How to immune to computers

A group of Israeli computer experts claim that computer viruses can be blocked from their spread by using an immune software that has a faster spread than these viruses.

The scientists have proposed to set up a network of ' shortcuts ' on the Internet that only use anti-virus programs, allowing them to immune to computers before the virus invades.

Mr. Eran Shir of Tel Aviv University began thinking about this issue when the infamous Blaster computer worm was spread around the world through the Internet in 2003. He recalls: 'It really made me uncomfortable. Traditional antivirus software can't keep up with its spread '.

Anti-virus software often seeks to prevent attacks on virus-free computers, and seeks to remove viruses on infected machines. Research groups constantly search for new viruses and release software " upgrades ". These updates are distributed to computer users in the hope that they will install it on the computer before the virus invades. But with this strategy, some viruses will be able to go ahead for a few days, destroying the computers they spread.

" Software vendors are only interested in the Internet as a complex FedEx service, " said Shir . Our concern is to find ways to immunize the entire computer network, not to scan the computer for viruses or to repair those that have been infected '. And to do this, he used the same techniques of viruses to spread immunity.

Mr. Shir and his colleagues proposed a system that uses several computers that act as traps waiting for the virus. These computers run an automated software that can identify viruses and then send the "signs" of the virus over the Internet. This will help the antivirus program on all other computers on the Internet be able to identify the virus and stop it before it enters.

The main problem here is how to ensure that virus ' signs ' must be transmitted over the Internet faster than viruses so that anti-virus programs can stop the virus in time. Mr. Shir said: ' It is necessary to build additional links into the computer network that only immune agents are used. They are similar to 'wormholes' in cyberspace '.

These ' wormholes ' can form a parallel network connected to virus-trapping computers. Assuming that the shortcuts are set up and secured, the " signs " of viruses will be one step ahead of the virus.

The team's simulation showed that only a handful of trap computers were needed in large computer networks. There are about 200 million computers in the United States, and only 800,000 of them serve as computers, which could help reduce the number of infected computers to just 2,000. And if the computer network grows, the number of trap computers will also grow with a certain percentage of 0.4% of all computers.

This is an interesting plan, but is it possible? Mr. Alessandro Vespignani, a computer expert at Indiana University (USA), said some companies have set up internal networks with programs that can automatically detect the presence of new viruses, and The architecture of the Internet is also very suitable to show the location of trap computers.

However, he points out that people still need to be able to control trap computers and cannot guarantee that only anti-virus agents can use wormholes . He warned: ' Virus writers are smart guys, and they can find ways to attack that parallel network right away .'

Mr. Shir currently has no plans to realize his idea but hopes it will come to life with a free, open-source project for all computer users who want to participate. But he also said that if a company uses this idea and makes it a practical application, everyone will be better protected against computer viruses.