More To Come...
Before moving on to the detailed analysis of the virus in part 2 of this series, there's a moral issue to consider. Some people will insist that proof-of-concept virus authors, as well as full-disclosure security researchers, are immoral. This is a viewpoint that we won't be able to change in one paragraph. However, we prefer to judge people by their actions, rather than their deeds. For example, we have heard executives of antivirus companies state that they would never hire a programmer who attended a college (such as the University of Calgary) that taught students virus-writing in order to hone their defensive skills. Yet some antivirus company executives will say this in one breath, while committing securities fraud and lying to stockholders in the next. We hope you will judge people by their actions, rather than by hearsay.