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Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
viruses that attack human's health.

Mutate by itself, no. Mutate because the code says to, yes. Polymorphic
viruses have been a round for a long time.

--

************************************************

g-w


"aniram" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
> Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
> the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
> but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
> computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
> viruses that attack human's health.

In article < >,
says...
> Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
> Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
> the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
> but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
> computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
> viruses that attack human's health.

Yea, Linux is like that

Actually, a virus with the ability to do that is already around, but
they are to large to send by standard means to attack most users... Most
people would never fall for it.

--
--

(Remove 999 to reply to me)

In article <>,
says...
> In article < >,
> says...
> > Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
> > Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
> > the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
> > but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
> > computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
> > viruses that attack human's health.
>
> Yea, Linux is like that
>

see, a completely unprovoked linux attack. that which we're not
familiar, we scorn.


> Actually, a virus with the ability to do that is already around, but
> they are to large to send by standard means to attack most users... Most
> people would never fall for it.
>
>



"...but they are to large to send by standard means"

you're so full of ****... and that's proof positive.

try doing a bit of research on "polymorphic virus" and learn.

read the last paragraph here:
http://www.winplanet.com/winplanet/reports/1256/1/


--
Colonel Flagg
http://www.internetwarzone.org/

Privacy at a click:
http://www.cotse.net

Q: How many Bill Gates does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, he just defines Darkness? as the new industry standard..."

"...I see stupid people."

Colonel Flagg <> seems to
think in news::

> In article <>,
> says...
>> In article < >,
>> says...
>> > Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
>> > Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing
>> > to the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by
>> > human, but is it possible that they became out of control and
>> > starts attcking computer without human instruction? .... just like
>> > flu and other viruses that attack human's health.
>>
>> Yea, Linux is like that
>>
>
> see, a completely unprovoked linux attack. that which we're not
> familiar, we scorn.
>
>
>> Actually, a virus with the ability to do that is already around, but
>> they are to large to send by standard means to attack most users...
>> Most people would never fall for it.
>>
>>
>
>
>
> "...but they are to large to send by standard means"
>
> you're so full of ****... and that's proof positive.
>
> try doing a bit of research on "polymorphic virus" and learn.
>
> read the last paragraph here:
> http://www.winplanet.com/winplanet/reports/1256/1/
>
>


The short answer is no.

Viruses only do what they are programmed to do. If they attack the
Microsoft script engine for instance, they cannot decide on their own to
attack a disk MBR, without being coded for that function by the original
programmer.

I would imagine that a virus programmed for various attacks would grow
to be too large to be practical as another poster mentioned.

A polymorphic virus does not "mutate itself" but uses an encryption
technique that changes its binary image code in order to get around
antivirus programs that look for virus "signatures" or other patterns
characteristic of the virus like a payload checksum. These are however,
easy to detect by other means, ie, when they hook the system's file
expand code.

-- ipgrunt

On 2 Feb 2004 13:59:51 -0800, (aniram) wrote:

>Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
>Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
>the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
>but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
>computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
>viruses that attack human's health.

The basic concept of a virus is that it is a program that duplicates
itself and spreads. Most don't actually do any damage, but you really
don't want any because they use up system resources.

As another poster has stated polymorphic viruses have been around for
awhile. These mutate their own code so that it looks different and
generally makes itself harder to detect by AntiVirus (kind of like the
common cold).

As far as SciFi visions of intelligent viruses taking over the net and
becoming conscious are concerned. Not with today's technology, because
everything about a virus has to be hard coded. It might be able to
make intelligent decisions about how best to attack a system or what
actions to take, but it all has to be predetermined by the programmer.
And this goes for most forms of modern day AI.

In article <>,
says...
> In article <>,
> says...
> > In article < >,
> > says...
> > > Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
> > > Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
> > > the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
> > > but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
> > > computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
> > > viruses that attack human's health.
> >
> > Yea, Linux is like that
>
> see, a completely unprovoked linux attack. that which we're not
> familiar, we scorn.

Did you miss the smiley? It was a joke. I run Linux.

> > Actually, a virus with the ability to do that is already around, but
> > they are to large to send by standard means to attack most users... Most
> > people would never fall for it.
>
> "...but they are to large to send by standard means"
>
> you're so full of ****... and that's proof positive.

Do you really know anything about anything or are you just always such
as nasty person about everything?

> try doing a bit of research on "polymorphic virus" and learn.

A virus that would "learn" would be rather large, we're not talking
about a simple programmed virus, but one that could reinvent itself to
continue to spread by learning/testing blocking methods.


--
--

(Remove 999 to reply to me)

In article <>,
says...
> are you just always such
> as nasty person about everything?
>


not always. just when I want to be.




--
Colonel Flagg
http://www.internetwarzone.org/

Privacy at a click:
http://www.cotse.net

Q: How many Bill Gates does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, he just defines Darkness? as the new industry standard..."

"...I see stupid people."

"aniram" <> wrote in message
news: om...
> Just curious, or I may be watching too many Sci-fi movies.
> Is it possible that computer virus mutates by itself and exposing to
> the public? Computer viruses may originally be instructed by human,
> but is it possible that they became out of control and starts attcking
> computer without human instruction? .... just like flu and other
> viruses that attack human's health.

oh nice one, you just reminded me to code my T-Virus

--
Mimic

ZGF0YWZsZXhAY2FubmFiaXNtYWlsLmNvbQ== ( www.hidemyemail.net )
"Without knowledge you have fear. With fear you create your own nightmares."
"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand Binary,
and those that dont."
"He who controls Google, controls the world".

"kulm_nd" <g-> wrote in message
news:EOzTb.35935$P% gy.com...
> Mutate by itself, no. Mutate because the code says to, yes. Polymorphic
> viruses have been a round for a long time.

I seem to remember that two or three years ago, a worm picked up a virus. I
can't remember the name of the worm or the virus. What happened was that the
worm used Word documents on the computer of the victim to hide itself, and
sent itself to addresses it found in the address book. One day, the worm hid
itself in a Word document that contained the virus, and it sent out Word
documents containing the worm and the virus.

Filip