Computer Virus Resource Guide

Beware: Computer Virus Resource Guide

The arrival of the Internet has networked people from around the world, but one drawback that it has exacerbated is the (threat) of computer viruses. Ever since this type of (malware) first appeared on Apple II computers in 1981, viruses have grown into a problem of epidemic proportions, affecting millions of computers around the world. They are created by people, particularly criminals who intend to do harm to other computer users for various and nefarious reasons. Because of the sheer number of computer viruses prowling global networks, it is extremely difficult to avoid at least one virus finding its way onto a system. The problem is that when a (computer virus) infection can have devastating consequences for the affected computer and its user.

 

What Is A Computer Virus?

A (computer virus) is a self-replicating program that spreads from one computer to another. Computer viruses are a form of (malware), which means that they present a serious (threat) to a user's privacy, financial health, the integrity of their data, or all of the above. The damage they can do includes deleting files, transmitting financial or other personal information to unauthorized viewers, or even taking control of the machine to commit crimes against other people or computers. Some viruses are also designed for industrial sabotage. Computer viruses are designed to travel from one computer to another over any medium, such as storage devices and network connections. Like their biological counterparts, computer viruses are prodigious, easily communicable, widespread, and potentially devastating. Also like biological viruses, computer viruses are constantly mutating, evolving, and as a result are also extremely diverse.

 

Types Of Viruses

There are many different types of viruses that threaten computing devices, but they can be broken up into a few major groups. These groups include boot sector viruses, polymorphic viruses, (Trojan) horse programs, email viruses, rootkits, worms, macro viruses, and the most dreadful of all, BIOS viruses. Boot sector viruses reside in the boot sector on the hard drive, where they will activate before the operating system even loads. These viruses can reinfect systems that have been cleaned, making them extremely difficult to remove. Polymorphic viruses mutate and use variable types of encryption, making it difficult for anti-virus software to detect them. (Trojan) horse viruses pose as useful programs in order to trick a user into running them. Email viruses spread via email, and can activate and infect a system as soon as a user opens the message. Rootkits are viruses that establish infections in multiple areas in order to maintain access to the computer despite efforts to remove it. Rootkits also attempt to hide themselves from antivirus programs and other means of detection. Worms, unlike other viruses, do not require a user to actually run a program. They work by seeking out weaknesses in a computer and forcing their way in, like a burglar, after which they do their damage. Macro viruses hide inside PDF, word processing and spreadsheet documents, or any other documents that use executable scripts. When the file is opened, the macro executes and infects the computer. Viruses also exist that install themselves in a computer's BIOS. While all other types of viruses can be removed by the wiping of the hard drive and storage media, a BIOS virus is immune to this. It activates as soon as the computer is turned on, and can reinstall boot sector viruses, or even prevent the computer from booting at all. A BIOS virus can render a computer completely unusable unless the BIOS chip itself is erased, which is often a difficult task.

 

Examples of Infamous Viruses

There have been many infamous viruses that have plagued the computing world since their beginnings in the 1980s. One of the most infamous first boot sector viruses was the Michelangelo virus which was programmed to wipe out users' data on a computer on the day of March 6 of any given year. An example of a polymorphic virus was "Natas", which appeared in 1992. Natas eventually reached computers in the United States Secret Service, disrupting their network for days. One of the most infamous Trojan horses was "Back Orifice", which demonstrated the ability of a virus to enable unauthorized users to maintain direct control of an infected computer. It launched an entire new species of virus that has since resulted in the creation of botnets, or thousands and millions of infected computers that can be controlled by a single criminal, all at one time. "Melissa" was an example of a well-known email and macro virus which infected computers and sent more copies of itself around the Internet. The act of replicating itself was enough to bog down networks and crash computers. Sony BMG Corporation, in an attempt to enforce copyright protection on its music CDs, distributed CDs with a copy prevention rootkit program installed in 2005 - a move which resulted in a major scandal. "Stuxnet" was an infamous computer worm that worked its way through computer networks in Iran, eventually resulting in the disruption of computers that ran Iran's nuclear centrifuge systems. This made Stuxnet the world's first known industrial sabotage virus. "Mebroni" was the first known virus to strike at computer BIOSes, in order to ensure the infected computer remained open for future unauthorized access.

 

 

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