Re: PhD Topic suggestions

Fridrik Skulason wrote:
>>I don't get the point of using a virus here. A virus infects binary 
>>files to propagate.
> 
> Eh, no...a virus just infects, replaces or attaches itself in some way 
> to another executable object.  There is nothing that says it has to be 
> a binary file - script viruses are alive and well, and they are interpreted
> text files - not executable binaries.

Hmm, you can argue if execution by an interpreter is fundamentally 
different from interpretation by a processor. With Java, it can be both, 
interpreted by a Intel JVM or executed by a Java processor.

>>The other thing are worms. You need a security hole for a worm to 
>>propagate. 
> 
> No.  A worm is basically just a self-replicating program that spreads
> across a network.  It may utilize a security hole (like Blaster or CodeRed),
> but it can just as well just mail copies of itself and rely on the
> receivers being ignorand and/or careless.

Ok. Still this is a manual security hole. If I can call someone and he 
tells me the root passwords, this is a hole too (although I am not a 
worm, at least I think so).

>>Maybe you should dig into something like Red-Code
> 
> Do you mean CodeRed?  

No. I meant Redcode from Core War:

http://www.tl.infi.net/~wtnewton/corewar/
http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/Project/info/corewar.htm


Kurt
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