C

OMPUTER VIRUS
1. Introduction to Computer Viruses
This report briefly introduces computer viruses and how they effect network secu
rity. I have introduced today's virus situation. Many people are afraid of virus
es, mostly because they do not know much about them. This report will guide you
in the event of a virus infection. The person might have a computer virus infect
ion when the computer starts acting differently. For instance getting slow or wh
en they turn the computer on, it says that all the data is erased or when they s
tart writing a document, it looks different, some chapters might be missing or s
omething else ubnormal has happened.In this report I am going to introduce diffe
rent malware types and how they spread out and how to deal with them. Most commo
n viruses nowadays are macro viruses and I am going to spend a little more time
with them. I am going to give an example of trojan horses stealing passwords. Pl
ease add this to the first paragraph to make it look like this: Computer virus..
. The words "I Love You" can be scary enough without a virus attached. Computer
viruses are on the rise and doing more damage than ever. Last year the "I Love Y
ou" virus wound its way through thousands of computers, shutting down entire e-m
ail systems for some companies. With well over 10,000 viruses out there and the
production of new viruses climbing to over 200 per month (International Computer
Security Association), it's more important than ever to protect your valuable e
quipment and data from virus attacks. A computer virus is a computer program tha
t can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the u
ser. A computer virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host
is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a n
etwork or carrying it on a removable medium

2. General information about computer viruses
Any three computer viruses which are harmful are

2.1 Different malware types
Malware is a general name for all programs that are harmful; viruses, trojan, wo
rms and all other similar programs [1].

2.1.1 Viruses
A computer virus is a program, a block of executable code, which attach itself t
o, overwrite or otherwise replace another program in order to reproduce itself w
ithout a knowledge of a PC user. There are a couple of different types of comput
er viruses: boot sector viruses, parasitic viruses, multi-partite viruses, compa
nion viruses, link viruses and macro viruses. These classifications take into ac
count the different ways in which the virus can infect different parts of a syst
em. The manner in which each of these types operates has one thing in common: an
y virus has to be executed in order to operate.
Most viruses are pretty harmless. The user might not even notice the virus for y
ears. Sometimes viruses might cause random damage to data files and over a long
period they might destroy files and disks. Even benign viruses cause damage by o
ccupying disk space and main memory, by using up CPU processing time. There is a
lso the time and expense wasted in detecting and removing viruses.

2.1.2 Trojan
A Trojan Horse is a program that does something else that the user thought it wo
uld do. It is mostly done to someone on purpose. The Trojan Horses are usually m
asked so that they look interesting, for example a saxophone.wav file that inter
ests a person collecting sound samples of instruments. A Trojan Horse differs fr
om a destructive virus in that it doesn't reproduce. There has been a password t
rojan out in AOL land (the American On Line). Password30 and Pasword50 which som
e people thought were wav. files, but they were disguised and people did not kno
w that they had the trojan in their systems until they tried to change their pas
swords. [9] According to an administrator of AOL, the Trojan steals passwords an
d sends an E-mail to the hackers fake name and then the hacker has your account
in his hands.

2.1.3 Worms
A worm is a program which spreads usually over network connections. Unlike a vir
us which attach itself to a host program, worms always need a host program to sp
read. In practice, worms are not normally associated with one person computer sy
stems. They are mostly found in multi-user systems such as Unix environments.
2.2 Macro virus

Macro viruses spread from applications which use macros. The macro viruses which
are receiving attention currently are specific to Word 6, WordBasic and Excel.
However, many applications, not all of them Windows applications, have potential
ly damaging and infective macro capabilities too.
A CAP macro virus, now widespread, infects macros attached to Word 6.0 for Windo
ws, Word 6.0.1 for Macintosh, Word 6.0 for Windows NT, and Word for Windows 95 d
ocuments.
What makes such a virus possible is that the macros are created by WordBASIC and
even allows DOS commands to be run. Word BASIC in a program language which link
s features used in Word to macros.
A virus, named "Concept," has no destructive payload; it merely spreads, after a
document containing the virus is opened. Concept copies itself to other documen
ts when they are saved, without affecting the contents of documents. Since then,
however, other macro viruses have been discovered, and some of them contain des
tructive routines.
Microsoft suggests opening files without macros to prevent macro viruses from sp
reading, unless the user can verify that the macros contained in the document wi
ll not cause damage. This does NOT work for all macro viruses.
