The battle to conquer computer viruses is far from won, but new …

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A computer virus is a self-replicating computer pro-. BEATA SZPURA. Computer Virus-. Coevolution …. If a simple computer virus were to propagate randomly …

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46 January 1997/Vol. 40, No. 1 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM
AS RECENTLY AS SIX YEARS AGO, COMPUTER
viruses were considered an urban myth by
many. At the time, only a handful of PC
viruses had been written and infection was
relatively uncommon. Today the situation is
very different. As of November 1996, virus
writers have programmed more than 10,000 DOS-based
computer viruses.
In addition to the sheer increase in the number of
viruses, the virus writers have also become more clever.
Their newer creations are significantly more complex and
difficult to detect and remove. These “improvements” can
be at least partially attributed to the efforts of antivirus
producers. As antivirus products improve and detect the
“latest and greatest” viruses, the virus authors invent new
and more devious ways to hide their progeny.
This coevolution has led to the creation of the most
complex class of virus to date: the polymorphic computer
virus. The polymorphic virus avoids detection by mutating
itself each time it infects a new program; each mutated
infection is capable of performing the same tasks as its parent,
yet it may look entirely different.
These cunning viruses simply cannot be detected costeffectively
using…