Red Queen Hypothesis of Computer Viruses

We know, historically, that the "walled garden" approach can have benefits during the early adopter phase. AOL's walled garden provided parental controls, security and organization of online content that was useful to introduce the Internet to mass adoption. But, as we know from IBM, AOL, Microsoft, Apple, etc., keeping the walls too high or for too long can hurt the relationship with consumers, distribution partners and other market participants.

The day will come when viruses and other malignant counterparts will take out your heat on a cold winter day, melt your ice cream in the freezer, burn your food in the microwave or lock you out of your own house. These are not possibilities, they are certainties. Not for you as an individual, but in general, these things are going to happen.

How can any good come from this? Like their biological counterparts, infections are generally a bad thing, but the unintended side effects may be helpful. The most obvious is that infections reveal vulnerabilities. The degree to which we can see the vulnerabilities, may help us learn lessons to improve our defenses.

Over time we will gain experience. That experience will be translated into systems and methods for defending our devices and systems — an immune system, if you will. We may learn to avoid certain things that are regularly problematic. Our systems will also learn to avoid certain pitfalls.

Computer viruses force or IS to evolve.