“It’s been mathematically proven [anti-virus can't stop viruses]”












2















What analysis was Bruce Schneier referencing when he wrote:




Viruses have no “cure.” It’s been mathematically proven that it is always possible to write a virus that any existing antivirus program can’t stop." [0]



[0] Secrets & Lies. Bruce Schneier. Page 154











share|improve this question









New contributor




Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

























    2















    What analysis was Bruce Schneier referencing when he wrote:




    Viruses have no “cure.” It’s been mathematically proven that it is always possible to write a virus that any existing antivirus program can’t stop." [0]



    [0] Secrets & Lies. Bruce Schneier. Page 154











    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.























      2












      2








      2


      1






      What analysis was Bruce Schneier referencing when he wrote:




      Viruses have no “cure.” It’s been mathematically proven that it is always possible to write a virus that any existing antivirus program can’t stop." [0]



      [0] Secrets & Lies. Bruce Schneier. Page 154











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.












      What analysis was Bruce Schneier referencing when he wrote:




      Viruses have no “cure.” It’s been mathematically proven that it is always possible to write a virus that any existing antivirus program can’t stop." [0]



      [0] Secrets & Lies. Bruce Schneier. Page 154








      virus antivirus






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 37 mins ago









      forest

      34.4k16113118




      34.4k16113118






      New contributor




      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      asked 2 hours ago









      CateCate

      111




      111




      New contributor




      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.





      New contributor





      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






      Cate is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          3














          Under one possible interpretation of that, it's a result of Rice's theorem. A program is malicious if it performs some malicious action, which makes it a semantic property. Some programs are malicious and some aren't, which makes it a non-trivial property. Thus, by Rice's theorem, it's undecidable in the general case whether a program is malicious.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

            – forest
            1 hour ago











          • I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

            – Steve Sether
            16 mins ago











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "162"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });






          Cate is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsecurity.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f201992%2fit-s-been-mathematically-proven-anti-virus-cant-stop-viruses%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          3














          Under one possible interpretation of that, it's a result of Rice's theorem. A program is malicious if it performs some malicious action, which makes it a semantic property. Some programs are malicious and some aren't, which makes it a non-trivial property. Thus, by Rice's theorem, it's undecidable in the general case whether a program is malicious.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

            – forest
            1 hour ago











          • I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

            – Steve Sether
            16 mins ago
















          3














          Under one possible interpretation of that, it's a result of Rice's theorem. A program is malicious if it performs some malicious action, which makes it a semantic property. Some programs are malicious and some aren't, which makes it a non-trivial property. Thus, by Rice's theorem, it's undecidable in the general case whether a program is malicious.






          share|improve this answer
























          • Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

            – forest
            1 hour ago











          • I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

            – Steve Sether
            16 mins ago














          3












          3








          3







          Under one possible interpretation of that, it's a result of Rice's theorem. A program is malicious if it performs some malicious action, which makes it a semantic property. Some programs are malicious and some aren't, which makes it a non-trivial property. Thus, by Rice's theorem, it's undecidable in the general case whether a program is malicious.






          share|improve this answer













          Under one possible interpretation of that, it's a result of Rice's theorem. A program is malicious if it performs some malicious action, which makes it a semantic property. Some programs are malicious and some aren't, which makes it a non-trivial property. Thus, by Rice's theorem, it's undecidable in the general case whether a program is malicious.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered 1 hour ago









          Joseph SibleJoseph Sible

          1,230314




          1,230314













          • Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

            – forest
            1 hour ago











          • I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

            – Steve Sether
            16 mins ago



















          • Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

            – forest
            1 hour ago











          • I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

            – Steve Sether
            16 mins ago

















          Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

          – forest
          1 hour ago





          Ah I think this is indeed what Schneier was referencing. This answer is better than mine.

          – forest
          1 hour ago













          I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

          – Steve Sether
          16 mins ago





          I'm not a mathematician, but I might guess that Godel's incompleteness theorems might also apply.

          – Steve Sether
          16 mins ago










          Cate is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          Cate is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.













          Cate is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.












          Cate is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
















          Thanks for contributing an answer to Information Security Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsecurity.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f201992%2fit-s-been-mathematically-proven-anti-virus-cant-stop-viruses%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          A CLEAN and SIMPLE way to add appendices to Table of Contents and bookmarks

          Calculate evaluation metrics using cross_val_predict sklearn

          Insert data from modal to MySQL (multiple modal on website)