University virus writing sparks end user outrage

Computer users have added their ire to the anger within the anti-virus community which met an announcement from Calgary University that it is to start running computer science courses in virus writing. However, not all are convinced it's such a bad thing.

Dr Jan Hruska, CEO of Sophos, yesterday issued a stark warning to students considering taking the course if they have a career in IT security in mind. He said Sophos will not hire any students from the course and urged other anti-virus firms to follow suit.

But it isn't just the anti-virus community which is outraged. End users have also been expressing their concerns over the university's plans.

One head of IT within a large UK firm, who wished to remain anonymous, told silicon.com: "I think the best reaction would be for the business community to inform the university that their graduates will not be considered for employment."

Nigel Pindar, data and security technology architect at Kinnect, added: "The University of Calgary better have some good public liability insurance to cover the cost of getting sued in corporate class actions by victims of viruses written by their students."

silicon.com reader Hywel Clark was more direct in his criticism. He said: "If we ever doubted that the world is going mad, here's proof."

Another angry silicon.com reader was Allan Shriver. "Those who suggested and sanctioned this course need to carefully consider their viability as useful members of the human race," he said. "By all means, run an educational course on anti-virus and anti-hacking but don't teach people how to damage other people's systems."

"The human race's penchant for self destruction continues to amaze me," he added.

But not everybody has come out against the planned course.

silicon.com reader Marcus Hanwell believes education is key in terms of virus protection. He said: "I would honestly say that this is a good move. The best way to prevent viruses from spreading is to educate people on how they are written and what they do. That way the software they write should have countermeasures in place."

Ben Kwaan, another silicon.com reader, added: "While teaching students to write viruses may seem like institutional encouragement, in reality such a course, presented and run carefully, will go a long way to producing graduates with a great deal of knowledge invaluable to them in preventing and combating viruses."

Whatever you think about this subject you must have an opinion one way or the other. Email your comments to editorial@silicon.com.