Solutions to Computer Viruses
explanatory Essay
2603 words
Solutions to Computer Viruses
Table Of Contents
I Intro
II Computer Virus Components
a.Worms
b.Trojan horses
c.Logic bombs
III Types of Viruses
a.Boot sector virus
b.File virus
c.Macro virus
d.Multipartite virus
e.Polymorphic virus
f.Stealth virus
IV How Viruses Work
a.Virus introduced to system
b.Trojan activated
c.Logic bomb activated
d.Destructive part of virus activated
V Most Common Viruses
a.Jerusalem virus
b.Cascade virus
c.Brain virus
d.Italian virus
e.New Zealand virus
VI Macro Virus
a.What are they?
b.How do they work
VII How to Avoid Viruses
a.Removing floppies from drive
b.Don’t use pirated software
c.Backup data
d.Run virus check program periodically
VIII Anti-virus Software
a.Why would you use?
b.Virus Scanner
c.Types of Anti-virus software
In this growing technological world, there is a dependency on computer systems. With the wide spread use of computer systems comes the threat of short programs that damage the system and other programs on that system. These short programs are called computer viruses. There are many computer viruses out there to infect unsuspecting system and programs. Along with these threats of infection comes the opportunity to eradicate these viruses before they infect systems. There are programs called anti-virus protection to help find and fix problems before they damage computer systems (Encyclopedia.com).
Computer Virus and Components
A computer virus can be defined as a rogue computer program, usually short in nature, designed to spread copies of itself to other computers and disrupt the computers’ normal operation. These viruses usually attach or insert themselves in or to a program or boot sector of a disk. It is spread through floppy disk, network, or routine on-line services. There are some viruses that are harmless, but others can destroy or corrupt data and cause an operating system or application program to malfunction. The three most common types of destructive computer programs are the Trojan horse, logic bombs, and the worm. “A virus is considered to be a worm with a logic bomb or Trojan horse component” (PC Upgrade).
Worms are programs that copy themselves. They create images of themselves in a file or a certain part of a disk. The main reason for including a worm component in a virus is to spread the virus via floppy dick. Now everytime you format a disk or copy a disc, the worm now infects you floppy disk. The Trojan horse is a program hidden inside another useful looking program. When the useful program is running the Trojan horse is doing something like erasing your Fat and directory. The last of this triangle is the bomb. The bomb is a piece of code embedded in a program or the operating system that waits for a particular event to occur.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that with the wide spread use of computer systems comes the threat of short programs that damage the system and other programs on that system.
- Explains that viruses attach themselves to other programs and are called parasitic viruses.
- Explains that a trojan horse is hidden in an application program or injected into the program file or the boot record by the worm portion.
- Explains that the jerusalem virus, cascade, brain, italian, and new zealand viruses account for most of the virus incidents in 1989.
- Explains that the brain virus is a boot record virus that only has problem in the chaos strain.
- Explains that macro viruses are the most widely spread viruses in the wild. they are designed to infect microsoft word and excel.
- Advises that preventive medicine is the best way in preserving your system and preventing it from getting viruses.
- Explains that anti-virus software protects files and disk drives from viruses. it uses binary codes and heuristics to detect suspicious codes or unanticipated changes.
- Explains that the most popular anti-virus software is mcaffe and norton. both have excellent records when detecting and fixing viruses.
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- Explains that rmc studenta:computer viruses.doc„®12”: hè/f â€3@gﾐ
- Explains the three most common types of destructive computer programs: the trojan horse, logic bombs, and the worm.
Related
- comparative
- argumentative
- analytical
- explanatory
- Viruses and the Personal Computercomparative essayViruses and the Personal Computer Viruses and the effects on personal computers are part of life as we know it in the computer age. Computers and their software can get sick just like humans can get sick. The computer virus is a computer program written to cause problems and allow access to computers. Computer viruses can reproduce themselves to stay resident in your software for some time, without detection, and can spread to other computers on a network. The first mention of the computer virus was in 1949.
In this essay, the author
- Cautions against opening attachments from people they don't know, as they could be an infected file.
- Advises that if you receive an email attachment to a file, verify who sent it to you.
- Advises that if you receive an attachment from a friend or someone you know, look at the original source of the message. a virus could have been forwarded from an infected user.
- Recommends keeping a backup of important files and pictures to protect them from infection.
- Recommends keeping your operating system up-to-date with the latest updates and ensuring all critical updates to windows and internet explorer are installed.
