[EmxATW5m]

Yes, it's good, as long as students are also properly explained that setting viruses loose is not a good idea. It will give better insight in that part of coding... and let's face it, anyone who is a programmer does anyway have enough knowledge to write a virus. Yes, it might be misused potentially, but a greater awareness of how viruses work will only help.

[JackieC]

No.

Teaching computer security is one thing, showing them how to write spyware and spam is entirely different.

For example, you can talk about buffer overruns and how to avoid them. You can talk about why various modules must have clearly defined interfaces and responsibilities.

Telling students how to takeover unprotected Wintel boxes and send spam from those is entirely not necessary.

[ttoothh]

I think the important question is whether or not it should be an undergrad course.

SP

[drmarshallusa]

It's a dual-edged sword. All education has the potential to be misused, and generally, the courses with the greatest abhorrance to ethics, tend to be the most abused.

There needs to be a code of conduct for all the students, and a system in place such that any work they do can be traced back to them, while they are students at the university.

[layedgebiamma]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I see that you did not answer my question. There was no question.

You still don't get it -- there are tons of security vulnerabilities for Linux, there are tons for Solaris, there are tons for Windows...

My school is a *nix school, we develop and we're used to Solaris and Linux and AIX.



You probably don't even know what the heap is.

You're the one that called a heap lookaside vulnerability a "stack smashing" vulnerability...then I corrected you on it...and now you're the one saying I don't know what a heap is.

[Byxtysaaqwuz]

its a good thing - people can then fix all the bugs in everything microsoft, so they dont have to pay the price of having buggy software.

[Zptmsemk]

Originally posted by Asher
One of the first things you learn in the course is the majority of viruses don't rely on exploits, they rely on social engineering and getting people to run code they didn't want. Those are modern virii. Back in the day, virii were generally boot sector virii, which have nothing to do with social engineering.

[jojocomok]

Originally posted by Asher
FWIW, UR, the course and its programs and hacking and virus writing is done on Linux and Solaris, not Windows. That's at least 1000 times harder than writing viruses for Windows. I reckon all the students will fail if they are required to write a working sample.

Originally posted by Asher
The sad fact is many people today don't understand the difference between smashing the stack and heap vulnerabilities -- yourself included. The heap is not executed. I thought you knew that?

[tpJKhY8Z]

In the early-90s, there was a course at my university that taught students how to write virii. One of my coworkers was remarking on it, because he wrote his for a Mac. He kept losing it, because our Macs had anti-virus software (our PCs were like gas station bathroom doorhandles by comparison). I don't see what the big deal is.

[InvertPrete]

I voted for bananna because people who make actual deadly viruses don't need no steenking edumacation. But who knows?