It's a bit of a grey area to the legality of this, depending on who owns the computer you run it on. Personally I don't think bit-tech is really the site to discuss this type of thing.
I don't think he'd be stupid enough to infect someone else's machine. I imagine he's got a sandbox VM or something, or just another machine of his to test on. I don't see why it can't be discussed to be honest. It's a common virus.
Not saying that the OP is going to infect someones computer, but this is a public forum and posting links to malware isn't the smartest thing to do.
are you joking? what legality's? As in - what laws would I be breaking? Forget it, post removed. For the record though - why the **** would I post a script I have been working on for the last 3 days - along with a picture of all the files that would be contained in the self extractable, to make REMOVING a virus easy for any reason be a bad thing? With a view to actually releasing the .exe with a user guide to then make removing these kinds of virus' easier for the community as a whole? I don't get some of you lot at all.
I don't think that you are doing anything wrong, his problem seemed to be that one of the less intelligent users might try to infect a work or friends machine with the virus you are looking for.
What you are doing is fine, it's quite noble of you. Removing some of these nasties is a complete chore! The grey area is posting links to a virus/malware as it could be classed as distribution malware which isn't legal in the UK, as covered by section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act. (Computer Misuse Act 1990 (c. 18), 1990 CHAPTER 18) Sorry if this wasn't very clear.
Care to explain this more clearly? As I read it, to break this Act, you must: 1. Cause unauthorized modification AND 2a. Impair the operation of the computer OR 2b. Hinder access to a program or data OR 2c. Impair operation of a program or data The removal of malware/virus/etc does none of the 2nd part of that act. In fact, an argument can be made that it does the opposite, Improving the operation of the computer, programs, and data.
I think you've misread my post, it was referencing the OP asking for links to software that does contravene the act. (the post is no longer there as it's now been edited) This topic isn't really understandable with first post no longer here.
It seems in this case the pertinent point is the intent: if someone intends to deliberately infect other computers, that would be an offence (and rightly so). However if your intention is purely research and not to distribute it - i.e. infect a sandboxed VM which has no outside network access, or a separate PC completely disconnected from any network - I can't see that as being classed as an offence. (Based on the rest of the thread, that's my understanding of the initial post - can't be certain now though). I do appreciate that it's a bit of a grey area though.