There have been viruses since 1986 and macro viruses since 1995. Now about 15 pe
rcent of virus are macro viruses. There are about 2.000 macro viruses and about
11.000 DOS viruses, but the problem is that macro viruses spreads so fast. New m
acro viruses are created in the work-place, on a daily basis, on typical end-use
r machines, not in a virus lab. New macro virus creation is due to corruption, m
ating, and conversion. Traditional anti-virus programs are also not good at dete
cting new macro viruses. Almost all virus detected in the Helsinki University of
Technology have been macro viruses, according to Tapio Keihnen, the virus specia
list in HUT.
Before macro viruses it was more easy to detect and repair virus infections with
anti-virus programs. But now when there are new macro viruses, it is harder to
detect macro viruses and people are more in contact with their anti-virus vendor
to detect an repair unknown macro viruses, because new macro viruses spread fas
ter than new anti-virus program updates come up.
2.3 Virus sources
Viruses don not just appear, there is always somebody that has made it and they
have own reason to so. Viruses are written everywhere in the world. Now when the
information flow in the net and Internet grows, it does not matter where the vi
rus is made.
Most of the writers are young men. There are also few university students, profe
ssors, computer store managers, writers and even a doctor has written a virus. O
ne thing is common to these writers, all of them are men, women do not waste the
ir time writing viruses. Women are either smarter or they are just so good that
never get caught. [1]
2.3.1 Why do people write and spread viruses?
It is difficult to know why people write them. Everyone has their own reasons. S
ome general reasons are to experiment how to write viruses or to test their prog
ramming talent. Some people just like to see how the virus spreads and gets famo
us around the World. The following is a list from news group postings alt.comp.v
irus and tries to explain why people write and spread viruses.

1. they don't understand or prefer not to think about the consequences for other
people
2. they simply don't care
3. they don't consider it to be their problem if someone else is inconvenienced
4. they draw a false distinction between creating/publishing viruses and distrib
uting them
5. they consider it to be the responsibility of someone else to protect systems
from their creations
6. they get a buzz, acknowledged or otherwise, from vandalism
7. they consider they're fighting authority
8. they like 'matching wits' with anti virus vendors
9. it's a way of getting attention, getting recognition from their peers and the
ir names (or at least that of their virus) in the papers and the Wild List
10.they're keeping the anti virus vendors in a job .
THE HISTORY OF COMPUTER VIRUSES
A Bit of Archeology
There are lots and lots of opinions on the date of birth of the first computer v
irus. I know for sure just that there were no viruses on the Babbidge machine, b
ut the Univac 1108 and IBM 360/370 already had them ("Pervading Animal" and "Chr
istmas tree").Therefore the first virus was born in the very beginning of 1970s
or even in the end of 1960s, although nobody was calling it a virus then. And wi
th that consider the topic of the extinct fossil species closed.
Journey's Start
Let's talk of the latest history: "Brain", "Vienna", "Cascade", etc. Those who s
tarted using IBM PCs as far as in mid-80s might still remember the total epidemi
c of these viruses in 1987-1989. Letters were dropping from displays, crowds of
users rushing towards monitor service people (unlike of these days, when hard di
sk drives die from old age but yet some unknown modern viruses are to blame). Th
eir computers started playing a hymn called "Yankee Doodle", but by then people
were already clever, and nobody tried to fix their speakers - very soon it becam
e clear that this problem wasn't with the hardware, it was a virus, and not even
a single one, more like a dozen.
And so viruses started infecting files. The "Brain" virus and bouncing ball of t
he "Ping-pong" virus marked the victory of viruses over the boot sector. IBM PC
users of course didn't like all that at all. And so there appeared antidotes. Wh
ich was the first? I don't know, there were many of them. Only few of them are s
till alive, and all of these anti-viruses did grow from single project up to the
major software companies playing big roles on the software market.
1995
Nothing in particular among DOS viruses happens, although there appear several c
omplicated enough monster viruses like "NightFall", "Nostardamus", "Nutcracker",
also some funny viruses like "bisexual" virus "RMNS" and BAT virus "Winstart".
The "ByWay" and "DieHard2" viruses become widespread, with news about infected c
omputers coming from all over the world.
In 1998
The virus attack on MS Windows, MS Office and the network applications does not
weaken. There arose new viruses employing still more complex strokes while infec
ting computers and advanced methods of network-to-computer penetration. Besides
numerous the so-called Trojans, stealing Internet access passwords, and several
kinds of the latent administration utilities came into the computer world. Sever
al incidents with the infected CDs were revealed - Some computer media publisher
s distributed CIH and Marburg (the Windows viruses) through CDs attached to the
covers of their issues, with infected..