- Recommends installing and keeping up with a well-known antivirus program. set daily scan schedule and set the program to automatically scan all incoming and outgoing e-mail and attachments.
- Advises that if you’re using microsoft outlook or outlook express for your e-mail, turn off the preview pane.
- Advises that if you notice an incoming email message that looks suspicious, go to your virus program's web site and search on some of the words that raised your suspicions.
- Advises that if you receive a suspicious e-mail, do not open it and delete it immediately. if you had not turned off the preview pane, you would not follow the advice previously given.
- Explains that in windows explorer, set the default options so that you can see all file attachments by their full name. click on the view tab and change the selection under hidden files.
- Recommends refraining from forwarding jokes, cartoons and petitions. encourage your friends and associates to do the same.
- Advises that e-mail addresses should be in the blind copy field instead of the carbon copy fields, since viruses are spreading rapidly.
- Recommends turning off your computer when not in use. this will ensure that your internet connection is not allowing access to the computer while you are not using it.
- Advises downloading reputable files only if you know they are relevant.
- Recommends using a popup blocker in your browser to prevent pop-ups from opening on their own, which can infect your computer.
- Opines that nevin, tom, “computer virus - know the enemy”. african business, 39-40.
- Describes the computer virus as a computer program written to cause problems and allow access to computers.
- Recommends using a hardware and software firewall to protect against intrusive viruses and malware.
1446 wordsRead More - How computer viruses workargumentative essayHow computer viruses work Computer viruses are not understood very well, but they get your attention. Viruses show us how vulnerable we are, but they also show how open and worldly human beings have become. Microsoft and other large companies had to shut down all their e-mail systems when the “Melissa” virus became a worldwide event. A computer virus is passed on from one computer to another computer.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how computer viruses are not understood well, but they get your attention. microsoft and other large companies had to shut down all their e-mail systems when the "melissa" virus became a worldwide event.
- Explains that viruses were first seen in the late 1980s; the first factor was the spread of personal computers.
- Explains that bulletin boards led to the precursor of the virus known as the trojan horse.
- Explains that viruses took advantage of the floppy disk to create the first self-replicating programs.
- Explains that early viruses were pieces of code attached to programs like games or word processors. the virus loads itself to memory and looks around to find any programs on the hard disk.
- Explains that the spreading part is the "infection" phase of the virus, and it wouldn't be so violent despised if all it did was replicate themselves.
- Explains that the virus infects the boot sector on the floppy disk and the hard disks, which contains tiny programs that tell the computer how to load the rest of the operating system.
- Explains that executable and boot sector viruses are not as threatening as they were before because of the decline in the huge size of today's programs.
- Explains that the latest virus is called macro virus and melissa virus. the virus would send the document in an e-mail message to the first 50 people in a person’s address book.
- Explains that microsoft applications have a feature called macro virus protection built in to them to prevent this sort of thing. many people don't know what macro or maco viruses are, and either ignore the warning or turn the protection off.
- Explains that a person has to write the code, test it, and then release the virus.
- Explains that a certain type of programmer might be compelled to exploit the security hole before someone else beats him to it.
- Argues that the legal system is getting tougher in punishing people who create viruses. virus creators don't understand that destroying everything on a person's hard disk is real damage.
- Recommends running windows nt, which has security features that keep viruses (and unwanted human visitors) away from the hard disk.
1017 wordsRead More - Viruses and Internet Securityanalytical essayViruses and Internet Security Since the creation and development of the Internet, hackers and intelligent software developers have been able to spread viruses that cause great harm to corporations and households. The Internet has been the gateway for hackers into their journey of obstruction. For example, through the loopholes of Microsoft’s IIS services on its server operating system packages, hackers have been able to open “backdoors” into some of the most complex intranet firewall protected networks of the world. Once the access has been made available, hackers have the opportunity to manipulate data, retrieve confidential data, and destroy systems containing critical data with the help of their developed viruses. The fact of the matter is, hackers and other cyber criminals cause great amounts of financial damage to corporations and other smaller scaled victims.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that hackers and intelligent software developers have spread viruses that cause great harm to corporations and households. the internet has been the gateway for hackers into their journey of obstruction.
- Opines that hackers and virus developers want to demonstrate their art and capabilities as well. the thrill, bragging, and ability to see the damage would be the main reasons why someone would create a virus.
