TABLE OF CONTENTS Strangely enough some computer security experts have little knowledge of the theoretical though essential aspects of computer viruses which were explored in the two previous chapters. As an illustration, Adleman's theory which shows that the notion of virus can be broadened to that of computer infection program ( malware) is mostly ignored.
Indeed, the term of computer virus, which appeared in 1986, has become familiar to the general public. This is not too surprising insofar as in present day society, computers are omnipresent in homes, at work and almost everyone which uses the Internet or any other network has been faced with a viral infection at least once. Nevertheless, it can not be denied that users' knowledge (the term of users must be understood in the broad extent of the word, including system/network administrators and security officers) about computer viruses is incomplete, which is more likely to increase virus spread than to reduce it. As a matter of fact, the term computer virus is mostly misused and, in the minds of most computer users, it usually refers to a larger category including offensive programs whose taxonomy was established by Adleman and which have actually nothing to do with viruses: worms, Trojan horses, logic bombs, lure programs. In fact, the virus world encompasses a much more complex reality than it seems. A number of sub-categories exist which are linked to numerous viral techniques, each of the latter involving different risks which cannot be ignored...
