Gotta catch 'em all!: innoculous: enabling epidemiology of computer viruses in the developing world

Abstract

Computer users in the developing world are faced with myriad challenges, from limited bandwidth to higher costs of usage and ownership. However, among the most pernicious problems is the prevalence of computer viruses, which have immediate and unexpected economic costs, often to those who are least able to bear the burden of such costs. While statistics are available for virus infection rates, these rates only reflect reports from legally purchased copies of antivirus software run on internet-connected machine, and not the preponderance of software in the developing world, which is illegally obtained, out of its license period, or operated offline and therefore not updated. Anecdotal evidence on the ground indicates infection rates an order of magnitude higher, indicating a dearth of accurate information. In this paper I present Innoculous, a system consisting of a specially crafted USB key, software, and an incentivization strategy aimed towards disinfecting infected machines, creating revenue streams for small businesses and individuals in the developing world, and obtaining rich information about computer virus infections in the environment in question.