Computer viruses become a threat for most computer users. But have you ever asked yourself "where do computer viruses come from"? Perhaps with this knowledge you will be able to enjoy all the benefits of your PC without becoming a virus victim.
Behind every virus is a computer programmer. They create viruses for a variety of reasons. It may be to demonstrate skill. It may be eager students seeking admiration from their fellows. But more often than not viruses are created by cyber-criminals. They are designed to steal or copy your personal data for financial gain. It may be to gain access to passwords or credit card details. It may be to use your internet connection without your knowledge for illegal purposes. Or it may just be to bombard you with spam and bogus advertisements.
So viruses can be simply annoying or they can lead to financial ruin. Either way they are something we all need to steer clear of and we can do that by knowing a little more about them.
The most common source of virus infection is of course the Internet, this will not be a surprise and it doesn't mean that you have to stop accessing the Internet either. Most of the people who do unknowingly catch viruses from the net do so because they are click-happy. By this I mean they will click around and download anything on offer without knowing whether or not they can trust the source.
Here's a simple tip: Before you click on a link, check your status bar (usually bottom left) and see where it points to. Also make sure you don't install any programs unless you are confident you know what they are and where they have come from.
Email and email attachments are the second most common tool used to spread computer viruses. Email attachments must be handled with a lot of caution and you must not open any attachments that come with an email from an unknown sender. If you have a good anti virus package then you will be able to scan attachments before you view them. Make sure you do this even if it's from a friend. They may have unknowingly forwarded a virus to you.
Another very common way in which the virus spreads is as part of a bundle with cracks and key generators. Generally these are offered on peer-to-peer networks that have illegal file-sharing programs. The victim would be lured with downloads for free software only to find they were installing a virus on their own system.
The main thing is not just having a good antivirus on your computer, it is to keep it up to date because new viruses are created all the time. Again, a good anti virus suit will update itself regularly.
Example of Computer Viruses
1. Jerusalem - 1987 - This is one of the first MS-DOS viruses in history that caused enormous destructions, affecting many countries, universities and companies worldwide. On Friday 13, 1988 the computer virus managed to infect a number of institutions in Europe, America and the Middle East. The name was given to the virus after one of the first places that got "acquainted" with it - the Jerusalem University.
2. Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm) - Previously at www.InfoNIAC.com we wrote about this computer worm, which is believed to be one of the first worms that spread over the Internet. The name of the virus comes from its developer Robert Tappan Morris, who was a student at Cornell University. The computer worm was set off on November 2, 1988 and after some time it managed to infect 6,000 to 9,000 machines. It overloaded the whole Internet, leading to the failure of a large number of servers. According to its developer, the goal was to discover just how far and fast a computer worm can spread all over the network. Robert Tappan Morris was found guilty and sentenced to 3 years of probation along with 400 hours of community service. In addition, he had to pay a $10,000 fine.
3. Solar Sunrise - Back in 1998 two teenagers from California took the American government by surprise when they gained control of around 500 computer systems belonging to both the government and the private sector.
They intruded, and gained control, of computers belonging to the likes of The Pentagon, Knesset and NASA.
The attack was done with the aid of a computer virus and US government officials initially suspected Iraqi info warriors of performing a cyber attack.
So concerned were the government that they drafted in help from NASA, the US Department of Justice, the CIA and the FBI.
Even the President was briefed on the matter!
However, it was later discovered to that the perpertrators were in fact two American teenagers who used the screen names of Mac and Stimpy.
The operation to catch the attackers was known as ‘Solar Sunrise’ and, after the attacks, the Defense Department took drastic actions to prevent future incidents of this kind.
4. Melissa - is a fast-spreading macro virus that is distributed as an e-mail attachment that, when opened, disables a number of safeguards in Word 97 or Word 2000, and, if the user has the Microsoft Outlook e-mail program, causes the virus to be resent to the first 50 people in each of the user's address books. While it does not destroy files or other resources, Melissa has the potential to disable corporate and other mail servers as the ripple of e-mail distribution becomes a much larger wave. On Friday, March 26, 1999, Melissa caused the Microsoft Corporation to shut down incoming e-mail. Intel and other companies also reported being affected. The U. S. Department of Defense-funded Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) issued a warning about the virus and developed a fix.
5. I Love You - Using a similar method as the Melissa, the computer virus dubbed "I Love You" managed to infect millions of computers around the world overnight. Just like Melissa this computer virus sent passwords and usernames, which were stored on the attacked computers, back to the developer of the virus. After authorities traced the virus they found that a young Filipino student was behind the attack. The young man was released due to the fact that the Philippines did not have any law that would prevent hacking and spreading malware. This situation served as one of the premises for creating the European Union's global Cybercrime Treaty.
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