| Sumario: | The article discusses the importance of computer security courses. They are typically of two kinds. The first kind guided tours to concepts and terminology, descriptive courses that inform and acquaint. These courses have few or no prerequisites and little technical content. The second kind of computer security course is taken primarily by computer science majors. Anecdotal and historical information about viruses and worms may be presented, but source code discussions are rare and programming a virus or worm and their antidotes is seldom required. Virus and worm programming should likewise be mainstreamed as a research activity open to students. Computer science students should learn to recognize, analyze, disable, and remove malware. To do so, they must study currently circulating viruses and worms, and program their own. Virus and worm study must include a strong ethical component and a review of cases and legislation. Ethical and legal worries are obvious hurdles. Fearing they would be held responsible for anything done by their students and being already more than adequately overwhelmed by trying to stay with a subject that keeps accelerating, computer science faculties find little incentive to do something that they later might regret.
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