Fred Cohen
Encyclopedia
Frederick B. Cohen is an American computer scientist
and best known as the inventor of computer virus
defense techniques.
In 1983, while a student at the University of Southern California
's School of Engineering (currently the Viterbi School of Engineering
), he wrote a program for a parasitic application that seized control of computer operations, one of the first computer viruses, in Leonard Adleman
’s class.
One of the few solid theoretical results in the study of computer viruses is Cohen's 1987 demonstration that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible viruses.
Cohen also believed there are positive viruses and he had created one called the compression virus
which spreading would infect all executable
files on a computer, not to destroy, but to make them smaller.
He has many other works related to computer viruses.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
and best known as the inventor of computer virus
Computer virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
defense techniques.
In 1983, while a student at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
's School of Engineering (currently the Viterbi School of Engineering
Viterbi School of Engineering
The Viterbi School of Engineering is located at the University of Southern California in the United States. It was renamed following a $52 million donation by Andrew Viterbi...
), he wrote a program for a parasitic application that seized control of computer operations, one of the first computer viruses, in Leonard Adleman
Leonard Adleman
Leonard Max Adleman is an American theoretical computer scientist and professor of computer science and molecular biology at the University of Southern California. He is known for being a co-inventor of the RSA cryptosystem in 1977, and of DNA computing...
’s class.
One of the few solid theoretical results in the study of computer viruses is Cohen's 1987 demonstration that there is no algorithm that can perfectly detect all possible viruses.
Cohen also believed there are positive viruses and he had created one called the compression virus
Compression virus
Compression virus is an example of a benevolent Computer virus invented by Fred Cohen. It searches for an uninfected executable file, compresses the file and prepends itself to it...
which spreading would infect all executable
Executable
In computing, an executable file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a data file that must be parsed by a program to be meaningful. These instructions are traditionally machine code instructions for a physical CPU...
files on a computer, not to destroy, but to make them smaller.
He has many other works related to computer viruses.
Papers
- 1991, Trends In Computer Virus Research
- 1991, A Case for Benevolent Viruses
- 1991, The Computer Security Encyclopedia - Computer Viruses
- 1992, A Formal Definition of Computer Worms and Some Related Results
- 1989, Models of Practical Defenses Against Computer Viruses
- 1988, On the Implications of Computer Viruses and Methods of Defense
- 1984, Computer Viruses - Theory and Experiments