That's what we do with cancerous cells, no? Not very gentle on the host.
If you mean there is no "intent' you're right. Intent is not required. Its a chemical process. The communication is via chemistry. All we need to do is to confound the language and the virus remains benign.
Abiogenesis does not require motive or intent. It's a mathematical electro-chemical function . The virus is a transitional organism. Actually, it is thought that the virus devolved from a common ancestor with the bacteria, which was able to copy itself.