You got a virus!

Has your computer ever been infected with a virus? If you are lucky you
may have had a few minor glitches and used an anti-virus program to
correct it. If you were unlucky you may have lost many valuable files
of data.

Imagine when this happens to a business, such as an online
store. Orders, invoices, addresses all gone! The effects can be
devastating.
A virus is a malicious program, similar to other malicious programs,
such as Trojan horses and worms that are often mistaken as viruses.

So
what’s the difference between the three?

A computer virus is a malicious program that attaches itself to a file
or program so it can spread from one computer to another, leaving
infections as it travels. Viruses vary in severity, some cause minor
affects while others can damage your hardware, software, or files. A
worm is similar to a virus and is considered to be a sub-class of a
virus.

Worms spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it
has the ability to travel without any help from a person. A worm takes
advantage of file or information transport features on your system,
allowing it to travel unaided. The biggest danger with a worm is its
ability to replicate itself on your system, so the worm could send out
hundreds or thousands of copies of itself to other users, creating huge
devastation.

A Trojan horse is a malicious program that often hides
within a file or program which seems legitimate. For example: an mp3
file downloaded from the internet may have a Trojan attached to it
which will be activated when the mp3 is played; the mp3 may play fine
and the user will be oblivious to the pernicious nature of the file
downloaded. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your
computer that can allow other people access to your system, possibly
allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike
viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files
nor do they self-replicate.

Who would write such a pernicious program
and why?

The usual stereotype of a virus writer is that of a male
teenager, intelligent yet socially inadequate. This view is
contradicted by Sarah Gordon, a computer security researcher working
for the security software firm Symantec, who in an interview with the
BBC said that most virus writers were typical for their age, on good
terms with their friends and family and were often contributors to
their local communities.

And not all virus writers are male

A woman
from Belgium, known as Gigabyte, wrote what is believed to be the first
virus using Microsoft’s C# programming language. According to Sarah
Gordon who has over 20 years of experience in researching computer
security and viruses, people become interested in writing viruses for a
variety of reasons. Some became virus writers for the technical
challenge, which although professional programmers don’t find
difficult, a beginner might. Others saw it as a form of protest and
some wrote viruses for the damage that might be caused. Many writers
belong to groups that exchange viruses and code over the internet.
There are 30,000 web sites containing hacker and virus-writing tools.

The legality of writing and spreading computer viruses varies from
country to country. Spreading malicious code that can harm someone’s
computer is illegal in the USA and UK. In the UK the National High Tech
Crime Unit deals with technology crimes including computer virus
proliferation. In the US the National Infrastructure Protection Center
(NIPC), part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is
responsible for detecting and deterring cybercrime. The unit relies on
over 250 agents. Even with the resources available to the FBI, tracking
down those who spread viruses is no easy task and investigations rarely
result in arrests. This is compounded by those who create and spread
viruses from other countries. When the FBI traced the Love Bug virus to
a student in Manila in 2000, he was not prosecuted because the
Philippines had no laws against spreading computer viruses.

The
estimated cost of the damage caused by viruses and worms in recent
years has been incredible. The cost of damage inflicted by the Love Bug
Virus in the year 2000 is estimated at $10 Billion and that of the Klez
worm in 2002 is estimated at $9 Billion. The nature of cybercrime is
evolving, mischievous computer geeks out for thrills are being joined
by organized groups motivated by profit and political ideology.

So what
steps can we take to prevent our computers from being infected?

Make sure your system software is up to date.

Install anti-virus software which should be updated
on a regular basis. Software downloaded from the internet and email
attachments should be scanned for viruses before being opened.