What is antiviru software?
Antivirus software provides information on the usefulness of different antivirus
softwares. Antivirus programs provide the most readily available solution again
st viruses, spyware, malware, and other parasites.Antivirus software is a comput
er program that detects, prevents, and takes action to disarm or remove maliciou
s software programs, such as viruses and worms. You can help protect your comput
er against viruses by using antivirus software, such as Microsoft Security Essen
tials.
Computer viruses are software programs that are deliberately designed to interfe
re with computer operation, record, corrupt, or delete data, or spread themselve
s to other computers and throughout the Internet. To help prevent the most curre
nt viruses, you must update your antivirus software regularly. You can set up mo
st types of antivirus software to update automatically.
How is it useful ?
Antivirus software provides information on the usefulness of different antivirus
softwares. Antivirus programs provide the most readily available solution again
st viruses, spyware, malware, and other parasites. Some of the antivirus softwar
es are very useful, but there is not single software that provides protection ag
ainst each and every parasite.The need of the hour is that we must search for th
e most appropriate software according to our needs, which can provide us with th
e best solution against viruses, and parasites. Antivirus software ranking can a
llow a user to choose the most appropriate antivirus program, which suits his/he
r needs.
Antivirus software are very useful in evaluation of different antivirus programs
, and helps to choose the most appropriate one, according to your needs. Never f
all in trap of free antivirus softwares, because most of them are scams, and don
't provide any help. Instead, they act as spyware, and leave invalid entries in
the registry of your system, seriously affecting its workability.
Adware is also a very serious problem these days, as they are known to affect al
most 80% of the people, who use internet. Adware are basically advertisements, w
hich are sent to every user individually. Once these adware get access to your c
omputer, they function to change the default settings of your browser, and other
related things.
One of the worst facts in this regard is that some of the much known companies a
re also involved in doing these unethical activities. But in absence of any usef
ul law, it is hard to stop the adware. But you can always get access to antiviru
s software ranking for guidance, and select the best antivirus program, which ca
n help you in this regard.. Other sources that are helpful in getting informatio
n regarding antivirus software ranking are reviews. These reviews are mostly wri
tten by expert authors, who have reliable information on the functioning of diff
erent antivirus programs.
Different antivirus programs are famous for offering protection against differen
t viruses, and spyware; but this is also a fact that there is not one antivirus
program that provides protection against each and every parasite.
Instruction are as follows:-
Step 1 Be cautious about what disks and files you accept from other people.
Step 2 Don't reuse disks that have been in other computers, don't download files
from insecure sites, and don't open e-mail attachme
nts unless you are expecting them. Be wary of messages and attachments, even fro
m people you know, with vague
subject lines and contents, such as 'Check this' or 'See these pics
!!!'
Step 3 Obtain an antivirus program to more safely share disks, download files f
rom the Internet and open e-mail attachments.
Step 4 If your system gets a virus, visit your virus-scan software manufacturer'
s Web site and install any virus updates that are available. T
hen run the software. The software may not be able to delete the virus, but it m
ay be able to identify it.
Step 5 Search the Web for information regarding your specific virus by typing th
e name of the virus or its associated file into a search engine, foll
owed by the word 'virus.' For example, 'Melissa virus,' 'BubbleBoy virus,' and s
o on.
Step 6 Download and install any software patches or other programs that will hel
p you eliminate the virus. Or follow instructions you find on de
leting the virus manually.
Step 7Run another virus scan to make sure the virus was dealt with properly.
These are the important and main instruction.
A good antivirus program is good insurance against the inevitable time when you
fail to spot a virus. Your antivirus program will probably step in and save your
bacon. That happens to me about once every two year. Tends to keep me on my toe
s.Anti-virus programs have not been effective against this kind of malware, even
though some of it resembles viruses, but that's changing. Most of them are gett
ing better at detecting this type of malware. A better solution is a good anti-m
alware program though. There are several available that will protect you against
worms, Trojans, spyware and many other kinds of malware.
Antivirus programs depend on up-to-date virus signatures. They're the digital "f
ingerprints" or "DNA" of the viral agents that these programs scan for. New viru
ses or mutants of old ones are turned loose on the Internet every day. You must
keep your reference files up to date, or your antivirus program will soon become
relatively useless. You should enable the auto-update function or download the
new ones at least once a week. Usually there's a button right on your antivirus
program to take you to the download site.
Don't forget to update your signatures after you've been away for a while -- say
on a two week cruise. Do it before you download that big batch of messages that
's stored up. The latest crop of viruses will be in there waiting for you.
