Experts have warned that as PKI and digital signatures become more commonplace, virus writers will start to make encrypted viruses.
The danger is that users will develop a false sense of security regarding digitally signed E-mail and will assume that it, and its attachments are safe.
Ian Walker of Entrust Technologies, "Viruses will spread increasingly through the exchange of public keys because the message, or its attachment, comes in an encrypted form from a familiar sender which makes the user see it as a secure message. We have not seen any encrypted viruses yet, but it is easy to send these viruses because of the availability of the public keys."
IBM to adopt open source
IBM's corporate technology strategist, Mark Cathcart has announced that the group are to adopt a policy of co-operation and use open standards. "
We won't compete on standards -there are so many other ways to make money," he said.
Rob Hailstone at IDC research commented that the move was a positive one and that, "IBM has seen the writing on the wall, and is moving very early. This is the way the industry is moving."
With IBM championing the causes of interoperability and standards it is hoped that the idea will catch on. IBM has criticised Sun and Microsoft for their failure to comply.