Are mainframe computers susceptible to computer viruses?
Yes. Numerous experiments have shown that computer viruses spread very quickly and effectively on mainframe systems. To our knowledge, however, no non-research computer virus has been seen on mainframe systems. (Despite often being described as such, the widely reported Internet Worm of November 1988 was not a computer virus by most definitions, although it had some virus-like characteristics.) Many people think that computer viruses are impossible on mainframe computers, because their operating systems provide means of protection (e.g., memory protection, access control, etc.) that cannot by bypassed by a program, unlike the operating systems of most personal computers. Unfortunately, this belief is false. As demonstrated by Fred Cohen in 1984, access controls are unable to prevent computer viruses–they can only slow down the speed with which viruses spread. If there is a transitive path of information flow from one account to another on a mainframe computer, then a virus can spread
