Can Malware Be Exterminated by Better Understanding Its Roots?

Can malware be exterminated? Is there such a utopia? Or is there at least a Holy Grail in malware detection that almost gets us there? These questions inspire debate. Pessimists believe that complete malware detection is an unsolvable and nonboundable problem; optimists acknowledge that the problem is difficult but argue for eventual solvability. The authors´ own investigation into malware reveals pitfalls in current research. If these pitfalls can be avoided, they argue that there might be a path to some form of malware freedom, even if malware recognition is an undecidable problem.