Goodware scanner

1
Goodware scanner
Suggested, inspired or implied by The Six Dumbest
Ideas in Computer Security

• Problem

Impact
As the frequency of new computer viruses, and
spyware increases existing virus scanner
technology will become progressively more
expensive to maintain.

• Forces the end user to know what is running on
  his or her system. Thereby making them educate
  themselves.
• Significantly reduces the cost of maintaining up
  to date security.
• Can increase system stability by not allowing
  people to install software that will cause
  conflicts.
• Alters the way a business thinks about computer
  security.
• Saves time, Saves money

Approach

• Thesis As the number of viral programs
  increases the cost of tracking them will become
  untenable. Meanwhile legitimate software growth
  will remain more manageable. A system for
  identifying what software is supposed to be on a
  system can, by exclusion implicate the software
  that is not supposed to be on the system.
• Approach Apply viral signature technology to
  legitimate software applications and closely
  regulate the installation of new software on the
  system.
• How Antivirus software techniques may be
  applied to identify known legitimate software.
  Once it has been established that a file is not
  recognized as legitimate a user can easily mark
  it as legitimate or quarantine it. If one is
  uncertain of whether it is a necessary file,
  functionality to allow a system test could be
  included.

Note SCO sued IBM for allegedly using
proprietary UNIX code in Linux