Malware "Ecology" Viewed as Ecological Succession: Historical Trends and Future Prospects

TL;DR

This paper draws an analogy between malware evolution and ecological succession, analyzing how environmental changes and coevolution influence malware diversity and development over time.

Contribution

It introduces an ecological framework to understand malware evolution, highlighting the roles of external disturbances and feedback effects in shaping malware communities.

Findings

Malware evolution parallels ecological succession processes.

External disturbances and coevolution drive malware diversity.

Different malware types adapt through community succession mechanisms.

Abstract

The development and evolution of malware including computer viruses, worms, and trojan horses, is shown to be closely analogous to the process of community succession long recognized in ecology. In particular, both changes in the overall environment by external disturbances, as well as, feedback effects from malware competition and antivirus coevolution have driven community succession and the development of different types of malware with varying modes of transmission and adaptability.