* In a controlled environment, of course.

Yesterday Computeractive was given a sneak preview of a new incentive being set up by security firm Kaspersky Lab -  training workshops where attendees can, for a fee, learn about how viruses and other online threats work by deliberately infecting computers and monitoring the results.

The PCs in question are isolated on a closed network with no access to the internet, so there's no risk of any threat spreading further, and viruses are provided on CD - not, obviously, to be taken away afterwards. We successfully infected our workstation with the Sasser and Netsky worms, and a couple of Trojan programs for good measure, while monitoring the changes made to files and the registry, before removing them again. The PC pictured above is monitoring data sent over the network by a worm. As well as these practical sessions, the courses include theory lessons on the different threats found online, the motivation behind them and strategies for minimising the threat to businesses.

Look out for more details on the courses next week.