

Ask HN: Do antivirus companies create viruses to run their bussiness? - kashif_hn

I have heard that most of the viruses found on internet are produced by the antivirus companies. How far this statement is true?
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DrWhax
Anti-virus does some basic heuristics and signature checking, and honestly,
they are doing a pretty bad job at detecting virusses or overlooking them
(Flame for example, or the recent Adobe CA compromise)

Mikko Hypponen from F-secure, a Finnish anti-virus company, only had the guts
to admit it, you can read the article here;
[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/06/internet-
security-f...](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/06/internet-security-
fail/)

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theslay
I doubt that. I say this because there are always people who want to do
something crazy(like create a virus) just to exploit an OS/app or prove how
good they are. Some create malware to infect pcs so they can add to their
botnets which could be sold or used for themselves.. So these antivirus
companies are just trying to help out.

~~~
freework
Isn't that a nieve way of thinking? I don't think there is any hard evidence
that virus companies fund virus creation, but it would make a lot of sense if
they did. Anti-virus companies have a lot to gain by a vibrant virus
ecosystem.

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cedricd
No way. Imagine if they got caught. It'd kill their entire company. How is a
little bit of marketing going to be worth that risk? It's almost like asking
'Why don't auto body shops remove stop signs in their area to get more
business'?

~~~
cedricd
Actually better yet: Why don't doctors spread the flu intentionally?

Security companies are also probably staffed by people who genuinely want to
stop malware. Protecting people is probably part of their motivation to go to
work.

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kombinatorics
Why not? I wouldn't be surprised if they created complex viruses to cause harm
to other security software, but their own.

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smartwater
They don't need to, there are plenty of people doing it for them.

