The Global Threat of Malicious Code
I. Introduction
Malicious code is "Software or firmware intended to perform an unauthorized process that will have an adverse impact on the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an information system. 1 Today, as ubiquitous computing is fast becoming a reality and information systems are becoming a part of everything from mobile phones to cars, any threat to an information system represents a risk to hardware, software, data, and the users that depend on their confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This paper surveys the topic of malicious code by identifying malicious code, discussing how social engineering is related to malicious code, describing its threats, listing ways and means of infection, illustrating it through two case studies, and discussing countermeasures.
Malicious code can be classified into viruses, worms, and trojans. A virus is defined as "Self-replicating, malicious code that attaches itself to an application program or other executable system component and leaves no obvious signs of its presence. 1 The term computer virus comes from the biological organism. A biological virus attaches itself to a body cell, uses the cell s D.N.A to make copies of itself and spreads to other cells, in the process damaging them. A computer virus does exactly the same thing with computers. As with biological viruses, symptoms of a computer virus also are usually seen only after it has infected system components. A worm is a self-propagating piece of malicious code that spreads over computer networks infecting all vulnerable hosts. A Trojan horse is a "program containing hidden code allowing the unauthorized collection, falsification, or destruction of information. 1 The ...
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...emoval Tool Last updated: 10 Sep. 2003.
<http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.removal.tool.html>
15.Security Config Klez Removal Tool
<http://www.securityconfig.com/software/antivirus/klez_removal_tool.html>
16.Understanding Heuristics, Symantec s Bloodhound Technology . Symantec White Paper
Series. Volume XXXIV.
<http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/reference/heuristc.pdf>
17.Harrington, Anthony. Blind Man 's s Buff. Dec. 2001.
<http://www.vnunet.com/News/1127335>
18.Sladaritz, Stephen. About Heuristics. Mar. 2002. SANS Institute. <http://www.sans.org/rr/papers/36/141.pdf>
19. Comparing heuristics to law enforcement is an example previously used in several publications including 16 and 18.
20. Landesman, Mary. The Computer Virus Continuum. Mar. 2002. <http://www.commandsoftware.com/products/continuum.html>
Firstly, Aldi’s carries most of the same products as Wal-Mart, and at consistently lower prices. For instance, avocadoes at Aldi are around nineteen to thirty-nine cents apiece, whereas at Wal-Mart the price for avocadoes averages around a dollar apiece. The avocadoes at Aldi are less expensive and are usually bigger and fresher than the avocadoes found at Wal-...
Consumers want more for their dollar and Wal-Mart has centered their focus on this idea, and has not apologized for that fact. In fact, Wal-Mart’s sole existence relies on the consumers search for the lowest priced goods.
Historically, Russia’s relationship with the West has been shaky at best. From the Crimean War in the 1850’s to alienation following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution all the way up to the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been “under attack.” This has forced them to adopt a mentality that is based in self sufficiency and autarky. As Western nations attempt to strengthen democracy in Russia in the 21st century, Russia has responded negatively to these perceived “intrusions.” Therefore it is important to ask what role the West should play in Russia’s development and what is hindering this from happening? In her book Russia: Lost in Transition, Lilia Shevtsova outlines two different ways the West can approach development with Russia: let them figure it out themselves or patiently create an international environment that the Russians feel comfortable in. Shevtsova clearly favors the latter. The West’s involvement is hindered however by double standards, ideological differences, and negative perceptions of the West’s motives by the Russian people. These must first be analyzed before showing how a cautious, assertive approach is the best way for the West to assist in Russian development.
William Shakespeare wrote about a distraught prince trying to avenge the wrongful death of his father while all his faith in honesty and the good of man was nearly destroyed. In his play Hamlet, Hamlet is the prince and he is the one who would have lost all his faith in the good of man had it not been for his loyal friend Horatio. Many critics say that Horatio did not play such an important role in the tragedy, that he merely was the informant for the audience and that his character was not developed beyond that fact that he was just the honest confidant of Hamlet. That may be true, however, Horatio does serve two central purposes to the drama, and it is through these purposes that show the qualities that make Horatio memorable and admirable. Horatio is the harbinger of truth. It is through Horatio that the actions taken by Hamlet gain credibility. He is the outside observer to the madness. Hamlet could soliloquize on and on, but it is his conversations with Horatio that gives sanity to Hamlet’s thoughts. His second role is to be the loyal, truthful confidant of Hamlet.
The Shakespearean drama Hamlet shows much deception and crime. Few friendships in the play survive till the end. But Hamlet and Horatio, best of friends, are not even separated by the hero’s death. This essay will elaborate on this relationship.
Beal, V. (2011, March 29). The difference between a computer virus, worm, and Trojan horse.
