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Computer Viruses
Malware
Malicious software
Programs designed to infiltrate or damage a
computer system without the owner's
informed consent.
Viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware, spyware
Virus
• A virus is a program that reproduces its own
code by attaching itself to other executable
files
• The virus code is executed when the infected
file is executed.
• Most viruses do their "job" by placing selfreplicating code in other programs
The Life Cycle
• Viruses embed themselves into the code of
software
• They are harmless until the infected program
is actually started (executed)
Who Writes Viruses- and Why?
• Viruses can be written by anyone
• It could include researchers for demonstration
purposes
• In some cases, they can be written by
pranksters.
• These viruses get passed around and can be
altered by other people.
Are All Computer Viruses Harmful?
• Every computer virus ever written takes up
disk space
• Many of them are able to remain in the
computer's memory taking control
• Some viruses are written to halt the computer
• There are viruses created to deliberately
destroy data on the disk
What do they do?
• slower processing
• decreased memory
• a disk drive LED lighting up for no apparent
reason
• a screen going blank when you touch a certain
letter on your keyboard
• delete data
• copy password
How do you get the virus??
• Viruses are contracted by downloading files
from the Internet
• Close to 75% of all viruses are contracted
through friendly means
How do you prevent virus??
Use less popular e-mail clients; virus developers
don't target these e-mail clients.
Mac users are less prone to contracting
computer viruses (remember virus creators
are looking for the highest body count)
Anti-virus software is not a ‘cure all’
Run a virus scan on any executable (.exe) files or
MS Word/Excel Files that are emailed to you
Common Types
• Boot Sector - Stays resident by infecting the
boot sector of the computer
• FAT Virus - infects the File Allocation Table of a
hard drive, these usually cause a loss of files
that are on a hard drive
• Memory viruses - execute and stay resident in
memory
 Macro viruses - viruses that attach themselves
to documents in the form of macros. Usually
in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel
documents
• CMOS viruses - viruses that make themselves
resident in the CMOS . These viruses can
damage the hardware of the computer
• Worms - A computer worm is a software
program that is designed to copy itself from
one computer to another, without human
interaction.
• Unlike a computer virus, a worm can copy
itself automatically.
• You might have heard of specific computer
worms, including the Sasser worm, the Blaster
worm, and the Conficker worm.
 Trojan Horse - designed to cause damage or
do something malicious to a system, but are
disguised as something useful.
 Unlike viruses, these don't make copies of
themselves.
 Trojan horses are designed to allow a hacker
remote access to a target computer system.
Spyware
• Software that performs certain behaviors,
generally without appropriately obtaining
your consent first, such as:
– Advertising
– Collecting personal information
– Changing the configuration of your computer
Spam
• Unsolicited e-mail
• annoying and time consuming
• people have lost money to bogus offers
Phishing
• “We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your
account. To ensure that your account is not
compromised, please click the link below and
confirm your identity.”
• “During our regular verification of accounts, we
couldn’t verify your information. Please click here to
update and verify your information.”
• “We are updating all email accounts on our mail
server. Please click the link below and update your
username and password. If you don’t reply within 48
hours your account will be closed”
Hackers
• a hacker is a person who breaks into
computers, usually by gaining access to
administrative controls
• most hackers are thieves, looking for personal
data or bank/ credit card information
How do hackers gain access to your account?
• worms, viruses and Trojan horse programs
make your computer vulnerable to remotely
controlled exploits
• Use ’security holes’ through which they can
gain entry without much trouble
• use programs that are designed to figure out
the passwords to your accounts
• use Brute Force password attacks
The Bottom Line
• To prevent your computer from contracting a
virus, use a virus protection program.
• Keep up-dated on what viruses are going
around.
• Don't open email that is suspicious or that you
don't recognize the senders name.
• Activate firewall
• Always back up your files!
• If your computer does contract a virus, be
prepared to reformat and start all over again!
Hopefully, you will not be
the victim of a virus or hacker!