- Explains that hackers are educated and bright individuals, primarily teenagers, who are fascinated with the technology that comes their way. the government is now taking extreme measures to catch foul play in the cyber world.
- Explains that corporations are installing cyber watchers for the control of viruses and critical information. computer economics estimates that companies lost $5.3 billion to recreational web surfing at work in 1999.
- Analyzes how the bill protects isps against lawsuits for their cyber scanning. the creator of the "melissa" virus was sentenced to 20 months of prison and a $5,000 fine.
- Describes the pros and cons of taking a big brother approach towards the control of virus transfers.
- Explains that gartner research company states that the vast majority of successful attacks on computer systems exploit security weaknesses that are well known and for which patches exist.
- Asks why companies aren't using their financial resources to better protect their enterprise systems rather than monitor personal internet use. gartner is making statements to the media that the problem is within the company.
- Explains that the direct stakeholders to the virus control problem are virus authors themselves, ities trying to stop/control the spread of future viruses, and the corporations and households directly infected by virus outbreaks.
- Opines that virus control and cyber-watching will cause a great deal of professional issues that will arise.
- Explains that government officials are taking virus control, communication mediums, hacker foul play, and encryption a lot more seriously after the september 11th incident.
- Argues that corporations should invest more money into live updated research for patches and software for protection against future virus attacks.
- Explains that house panel oks stiffer cyber crime penalties. opponents say bill will further erode online privacy.
- Cites weckert, john, computer ethics: future directions, arc special research center for applied philosophy ethics.
- Explains that computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits as biological viruses.
- Opines that expert virus developers and hackers will find extraordinary ways to bypass system securities and remain anonymous to the public and authorities.
- Analyzes the ethical implications of a cyber watch approach to virus control versus the effect it might have on individuals when their privacy is obstructed.
2710 wordsRead More - Book Review Of David Harley's Viruses Revealed?analytical essayI 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that david harley's book viruses revealed goes into great detail about the different kinds of viruses and virus mechanisms, and the solutions to these viruses.
- Explains that harley talks about the history of the virus. some people believe that viruses started being written in the 1950s, while others say that they didn't exist until the past 15 years.
- Explains that malware is a program designed with malicious intent. malware is one of the worst programs to be infected with compared to worms, trojans and viruses.
- Analyzes how harley talks about the persistence of viruses and virus writers in today's world and how they do damage to people.
- Explains that it's impossible to get through three different anti-virus programs, and trojans, worms and viruses. if you don't grant access to unidentified or unsafe programs it is hard for viruses to be granted access onto your computer.
802 wordsRead More - Cyber Security Essayanalytical essayViruses are programs that attach themselves to legitimate programs with malicious intent. It is designed to spread from one host to another. Once a virus has successfully attacked, the program will remain dormant until the device has to execute its code. Once infected the computer virus can infect other devices on the same network and cause some major damage. These damages include corrupting files and even taking over the
In this essay, the author
- Explains that cyber security is the most important computer technology needed in today’s society. hacks like equalfax have put millions of people in jeopardy.
- Argues that cyber security protection must change for the better in today’s evolving world. the cyber threat alliance is a group of cybersecurity suppliers that share information, technology, and research with each other to fight against hackers.
- Explains that cyberattacks are beginning to gain more access to control systems, such as the industrial control system. ukraine's blackout sparked concern that the united states critical industries are also at risk.
- Explains that the most widely known types of malware are the computer virus but there are plenty of other threats in the cyber world that is continuing to evolve.
1212 wordsRead More - Computer Virusesexplanatory essayComputer Viruses Explain the difference between viruses, worms and Trojan horses in the context of computer and data security. Discuss the measures that need to be taken in order to maintain security. There is a type of computer program that is designed and written to destroy, alter or damage data stored on computers without your knowledge or permission. These are some of the problems that these programs cause ? Your computer displays annoying messages ?
In this essay, the author
- Explains the difference between viruses, worms and trojan horses in the context of computer and data security.
- Explains the difference between viruses and trojan horses and worms.
- Explains that a computer virus is designed to replicate and spread itself on its own, preferably without anybody knowing it exists.
- Explains that worms are very similar to viruses but are technically different in the way that they replicate and spread through the system.
- Explains that a trojan horse masquerades as legitimate programs and erases your hard drive. they are nasty and difficult to detect, but they do not replicate themselves.
- Explains that there are precautions that can be taken to protect and maintain data security, such as using a virus detection program, making frequent backups, and ensuring there is no unauthorised access.
