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Acid

Study of Computer Viruses in University

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Hello there people of DW. For an assignment, I am tasked with reporting about antiviruses and computer security in general, but there's this one question I can't seem to answer. How would one go into post-secondary education for anti-viruses/viruses? (Something like the name of study or any university websites would work). I've looked on Google for a while and can't find anything that's useful. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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We talking actually getting into programming anti-malware, or are you meaning like getting into a system security administrator type position?

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Depends. If you go for the traditional type of malware, the one that fucks up with system settings, exploits stack overflows, writes itself to boot sector etc. aka a "traditional", Honest-To-God virus delivered in an executable, then you should have a system programming background, familiarity with the architecture of modern OSes and a specialization on the the "target OS" of choice (this practically means one thing: Windows). If you know what the vulnerable points are and how each OS works, then you can -presumably- develop countermeasures. Or at least become very good at removing malware without resorting to "FORMAT C:" ;-)

For more newfangled stuff e.g. drive-by downloads from browsers, invasive pop-ups, disruptive scripts etc. you should have a good background in web programming, XSS, a profound knowledge knowledge of Javascript and a constant update on each and every browser's weaknesses, for the same reason as above.

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Maes said:

Depends. If you go for the traditional type of malware, the one that fucks up with system settings, exploits stack overflows, writes itself to boot sector etc. aka a "traditional", Honest-To-God virus delivered in an executable, then you should have a system programming background, familiarity with the architecture of modern OSes and a specialization on the the "target OS" of choice (this practically means one thing: Windows). If you know what the vulnerable points are and how each OS works, then you can -presumably- develop countermeasures. Or at least become very good at removing malware without resorting to "FORMAT C:" ;-)

For more newfangled stuff e.g. drive-by downloads from browsers, invasive pop-ups, disruptive scripts etc. you should have a good background in web programming, XSS, a profound knowledge knowledge of Javascript and a constant update on each and every browser's weaknesses, for the same reason as above.

Mighty thanks for the insights :) My Google searches yielded virtually nothing in this area (aside from courses provided by GeeksToGo, but they're not a physically established institution)

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Try joining the CIA, then maybe you'll get to see how stuxnet and the backdoors in all proprietary software (and even most open source software which is usually hijacked by their operatives) work. You also need inside connections to get to use the real programming languages (the ones darpa etc. get to use which have already programmed artilects and they've computed the formula for invisibility which is why we can't see them), not the hilariously twisted purposely cryptic and confusing languages, like c, they troll us with. I mean, "pointers" and "references" etc, ha ha ha, yeah the whole mess is turing complete and programmable but only by complete neurotics. Its the equivalent of only allowing us to program in the language brainfuck. Then when they find someone who can actually make something with it, they force them to join the borg. If we were allowed to use the classified programming languages, kept away from us to reduce our power, anyone would be able to program.

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gggmork said:

Try joining the CIA, then maybe you'll get to see how stuxnet and the backdoors in all proprietary software (and even most open source software which is usually hijacked by their operatives) work. You also need inside connections to get to use the real programming languages (the ones darpa etc. get to use which have already programmed artilects and they've computed the formula for invisibility which is why we can't see them), not the hilariously twisted purposely cryptic and confusing languages, like c, they troll us with. I mean, "pointers" and "references" etc, ha ha ha, yeah the whole mess is turing complete and programmable but only by complete neurotics. Its the equivalent of only allowing us to program in the language brainfuck. Then when they find someone who can actually make something with it, they force them to join the borg. If we were allowed to use the classified programming languages, kept away from us to reduce our power, anyone would be able to program.

Is this a self-parody or have you gone entirely off the deep end?

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I think its a combination of poe's law, art and testing whether my posts have been ghosted. In the new reality, you don't need any evidence or facts. You just throw stuff at the wall and whatever sticks is the truth. If the meme for 1+1=3 is better at replicating that the meme for 1+1=2, then god speed you cute little meme, enter everyone's head and enlighten them with Veritas (I learned that word from alex jones). As reality becomes digital, reality can be hacked. A lot of truth is said in jest, and a lot of truth is said in gibberish.

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gggmork said:

If we were allowed to use the classified programming languages, kept away from us to reduce our power, anyone would be able to program.


THAT'S WHY REAL PROGRAMMERS USE COBOL!!!

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