On the net, rogue software is constantly mutating and taking new shapes to disguise its existence and enable it to gain access to areas where it can fulfill its purpose - if it even serves the purpose it was originally programmed for anymore! These fragments of fugitive cyberware aren't usually much of a problem and antivirus AIs have hunter subroutines which neuter or delete stray code.

But in the cybernetic ecosystem of the hyperadvanced web, something new has arisen. A coder, or perhaps an AI calling itself "The Welder" has recently begun releasing systems which actively track rogue polymorphic code shards and form a decentralised line of encrypted communication between them, the "flux".

The flux keeps cybershards up to date with antiviral and security advances, and can summon all of the rogue code within reach if it looks like one piece has been overwhelmed. It modifies rogue programs and allows them to act in an almost intelligent manner, which so far has mostly done little but erase databanks and disrupt connected hardware, but stranger events have been rumoured.

Hackers and nodexers (explorers of the web) have encountered enormously swift and powerful software routines of unknown origins, leaving little trace and vanishing quickly, which seem to be accumulating around media and for some reason legal communication blocs. Long considered impregnable to anything but direct access, these systems have experienced increasing glitches over the past few months which have been attributed to solar flares.

Government security agencies haven't responded to these reports as of yet, but are keeping an eye on the situation.