Public
letter concerning the Writing of Viruses &
How it Does Not Teach about Virus Prevention
Originally published: May 30th, 2003
Last
updated:
June 27, 2007 2:59 PM
The more than 100 signatories of this public letter, all security professionals
with years of experience in dealing with computer viruses, and who work
in all sectors, wish to express their whole-hearted support of the following
principle:
It is not necessary and it is not useful to write computer viruses
to learn
how to protect against them.
Signed:
- Randy Abrams, SR. Anti-Virus Technician, Microsoft Corporation
- Mark Ackermans, Anti-Virus Researcher, Netherlands
- Martin Aicher, Senior Information Security Manager, Siemens Business Services
- Jaak Akker, chairman of SIG Security Malicious Code Committee, Sweden
- Ruben M. Arias, Manager, RSI (Integrity Master)
- Paul Baccas, Vulnerabilities Researcher, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Ron Baklarz CISSP, CISM, GSEC, Chief Information Security Officer, The American Red Cross
- David Banes, Technical Director, MessageLabs (Asia Pacific) Limited
- Carl S Bateson, IT Systems Manager, Gusto Business Development Systems Ltd
- Pavel Baudis, ALWIL Software
- Kenneth L. Bechtel, II, Team Anti-Virus
- Ralf Benzmüller,
Anti-Virus Researcher,
G DATA Software AG
- Michael P.
Blanchard, Antivirus / Security Engineer, MCSE, MCP + internet, GCIH, EMC² Corporation
- Dr. Vesselin Bontchev, Frisk Software International
- James J. Bosco Jr., Patent Agent / Director of I.T., The Webb Law Firm
- Darren Boyden, UK IT Systems Manager, Westec Holding Co. Ltd
- James F. Brown, Sr. Director, Fidelity Investments
- Randolph P. Brown, Hewlett Packard Company
- Eric Broyles, Chairman of the Board, P.C. Safe Devices, Inc.
- Joseph A. Broyles, Supervisor of Computer Maintenance Department, York County School Division
- Stephen Brogan System Engineer, Gensym Corporation
- Dr. Klaus Brunnstein, Professor for Informatics, antiVirus Test Center (VTC), University of Hamburg
- Louis J. Bruno, President, SERVENET.COM -- Websites, PC Consulting, Real Estate
- Jason Bruce, Senior Virus Researcher, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Jacques Calicis, Independent antivirus researcher
- Viorel Canja - Head of BitDefender Virus Lab
- Joseph M. Cepe, Anti-Virus Engineer, Trend Micro Inc.
- Shawna Cevraini - Help Desk/PC Technician - Olds College, Alberta, Canada
- Tzvetan Chaliavski, Command Software Systems, Inc.
- Eric Chien, Senior Researcher, Symantec Security Response
- Clay Chipman, Anti-Malware Activist, Claymania Creations
- Steve Clark, Clark Systems Support, LLC
- Andreas Clementi, University of Innsbruck, Austria
- Russ Cluett CISSP CGIH, Senior Information Security Analyst
- Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Andrea Cogliati, Chief Technology Officer, Ultimobyte Srl
- Nicholas Comper MCSE CCNA, CTO, Nicom Services\Worldmixing.com
- Neil Cowie, Manager, McAfee AVERT, NAI
- Jeff Crawford,
Director of Anti-Virus R&D, Fortinet
Canada Inc.
- Juan Cesar “Bong” Cuevas,
Anti-Virus Engineer, TrendLabs HQ, Trend Micro, Inc.
- Torsten Dargers, Director, MainSkill Technologies
- Jaytirtha Diddig, Principal Consultant, Seven Seas, UAE
- Henk K. Diemer, IT Security Anti Virus - Malicious Code, ABN AMRO Bank
- Toralv Dirro, Lead SE, NAI Germany
- Joe Donovan, Enterprise Anti-Virus Project Manager, Prudential Financial, Inc.
- Bogdan Dumitru - BitDefender Technical Manager
- Dennis Dunn, Information Security Analyst, A. G. Edwards Technology Group, Inc.
- Allan G. Dyer, Chief Consultant, Yui Kee Computing Ltd.; President, AVAR
- Thomas Elliott, Network Manager - Thamesview School, Director - Kewlio.Net Limited
- David Emm, McAfee AVERT Marketing Manager, Network Associates, Inc.
- Gadi Evron, Senior Virus
Researcher, Aladdin Knowledge Systems
- David Feligno, Account Executive, Sophos Inc.
