Infecticon

I had this idea today, and I thought I''d post it to see what people think (or if it''s already been done). Infecticon is a sort of ''virus competition.'' Programmers are invited to write viruses, which, on the day, have to infect the provided sample network within a time limit - say, 30 mins. The machines on the network run a simple AI agent which will do things like open email attachments (to allow a virus to propogate). To enter the competition, the entrant must provide a virus (and perhaps an antidote, depending on how long it would take to reset the machine for the next competitor without one). They must also provide all their personal details (which can be handed over at the request of the law enforcement authorities), and should provide a sample of their virus and describe how it works (to the open ears of the anti-virus technicians who also arrived for the week). So, what you get is a whole bunch of programmers trying to write more and more ingeneous viruses, and then telling the anti-virus people which flaws in software have been exploited, how the virus hides itself, and so on. The best viruses win awards. Aside from the basic ''quick infect'' competition there would be awards for things like ''funniest virus'' (e.g. one which turns all the screens upside down) or ''smallest'' virus, etc. So, in the end: all those people who wanted to write viruses ''to see if they could do it'' get to do it without getting into trouble; the law enforcement people get the names of the top virus authors so they know who to keep an eye on (or who to employ); and the antivirus companies (along with people like Microsoft) learn about exploits and possible virus techniques, bolstering their protection. The equipment would be lent by the sponsors (the antivirus/software companies) or paid for by entrance fees. What do people think? The only real argument I could think of against it was that it actively encourages people to write viruses.. but the people who write the most damaging viruses didn''t exactly need any encouragement anyway. Superpig - saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.