www.digitalmars.com         C & C++   DMDScript  

D - Antivirus

reply "Jeandré du Toit" <morphiax hotmail.com> writes:
I was thinking it would be cool to have some way of embedding some sort of
checksum into the application when it gets compiled so that your application
won't run if the code has been modified by a virus or something. It would be
way cool to have an application that is immune to viruses out of the box.
Maybe this could be built into the compiler ;) If not, does anyone know of a
way to do this using D?

Thanks
Jeandré
Nov 09 2003
parent reply Elias Martenson <elias-m algonet.se> writes:
Jeandré du Toit wrote:

 I was thinking it would be cool to have some way of embedding some sort of
 checksum into the application when it gets compiled so that your application
 won't run if the code has been modified by a virus or something. It would be
 way cool to have an application that is immune to viruses out of the box.
 Maybe this could be built into the compiler ;) If not, does anyone know of a
 way to do this using D?
This wouldn't buy much would it? The virus could easily modify the checksum as well as the code. The onyl way around that would be to use cryptographic signatures, but that stuff is better handled by the OS rather than the compiler and runtime library. Elias
Nov 10 2003
parent reply Jeandre du Toit <Jeandre_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <bonld2$2snc$1 digitaldaemon.com>, Elias Martenson says...
Jeandré du Toit wrote:

 I was thinking it would be cool to have some way of embedding some sort of
 checksum into the application when it gets compiled so that your application
 won't run if the code has been modified by a virus or something. It would be
 way cool to have an application that is immune to viruses out of the box.
 Maybe this could be built into the compiler ;) If not, does anyone know of a
 way to do this using D?
This wouldn't buy much would it? The virus could easily modify the checksum as well as the code. The onyl way around that would be to use cryptographic signatures, but that stuff is better handled by the OS rather than the compiler and runtime library. Elias
I thought about this, and the virus would insert before the first piece of code that executes, so the virus can cause damage without even having to change the checksum, it will only be detected once it is too late. It would have been cool if there was a way to stop viruses, but then again I think the antivirus companies won't be too happy. Anyway Jeandre
Nov 10 2003
parent Elias Martenson <elias-m algonet.se> writes:
Jeandre du Toit wrote:

 I thought about this, and the virus would insert before the first piece of code
 that executes, so the virus can cause damage without even having to change the
 checksum, it will only be detected once it is too late. It would have been cool
 if there was a way to stop viruses, but then again I think the antivirus
 companies won't be too happy.
Actually, read up on "trusted computing"[1] and you'll see that companies are trying to get there. Code would be signed and the the _hardware_ would refuse to run unsigned code. However, it carries an anormous amount of problems. Mostly DRM-related issues, i.e. the problem of who is responsible for deciding what applications will run on your system. I doubt it'll ever take off. We have now digressed so far from the subject of D that if you are interested in discussing this further, I'm happy to do it via email. Elias [1] No not trusted computing as in in the B1 certified Trusted Solaris for example. Such products has a very narrow niche where they are useful.
Nov 10 2003