Most present-day antivirus programs are deeply embedded in the operation system.
That makes it hard to fully uninstall them, which can lead to big problems. You
could end up blocked from the Internet. Or when you install another antivirus p
rogram, it may not work. The maxim, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" certainly
fits here. It's best to pick a good program and stay with it. If you do need to
uninstall one, check their Web site for instructions on how to do it cleanly.
If you're running Windows ME or XP and remove a virus, do not subsequently use a
system restore point that might have included the virus, or you may need to rem
ove it again.Antivirus software are used to identify and isolate and remove viru
ses and other malware threats. To do so the software uses several methods to det
ect viruses including the virus dictionary, sandbox and heurist methods. Of cour
se virus protection is most effective when the antivirus software and virus defi
nitions are kept up-to-date.
The dictionary method is only effective so long as the virus definition files, t
hat it depends, are kept up-to-date. The dictionary method is usually ineffectiv
ely against new viruses until the virus definition file is updated. This method
is also less effective against polymorphic viruses (self-modifying viruses) that c
onstantly encrypt or cloak themselves to avoid detection.Antivirus software usua
lly cross-reference the contents of files with the virus definition database on
an ongoing basis but a more comprehensive check can be done by scheduling a full
system scan as well.
Antivirus software can also detect computer viruses by using a method called the
heuristic analysis (suspicious behavior approach). This method monitors a compu
ter for suspicious activities such as a program suddenly trying to modify comput
er settings or a file.
to protect computers against new viruses that are not yet included in virus dict
ionaries, even though they sometimes give a large number of false alarms.Since n
o antivirus software can detect all the threats that exist, Wang also argues tha
t the best antivirus software is simply the one that you like and find most conve
nient to use.
The best virus detection method will depend, to some extent, on the kind of thre
at it has to deal with, but based on how dynamic viruses have become, and the fa
ct that one never knows what new security threat will come next, there is no one
method that can be said to be perfect for detecting and removing all types of c
omputer viruses.Antivirus software is the countermeasure program used to "inocul
ate" computer viruses. Computer viruses are programs that mimic the attributes o
f their real-world counterparts. Computer viruses replicate, cause damage to an
otherwise healthy system, and can spread from host to host. Like real-world viru
ses, a computer virus needs a host, a means of transportation. In the digital wo
rld this can be in e-mail, other programs, or media (cd/floppy/tape). There is o
ne caveat however - computer viruses need to be activated. Much the same way tha
t carcinogens in our bodies wont give us cancer unless they are activated, comput
er viruses need to be activated as well, usually via a click or open command.
How does antivirus software work?
Antivirus software works in two ways. The first and the staple of the industry i
s based on signature files. When a computer virus is reported, the virus is exam
ined and a signature file is created for inoculating the virus. This inoculation
is added to the antivirus software database (.dat file) and is used when scanni
ng computers to identify and destroy viruses. Unfortunately this is a reactive p
rocess so someone has to be the guinea pig and get infected. The other more prog
ressive way of identifying viruses is called heuristics. This method will be the
future of the industry and is basically the only hope we have in eliminating co
mputer viruses. Heuristics monitor all activity on your computer and if a progra
m is "acting" like a virus, then a red flag is raised and it is destroyed or con
tained and reported. The biggest hurdle for advancement in this area is the diff
iculty of determining what constitutes virus-like activity. For instance, replic
ation is a common attribute of virus activity, but there can also be valid repli
cation, like in program association. During program association, programs check
to see whether or not they are the default. If they are not and you want them to
be, then the program will change all of the files, which is akin to replication
.
Why do I need antivirus software?
Computer viruses are the most common threat in the digital world right now. If y
ou don't have antivirus software, you will eventually get a virus and probably l
ose data that you have had on your computer for years. If you have antivirus sof
tware, not only can you save your data, but youll save yourself the migraine you'
ll get when you discover the havoc wreaked upon your computer by a virus, which
could be as bad as an infection in your boot record or BIOS, rendering your comp
uter completely useless. antivirus software is worth every penny, giving you pea
ce of mind and insurance against certain trouble.
A mysterious new threat was discovered which has managed to infiltrate well-know
n popular and popular web sites with malicious code which causes an infected com
puter to send credit card information and usernames and passwords for financial
data to a web site where it can be retrieved by the attackers.Virus-writers are
using increasingly complex and sophisticated techniques in their bid to circumve
nt anti-virus software and disseminate their viruses. Email security tools must
evolve in the same way if such threats are to be blocked before they can cause h
arm...
