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Recently I read an article on the bbc about encrypted viruses. I have no idea about how one would even start programming something like that. I would love to see the source code for that or something similar. Does anyone have any relevent material?

(Disclaimer: I dont want to create a virus of my own. My interest is purely acedemic)

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"My intrest is purely acedemic". Hahahaha. That's the funniest disclaimer I've seen today. – S.Lott Jul 7 '11 at 13:25
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@S.Lott, Why would you not believe him? I would guess that the vast majority of people posting questions like, "Plzz teh codez 4 teh virus!!11one" will probably never successfully write anything innovative or destructive. I don't see the harm in trying to understand how these things come about. – maple_shaft♦ Jul 7 '11 at 13:30
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Virus source codes are pretty widely available. They seem to be remarkably easy to get, otherwise we wouldn't have big anti-virus companies would we? cs.virginia.edu/~cs351-dada/Lectures/EncryptedOligomorphic.pdf seems to be pretty good and easy to find on Google. What's wrong with it? – S.Lott Jul 7 '11 at 13:35
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@S.Lott - as a matter of fact, yes there is people with academic interest in artificial life, of which the computer viruses are one subset. – Jas Jul 7 '11 at 13:41
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@S.Lott - why is it "our" job to tell them apart in the first place? There is security services who do that! – Jas Jul 8 '11 at 5:27
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My take on the article is that while the virus itself may be encrypted, its intercommunication between participants in the botnet is encrypted with a unique algorithm that hasn't been seen before.

http://www1.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse567-06/ftp/encryption_perf/index.html

http://www.networksorcery.com/enp/data/encryption.htm

This is actually a good article on common encryption algorithms and comparisons between them. This person derived their own meaning they are likely a highly skilled mathemetician, cryptography expert, and certainly NOT your run of the mill script kiddie.

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