696 wordsRead More - The Problem of Computer Crimeanalytical essayViruses are commonly called “Trojan Horses”, as they usually disguise their true harm. Viruses are defined as a piece of programming code that can have devastating effects to one’s computer. Viruses are so dangerous because they can automatically be sent to another computer without one actually sending the program. Viruses most commonly come in an e-mail or attachment, a downloadable file, or on a CD-ROM or diskette. Most of the time, the source of the virus does not even know the virus is contained in the file or program. Some viruses must lie in wait until the computer does something to trigger the code into action.
In this essay, the author
- Cites froehlick, joseph, pinter, edward, witmeyer, john. computer viruses: making the time fit the crime.
- Explains horrocks, craig, and davidson, aaron. eliminating computer crime by identifying weaker areas.
- Explains that hacking is the most infamous and feared type of computer crime. viruses are dangerous because they can automatically be sent to another computer without one actually sending it.
- Explains that computer criminals have no prior record of crime and are responsible, honest people in a position of trust.
- Explains that computer crime can have devastating effects on businesses, as they use information technology for all aspects of business.
- Argues that businesses need to get ahead of computer crime and strike against it before they get struck. testing during the development of information systems can save business’ money and hassles later.
- Opines that computer crimes are more common than we think, and businesses need to take measures to prevent them.
2219 wordsRead More - Protecting Against Malware Essayexplanatory essayResearch Paper on Protecting Against Malware Among the three options given in the MIS6082 final paper requirements, i am going with option A and selecting Chapter 9 (Protecting Against Malware) as my research area. Research paper at a GLANCE 1. Introduction 2.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that they are going with option a and selecting chapter 9 (protecting against malware) as their research area.
- Explains that malwares are categorized based on the type of attack,devices it attacks, intent of the attack and operating systems.
- Explains that personal computers used to allow users to modify their internal structures. there will be no distinction between admin, root and regular user.
- Explains that all popular operating systems and scripting languages give too many privileges to the user and malware will make this as advantage and attacks the system.
- Explains that computer system exhibits symptoms similar to a biological host which shows some symptoms after getting affected by virus or bacteria.
- Explains the severity and damage that could be caused by malwares to the computer systems and computer networks in the world history.
- Explains that the attack targets industrial control systems used to monitor and control large scale industrial facilities like power plants, dams, waste processing systems, and similar operations.
- Explains that this virus affected 45 million computers and was one of the world's most dangerous computer related disasters.
- Describes how they received an email titled "here is the document you asked for" from an unknown sender, got infected as soon as they opened the email, and the virus would replicate and deliver itself to the top 50 people on their list without you getting a hint.
- Opines that the damage to us government departments is estimated to be around $1 billion. a 20-month jail sentence is well deserved.
- Describes how the reverse of the word "admin" was the fastest ever virus to spread. it took only 22 minutes to break into the list of top ten most deadly viruses of all times.
- Explains that nimda affected both user pcs running windows 95, 98, me,nt, 2000 or xp and servers.
- Explains that to protect the computer system or network against malware attacks, software or hardware is required.
- Explains how anti-virus hooks deep into the operating system's core or kernel functions in a manner similar to how certain malware itself would attempt to operate.
- Explains that the primary goal of this method of computing is to be able to anticipate and prepare for potentially problematic situations prior to their occurrence, despite adverse conditions of a computer system or any mistakes made by other users.
- Explains that defensive users aim to reduce the risk associated with network access by implementing certain strategies.
- Explains that defensive users can take steps to minimize the amount of data lost and restore systems to their previous state.
- Explains that some viruses, especially worms, spread automatically through usb flash drives.
- Explains that it guarantees trusted pc protection from trojans, hackers, spyware, and more.
- Explains that aol blocks known phishing sites so customers can't reach them. spamhaus lists the current top 10 worst isps in this category.
- Recommends updating the operating system regularly to keep it patched against known vulnerabilities, and installing patches from other software manufacturers as soon as they are distributed.
- Advises that anti-virus software automatically scans all email and instant message attachments, and ensures the preview pane is turned off. never open unsolicited business emails.
- Recommends using the same precautions when downloading shared files as email and im. anti-virus software and firewall will protect system from malicious files.
- Describes the latest technologies used to identify and filter out phishing sites that can install trojans.
- Advises to turn off the computer and disconnect the dsl or modem line when not using it. beware of spam-based phishing schemes.