Most malware is targeted at Microsoft Windows-based computer systems. However, U
nix and Linux servers that act as file shares for Windows systems can still harb
or malware. McAfee has now released LinuxShield to help detect and clean viruses
and other malware from Linux servers.The antivirus or anti-virus software is th
at particular software that is able to detect and remove all malware that will p
otentially harm your computer. Even if there are a lot of types of computer viru
ses, a good antivirus software can detect them all , including computer viruses,
worms and trojans. There are three basic ways of detecting the threats for your
computer that the antivirus software uses: the signature of the virus, the heur
istics and the file emulation. The first one uses the signature left by the know
n computer viruses. The antivirus software records the signatures of all the kno
wn viruses in the data base and scans all the downloads and connections to the i
nternet of the computer and when it detects such a signature, it immediately iso
lates it and warns you about this threat. You can quaranteen the file or delete
it permanently from your computer. The second one is based on the antivirus soft
ware trying to identify only a part of the known malicious code, especially in t
he case of new viruses that are not recorded yet. The last method is about runni
ng the possibly threatening software in a secure virtual space and seing what ha
ppens and how it works. According to this the antivirus software is capable to d
ecide if it is malicious or not.
Before the internet appeared the computer viruses were spread with the help of f
loppy disks that were used to transfer data from one computer to another. Howeve
r, this way of spreading them was very slow and back then computer viruses were
only pranks merely. But the internet meant an instant spread of these viruses on
the unprotected computers. they also evolved from almost innocent jokes to very
dangerous softwear that could seriously harm your computer by deleting vital fi
les or even "stealing" the data on your computer or even your identity. That is
why the antivirus software had to be constantly improving, too.
will tell you a few words about the winner before I finish this presentaion art
icle. Beside being the best rated antivirus software, Norton antivirus 2010 is a
lso the best -selling security software in the world. It is really easy to insta
ll and besides, it only takes less than a minute to do so. You don't have to reb
oot your computer to make it run. The interface is very much like the version of
2009 . However, it still has some new features that are actually built on the o
nes present last year, too like: Norton download insight and Norton File insight
that warn you about the eventual threat detected when you download some files o
r access an insecure internet page. This new improved version is also laptop fr
iendly, as it may postpone some tasks until later, when the battery life will be
charged , this in case the battery is almost empty.
If you were told recently that your computer has a worm, you'd have very likely
gone through a tedious process of cleaning your computer of the worm and maybe a
bunch of other viruses.
Computers infected with a virus or worm are commonplace nowadays in a wired worl
d. Viruses like these often come in the form of:
email attachments
visiting a malicious website
an unsecured computer system
There may also be other reasons stemming from poor computer security. All it ta
kes is a little time and effort and you can achieve full computer virus protecti
on by taking advantage of today's sophisticated antivirus software, spyware clea
ners and firewall programs.
How useful antivirus software is, it can sometimes have drawbacks. Antivirus so
ftware can degrade computer performance if it is not designed efficiently. Inexp
erienced users may have trouble understanding the prompts and decisions that ant
ivirus software presents them with. An incorrect decision may lead to a security
breach. If the antivirus software employs heuristic detection (of any kind), su
ccess depends on achieving the right balance between false positives and false n
egatives.
The Best Defense: How-To Protect Against Computer Viruses
Preventing a viral infection of your computer is much easier than eliminating on
e you have already contracted. With so many offenders floating about, it may se
em impossible to avoid them. But there are a number of simple precautions you c
an take:
1. Avoid Unknown Attachments. Nowadays, most viruses are spread via e-mail attac
hments which, thankfully, can only become active when the attachment is opened o
r unzipped. While you cannot contract a virus just by receiving e-mail, it is a
good idea to delete messages containing attachments if you do not know the sende
r, or if the subject line includes a tempting phrase like Here is the file I prom
ised you.
2. Avoid Bootleg or Pirated Software. With popular software packages running upw
ards of $200, it can be hard to resist the lure of the bootleg versions freely a
vailable on Internet file sharing utilities such as Free Net and Gnutella.
Another virus detection method is the sandbox approach. It works by emulating th
e operating system and allows executables to run in a simulated mode. The antivi
rus software then monitors the executable to see if it starts to act like a viru
s, such as trying to run self-modifying code. Some anti-virus programs are able
to scan opened files in addition to sent and received emails 'on the fly' in a s
imilar manner. This practice is known as "on-access scanning." Anti-virus softwa
re does not change the underlying capability of host software to transmit viruse
s.These are the some points of antivirus.