InformationWeek reports on the flak Wired has been getting for posting the Slammer source code online and also in print in the July issue.

I suppose it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. If you are in the business of protecting systems of course you don't like viruses. You'd probably rather they didn't exist at all ... isn't that ironic since that's likely half your job?

But I sit on the software side of the fence. I see viruses as exploits of poorly written code. To me the blame lies with the software companies, too eager to release product and code too complicated to verify 100%.

So why is educating people about exploits so bad? If we teach people how to learn from common mistakes they will slowly disappear. If not because of these fresh U of C graduates' careful coding style than from the increased fear from software companies that we must be more secure or people won't use our software.

So let the crackers tear apart the code and try to write exploits. If they're learning something why can't the software companies learn something too?