangerous, but to post a full working program is wrong. Plus I'd hate to see the next McAfee/Symantec press release.

Some bits:

  • It's viruses, not virii language.perl.com
  • Most languages can be used to write a virus, I've seen shell scripts to man pages contain viral code.

    • In reply to Re: Morality of posting Perl "virus" code? by lemming
    in thread Morality of posting Perl "virus" code? by tachyon

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