Multi-platform computer worms are a tool that computer hackers use to infect computers to gain control access. Computer worms are a dangerous virus because they are self-replicating, meaning that they multiply themselves and spread onto other computer networks seeking a lapse in internet security. Computer worms do not need to attach themselves onto an existing computer program to gain access to the victim computer files. The computer worm was created on accident by a Cornell student named Robert Morris; he was seeking a way of managing the internet in 1988. “Morris had no malicious intent, but a bug in his program caused many of the computers the worm landed on to crash. … but worms had come of age and have since evolved into an effective way of attacking systems connected to the internet” (Barwise). Today, hackers use the Morris worm to infect computers. “Five men believed to be responsible for spreading a notorious computer worm on Facebook and other social networks — and pocketing several million dollars from online schemes — are hiding in plain sight in St. Petersburg, Russia …” (Richmond). Since the good intended creation of the worm it has only been used maliciously as a computer virus by money seeking computer hackers such as the Koobface gang in Russia.
Social Engineering: What It Is and How to Help Protect Yourself. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/security/resources/socialengineering-whatis.aspx
Horatio. Horatio is a good friend, as stated in Act 1, Sc 2, L163, and the
I decided to read the book by David Harley called Viruses Revealed. This book goes into great detail about the different kinds of viruses and virus mechanisms, the solutions to these viruses, studies on different cases of viruses and then the social aspects of viruses. In the first part of the book, Harley talks about the problems with viruses. A virus is a program that infects other programs to modify them. “Infecting means that a virus will insert itself into the chain of command” (Harley). The virus structure was defined into three different parts: Infection, Payload, and Trigger. The infection is defined as the way or ways in which the virus spreads. The payload is defined as what the virus does besides duplicating itself. Trigger is defined as the procedure that decides whether or not the payload is necessary. Harley also talks about the difference between damage versus infection. The major difference between the two is that many users have infected documents or applications on their computer. Whether or not those applications are run is the difference between the two. In part one Harley also converses about Trojan Horses. Trojan horses are normally known as a virus, but he shoots that down. Harley says that Trojan Horses are normally not viruses, but just a worm that goes from computer to computer. After talking about different kinds of viruses and worms, he goes into Anti-Virus softwares. There are two different kinds of anti-viruses. One being virus-specific. Virus-specific means that every time a virus is found on your computer, it is identified but not detected. Generic scanners do the opposite. Generic scanners detect viruses but do not identify them.
Malware is short for "malicious software”. It is a software installed (usually without someone’s knowledge) to disrupt computer operation, gather information, or gain access to private computer systems. Malware can appear in the form of a code, a script, an active content or other software’s. Once malware enters a computer it is capable of basically spying any actions that are taken using that computer. Any internet surfing, typing in your passwords by observing every keystroke, stealing personal information and identities, reading the emails that are received or sent through the computer, hijacking your browser to web pages that ‘phish’ for your personal information, and a variety of other invasive tactics are used by the ha...
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play. Most of the characters in the play have selfish motives at heart. Lust, greed, pride, and revenge are just a few sins that are committed in the play. There are few instances within the play that show goodness and kindness. Hamlet has so many people around him trying to bring him down, but he had one friend that was loyal to him, and that was Horatio. The other key characters in the play were only out for their own good. However Horatio was looking out for Hamlet. Unfortunately, Horatio was the only one.
Malicious code is a real danger to modern systems. Most systems nowadays do not work in isolation; they are more likely to be connected to other systems and sometimes they can even be dependent on them. Therefore an attack on one of the systems in the network is a potential attacking attempt to any other systems, with which it is interacting. Therefore, it is inevitable for any networked or Internet-connected computers to deal with malicious code attacks at some point. Businesses lose billions of dollars each year because of malicious code attacks. Responding to the attack and restoring all the data on the computers is a time-consuming and expensive task. It is a much better practice to try preventing it through organizing and maintaining effective defenses. However, it is important to keep in mind that there is no one general solution that can help to prevent all the attacks. Attackers are constantly looking for new ways to take advantage of systems’ vulnerabilities and find new ones. That’s why organizations have to not only defend themselves against existing attack methods, but also try to predict and prevent new attacking techniques. It means that computer and network security is a never-ending challenge and expense.
What is the “MALWARE”? A malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system. In Spanish, "mal" is a prefix that means "bad," making the term "bad ware" .Malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. Viruses, for example, can cause havoc on a computer's hard drive by deleting files or directory information. Spyware can gather data from a user's system without the user knowing it. This can include anything from the Web pages a user visits to personal information, such as credit card numbers.
...h the threat of “Mobile Malware” looming in the air, the desire to give the general public fair warning has never been greater. This paper was intended to provided that knowledge the general public needs and will reinforce the topic to those who were already aware. The history of malware gave you a look into the not so distant past. The discussion of technical examples of malware was intended to show you how rapidly the threat is developing along with the statistics of malware’s current expansion, and the future examples of malware and research showed you concepts that were unimaginable to the common electronic consumer. The majority of malware was originally designed to be a practical joke, but as we can see from the ever growing desire for malicious intent, the evolution of malware has followed suite. We can only hope that the growing need for security can be met.