What does the future
hold for computer viruses? Will the anti-virus camp begin to win the
battle, turning the virus growth curve the other direction? Most virus
research groups do not believe this to be the case. Steve White recently
presented a "retrospective"
on viruses from 2000-2010, a fictional account of the virus landscape
over the first decade of the new millennium.
He predicts that viruses will increasingly use the Internet as a medium
for spreading, and that social engineering tactics will continue to
be applied to trigger the initial outbreaks. The recent Palm virus
suggests that viruses may also begin to move into the wireless realm,
painting the frightening possibility that computer viruses may one day
spread like traditional viruses: through the air. As the power and ease
of use of virus construction kits improves daily, we should expect to
see younger, less-technologically inclined people creating and disseminating
a greater number of more potent viruses. The future looks bright indeed
- for the computer virus.
Bulletin 2010: A Retrospective by Steve R. White, presented at the
Virus Bulletin Conference, September 2000