- Wynn Fenwick, GCIA, GCIH, Senior Security Consultant, CGI Managed Security Services,
CGI Information Technology and Management Consultants
- Rod Fewster,
CEO, Antivirus Australia & NOD32 Australia
- Lee Fisher, Solutions Architect, McAfee Product Management
- Nick FitzGerald, Independent antivirus researcher, Contributing Editor Virus Bulletin
- Dr. Chato H. Flores, Virus Researcher, CF-Sec, The Netherlands
- Helmuth Freericks, CEO Global RISC, Vice President Research and Development, Authentium
- Papp Geza, doctor med. Forensic and Computer Security - and
Virusanalyst Internet Bulletin
- Wissam Ghammashi,
Senior Programmer & Researcher, Aladdin Knowledge Systems
- Enrique González,
Virus Research Lab, Panda Software
- Aryeh Goretsky,
Manager, Technical Support,
ESET, LLC
- Dmitry Gryaznov, Sr. Research Architect, McAfee AVERT, NAI
- Philip Hannay, Senior Virus Researcher - Technical Lead, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Christopher Harrington, Network Security Engineer, Systems Engineering
- Joe Hartmann, Sr. Anti-Virus Research Engineer, Trend Micro Inc.
- Ryan B. Hicks, Manager of Threat Research, EarthLink
- Amado Hidalgo,Technical Director,Chameleon Technology
- Dirk Hochstrate, Managing Director, G
DATA Software
- Jason P Houlsby, Senior Virus Researcher, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Jan Hruska, CEO, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure Corp
- Conny Jäverdal,
IT-Security Manager, Swedish National Road Administration
- Don Johnson,
Senior Network Analyst,
C-Tron Systems Corp
- Eugene Kaspersky, CEO, Kaspersky Labs
- Sanjay Katkar,
Technical Director & VP Product Development,
Quick Heal
anti-virus - Cat Computer Services
- Robert Kinsey, Computer Security and Virus Analyst
- Peter Kruse, Security- and Virusanalyst, Kruse Security
- Berislav Kucan, Editor, Help Net Security
- Pradeep Kumar , Security Solutions Engineer( SCADA Security Specialist) , Protego Networks, Inc
- Barry Kuske, CCNA, MCSE, Staff Technical Support Analyst, Fugro Chance Inc.
- George Labaria, Founder and CEO, LabariaSoft Corporation
- Mary Landesman, Antivirus guide, About.com
- Kovács László,
Computer Security - and Virusanalyst Internet Bulletin, chairman Hungarian
Whitehat Alliance
- Andrew J. Lee, CTO, ESET Llc, US
- Ulf Löfström,
Antivirus Manager, Scania AB, Sweden
- Lixin Lu, CTO, InDefense Inc
- Gerard Mannig,
International Consultant
- Adrian Marinescu, Head of Antivirus Research, RAV Antivirus
- Helen Martin, Editor, Virus Bulletin
- Andreas Marx, AV-Test.org, GEGA IT-Solutions GbR
- Kevin McAleavey, Chief Researcher, Privacy Software Corporation
- Michel Messerschmidt, antiVirusTestCenter, University of Hamburg
- Klaus-Dieter Moeller, Operational Manager Security Service, Triaton GmbH
- Herbert A. Molina, BSIE, MBA, Managing Director/Senior Management Consultant
Netforensics, Inc.
- Paolo Monti, Technical Manager, Future Time S.r.l
- Daniel W. Moyer, Software Development Engineer, Concurrent Computer
Corporation
- Dirk Musstopf, manager, perComp-Verlag GmbH
- Guenter Musstopf, Manager, perComp-Verlag GmbH
- Dr. Igor Muttik, AVERT Sr. Architect, McAfee
- Carey Nachenberg, Chief Architect, Symantec Corporation
- Patrick Nolan - Virus Researcher - Fortinet Inc.
- Petr Odehnal, Head of VirusLab, Grisoft
- David M. Ostby, Sr. Analyst - Global AV Product Lead, 3M Company
- Daniel Otis-Vigil, CEO, MooSoft Development
- Martin Overton, Independent Malware Researcher,Team Anti-Virus, UK
- Francois Paget, Senior Virus Research Engineer, McAfee A.V.E.R.T.
- Suraj Pandya, Web master and content manager, Unisys Corporation
- Sam Butler,
Director of Security & Assurance Services,
Afentis UK
- Richard E. Pearl, Jr., Chief Consultant, Guardian Technology Consultants
- Joseph B. Pelias,
Technical Research Manager,
TrendLabs Philippines
- David Perry, Global Director of Education, Trend Micro, Inc.
- David Phillips, Computing Development Officer, Associate Lecturer, The Open University
- Ricardo Pinheiro,
Account Manager,
TRTEC e-security
- Rex Plantado, AV Researcher, Philippines
- Holger Prescher, Director, MainSkill Technologies
- Jong Purisima, AV Researcher, Trend Micro Inc
- Joost de Raeymaeker, Virus Researcher, Independent
- Subramanya Rao, Director, Proland Software
- Costin RAIU, Data Security Expert - Kaspersky Labs
- Benjamin Raymond, Benton Rural Electric Association
- Martin Retsch, Technical Support, perComp-Verlag GmbH, Germany
- Ryan M. Rinehart MCSE, CCNA, Information Technology Consultant III, State of Kansas, Department of Administration
- Gregory D. Rosenberg, RICIS, Inc., CISSP, LPI, MCSE, MCT, MCP, CNE, RL, NBFAA
- Luca Sambucci, IT Consultant, Italian Ministry of Communications
- Ahmed Sallam, Principal Software Engineer, Behavior Blocking, Symantec Corporation
- Javier SantoDomingo, Software Development Manager, CybeleSoftware Inc.
