Lesson plan
Source code virus
Source code viruses are a subset of computer viruses that make modifications to source code located on an infected machine. A source file can be overwritten such that it includes a call to some malicious code. By targeting a generic programming language, such as C, source code viruses can be very portable. Source code viruses are rare, partly due to the difficulty of parsing source code programmatically, but have been reported to exist. One such virus (W32/Induc-A) was identified by anti-virus specialist Sophos as capable of injecting itself into the source code of any Delphi program it finds on an infected computer, and then compiles itself into a finished executable.
Article summary
Source code viruses are a subset of computer viruses that make modifications to source code located on an infected machine. A source file can be overwritten such that it includes a call to some malicious code. By targeting a generic programming language, such as C, source code viruses can be very portable. Source code viruses are rare, partly due to the difficulty of parsing source code programmatically, but have been reported to exist. One such virus (W32/Induc-A) was identified by anti-virus specialist Sophos as capable of injecting itself into the source code of any Delphi program it finds on an infected computer, and then compiles itself into a finished executable.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.