- Explains that mcafee pc protection plus provides essential protection from viruses, spyware, and hackers along with automatic backups of hard drive.
- Explains that in the globalized arena, with the proliferating computer users as well as computer networks, risks associated with malware attacks are also multiplying.
- Explains that malicious software is also known as computer contaminant. malware gets installed on host without user’s consent.
- Explains that malware targets security defects in the operating system and applications which run on it. buffer overflow vulnerability and heart bleed bug in openssl library are examples of loop holes.
- Explains that until recently, computer systems boot from external devices like floppy drive,flash drive or cd drive. malicious boot code can be used to install malware.
- Explains that when different hosts are on lan, wan or some other personal network uses heterogeneous operating systems, it is most likely that all other hosts in the network will get affected by this.
- Describes how the iloveyou computer worm, also known as love letter, attccked millions of personal computers. it replicated itself via irc chat and email, transferred and hidden itself in different files and folders, and infect the registry keys once you opened an email.
- Explains that mydoom was instigated in 2004 and prompted us senator to propose the creation of a "national virus response centre".
- Explains that anti-virus software scans all incoming network data for malware and blocks any threats it comes across.
- Explains firewalls are a network security system that controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on applied rule set.
2372 wordsRead More - Malware and its Effect on Computer Worldexplanatory essayMalware and its effect on computer world Introduction: “A digital world we became”. These days individuals turned to use computer systems in everything in their lives. They even use them in manufacturer instead of employees. I did not say that technological innovation is not essential for us but sometimes the technological innovation disregards our role in life. Technological innovation is very essential to any lifestyle to flourish.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that technological innovation is essential to any lifestyle to flourish. it includes cell phones, laptops, machines, ipads and many other factors.
- Explains that malware is harmful for computers, but it also has positive effects on some utilities of the computer.
- Explains that a key logger documenting device can record information, e-mail, and any information you type whenever you want using your key-board. the malware valuable effect is to watch out your children and to see to which website they access.
- Explains that scanners scans the passwords stored by popular windows applications and shows protection details about all of them.
- Explains that anonymous e-mail is a third-party server that does not identify the originator of the message. positive malware is used to identify originality and to know who is not.
- Explains that a packet sniffer program can record all network packets that travel past network interfaces, on computers, and extract sensitive information such as credentials from unencrypted login session's.
- Explains that trojan-horse is a dangerous system that masquerades as harmless application. trojan viruses equine do not duplicate themselves but they can be just as dangerous.
- Explains that steganography is the art of hidden communication, which can be used in many communications in the high politics of countries.
- Explains that encryption improves the protection of a concept or computer file by struggling the material so that it can be studied only by someone who has the right encryption key. a beneficial virus is sometimes used in delivering e-mails that may be spied on.
- Explains that viruses can cause hardware failure, data loss, and data theft. chernobyl has disrupted the computer's operation by deleting all the data stored in the flash bios.
- Opines that if information is thieved as caused by a focused strike, the destruction can be remarkable.
- Opines that technological innovation provides us with intellect and energy, but there are drawbacks.
- Explains that malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system.
- Explains that the iloveyou virus, which traveled the internet using email services with an attachment of the file, infected the computer system and stole passwords and private information.
1450 wordsRead More - Malicious Codeexplanatory essayMalicious 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that malicious code is a real danger to modern systems, since they are connected to other systems and can even be dependent on them. businesses lose billions of dollars each year because of malware attacks.
- Defines malware as a set of instructions that run on your computer and make your system do something that an attacker wants to do. malicious code can be implemented in almost any computer language.
- Describes the most common types of malware and defensive strategies against them. malicious code is classified according to its potential to infect other computers.
- Explains that viruses are self-replicating software that attaches itself to executable files in order to spread.
- Explains that the most widely adopted and effective defense against viruses is installing antivirus software.
- Explains that a worm originates on one computer and then searches for other computers on the network to replicate. viruses infect files and spread with the help of human involvement.
- Explains that worms replicate exclusively through the network, so it is important to defend a network at the host level.
- Explains that backdoors are programs that allow an attacker to maintain control of a machine remotely.
- Explains that trojan horses are programs that appear to be useful, while at the same time include malicious code and some hidden functionality.
- Describes erbschloe, michael, "trojans, worms and spyware. a computer security professional’s guide to malicious code".
- States that nazario, jose, "defense and detection strategies against internet worms", artech house computer security library, 2004.
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