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by cro531

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Is it possiable that SOME of the viruses are created by the creaters or promoters of the virus programs

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by maxwell edison

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It is "possible", I suppose, but I would be very surprised to see that Symantec, Trend, McAfee, etc. writes those things. Why would they have to? There are enough pimpled faced teenagers who get their kicks doing it. But that "stereotype" of virus writer isn't the only source of those nasty little buggers.

I read an article that suggested a more likely group who writes viruses for monetary gain are spammers and hackers. This is evident in Sobig F, which turns a computer into a host to send out millions of spam e-mails, often without the owner's knowledge. There certainly is growing evidence that more virus writers are becoming interested in hacking into computers to steal confidential information, says Graham Cluley, senior consultant at Sophos security, a computer security firm.

by dc_guy

There's no way that any of those companies would knowingly sanction the creation of a virus. Despite the obvious benefits that a nefarious firm could gain (scaring the public into buying more anti-virus software), it is not worth the ruinous risk of someone finding out where the virus came from. Quite a few virus creators are in fact tracked down, so there's no reason to assume their luck would be better. I suppose one of their employees could conceivably use what they learned on the job to go home and build a really terrific virus. But no matter how good it is, he'd never get away with launching it from the company website, much less building it at work. I guess we're trusting their HR policies, management skills, and computer security to prevent inside jobs. But what's the point? E-vandals do just as well on the outside.

by oz_media

The best cop is an ex-criminal. I think AntiVirus companies employ many former hackers, virus writers, exploiters etc., are employed by anti-virus companies and many are doing it simply for bragging rights and possible employment in a very high paying IT position.

I think of virus's, of course not all but a great deal of them, as a form of resume.

I really couldn't give a toss about them though (except the annoying stuff like POPNAV and Ads)but without sounding over confident I use more stable and secure networks and software than in a MS environment. I've seen MANY come across the networks and hit local machines to no effect. You simply run a quick clean up and you're done.

I think it is mainly due to the widespread usse of MS products and the fact that they have too many different product lines, but that's just me.

I have heard hackers talk about famous exploits and how the creators got hired for high paying security jobs, as if it was the ultimate 'in your face' goal. Perhaps like most industriesit's just one hand feeding the other. Hackers keep anti-virus engineers employed and the AV companies employ the hackers. Cat and mouse.

by oz_media

I missed the point entirely, i don't think the antivirus engineers are writing the code themselves but feeding those that do.

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