• Jeandré du Toit (8/8) Nov 09 2003 I was thinking it would be cool to have some way of embedding some sort ...
• Elias Martenson (6/12) Nov 10 2003 This wouldn't buy much would it? The virus could easily modify the
• Jeandre du Toit (8/20) Nov 10 2003 I thought about this, and the virus would insert before the first piece ...
• Elias Martenson (12/17) Nov 10 2003 Actually, read up on "trusted computing"[1] and you'll see that

"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

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

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

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.