virus code is never executed - virus or not?]

>to internet access. I.e. a scanner that asks user for permission to
>execute with any program being called for the first time. If the
>user permits execution it will store a checksum of that file and never
>ask again as long as the file's integrity is verified successfully.

This is what integrity checkers attempt to do.  In practice the results
have been mixed, to say the least.

The problem is that Integrity checkers assume that the user can be trusted
do determine what is a trusted program.  If that was the case, worms and
packdoors would not be a problem.

Integrity checkers can be somewhat effective against viruses in a static
environment, where programs are never updated, but that's about it. 

-- 
Fridrik Skulason   Frisk Software International   phone: +354-540-7400
Author of F-PROT   E-mail: [email protected]       fax:   +354-540-7401


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