- Ignacio M. Sbampato, Director, Virus Attack!, Argentina
- Bob Schlansker, CISSP, Incident Response Team
- Paul Schmehl, Adjunct Information Security Officer, The University of Texas at Dallas
- Hubert Schmitz, Federal Office for Information Security, Germany
- Sondra J. Schneider,
Founder & CEO, Security University
- Alex Shipp, Senior Anti-Virus Technologist, MessageLabs
- Pete Simpson, ThreatLab Manager, Clearswift Ltd
- Fridrik Skulason, Frisk Software International (Former Technical Editor of Virus Bulletin )
- Tomo Sombolac, MCSE, Support team leader, Qubis d.o.o. Croatia
- Srivatsa, Manager - Technical Support, Proland Software
- Szilard Stange - VirusBuster Ltd, Hungary
- Sigurdur A. Stefnisson Virus Researcher Frisk Software International
- Vanja Svajcer, Team Leader - Virus Researcher, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Gabor Szappanos, Head of Virus Lab, VirusBuster Hungary
- Mischa Szeker, Senior Antivirus Specialist, virusoffice.com
- Fan Li Tai, Senior Data Protections Analyst, FedEx
- Ariel Talan,
Sr. Security Specialist,
iSecure Networks Inc
- Stuart Taylor, Head of Operational Response Group, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Joe Telafici, Director of Operations, AVERT
- Carole Theriault, Anti-Virus Consultant, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Vinoo Thomas,
Virus Researcher,
McAfee AVERT - Bangalore
- Dr. Erlendur S. Thorsteinsson, FRISK Software International
- Katrin Tocheva, F-Secure Corp
- Robert L. Van Allen, Network Technician / AV Administration, Susquehanna
Health System
- Su Wadlow, Faculty/Staff Support, University of Texas at Dallas
- Richard Wang, Team Leader - Virus Researcher, Sophos Anti-Virus
- Nicholas C Weaver, Graduate Student Researcher, UC Berkeley
- John J. Webber, MMM, CD, DDE, Webb-Secure
- Tony Webster, Network / Security Technician, Cardinal Newman College, UK
- Joe Wells, Chief Scientist
Security Research; SunbeltSoftware & Founder; WildList Organization
International
- Paul Wilders, CEO, Wilders Security Advisors
- Bill Wheeler, Systems Engineer, VW Credit, Inc
- Eddy Willems, Anti-Virus Technology Expert, Data Alert International
- Kurt Wismer, Software developer, Iview Systems
- James M. Wolfe, Independent Virus Researcher, Team Anti-Virus, USA
- Timothy Wright MCP+I, MCSE, CCNA, CNSP, Senior Network Engineer, Reynolds and Reynolds
- Jaime Lyndon "Jamz" A.
Yaneza, Sr. Anti-Virus Consultant, Trend Micro Inc.
- Sebastian Zabala, Technical Product Manager, PCM International AB Sweden
- Dr. Anton Zajac, President and CEO, ESET LLC
- Righard J.
Zwienenberg, Sr. Researcher & Virus Analyst,
Norman
- Godert Jan van Manen, Anti-Virus Researcher & Security Consultant The Netherlands
- Dmitry Bestuzhev, Technical Consultant Latin America, Kaspersky Lab
If you want to add your name to this letter,
please send an email to
letterpublic
_ AT _ avien DOT org (replace
the _AT_ with @)
with your name, job title, organization
- The individuals signing this letter are not necessarily members of AVIEN or AVIEWS, nor do they all work for
Anti-Virus software vendors.
- They sign it as concerned citizens, not necessarily
as official representatives of their organizations.
- AVIEN is hosting this letter as a public service.
Background information:
AVIEN / AVIEWS NEWS
Places teaching about viruses, without teaching how to write them.
University of Calgary
press releases
CONTACTS at U of Calgary:
Dan Seneker, Faculty of Science
(403) 220-5903 / E-mail: seneker@ucalgary.ca
Dr. John Aycock
210-9409 or aycock@cpsc.ucalgary.ca
Dean of Science, Dr. P.
Michael Boorman (mboorman@ucalgary.ca).
Head of Computer Science, Dr. Ken
Barker (barker@cpsc.ucalgary.ca).
Dr. Harvey P. Weingarten, President and Vice-Chancellor (presoff@ucalgary.ca)
Board of Directors, President Harvey
Weingarten (weingart@ucalgary.ca)
Vice-President (Academic), Dr. Ron Bond (rbond@ucalgary.ca).
You may also wish to inform the Government
of Alberta, source of funding for the University of Calgary, of your
opinion on the use of taxpayer's money for the creation of malicious software.