...Going back to the origin of viruses, it was in 1949 that Mathematician John Von Neumann described self-replicating programs which could resemble computer viruses as they are known today. However, it was not until the 60s that we find the predecessor of current viruses. In that decade, a group of programmers developed a game called Core Wars, which could reproduce every time it was run, and even saturate the memory of other players' computers. The creators of this peculiar game also created the first antivirus, an application named Reeper, which could destroy copies created by Core Wars. However, it was only in 1983 that one of these programmers announced the existence of Core Wars, which was described the following year in a prestigious scientific magazine: this was actually the starting point of what we call computer viruses today. At that time, a still young MS-DOS was starting to become the preeminent operating system worldwide. This was a system with great prospects, but still many deficiencies as well, which arose from software developments and the lack of many hardware elements known today. Even like this, this new operating system became the target of a virus in 1966: Brain, a malicious code created in Pakistan which infected boot sectors of disks so that their contents could not be accessed. That year also saw the birth of the first Trojan: an application called PC-Write. Shortly after, virus writers realized that infecting files could be even more harmful to...
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...Abstract Now that personal computers are pretty much a must have in every household, school, or business cyber-criminals have moved from just being a hacker for fun into an estimated multi-million dollar world of computer crimes. New revenue streams have been realized and viruses in choice Computer crimes encompass unauthorized or illegal activities perpetrated via computer as well as the theft of computers and other technological hardware. As firms of all sizes, industrial orientation, and geographic location increasingly rely on computers to operate, concerns about computer crime have also risen, in part because the practice appears to be thriving despite the concerted efforts of both the law enforcement and business communities to stop it. But computer experts and business consultants alike note that both international corporations and modest family-owned businesses can do a great deal to neutralize computer "viruses" and other manifestations of computer crime. “http://rahimimohammad.blogspot.com/p/law-for-computer-crimesand-economic.html” Many analysts believe, however, that small business owners are less likely to take steps to address the threat of computer crime than are larger firms. Indeed, many small businesses admit that they are passive about the threat because of costs associated with implementing safeguards and the perception that computer "hackers" and other threats are far more likely to pick on bigger companies. But as Tim McCollum flatly stated in Nation's Business...
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...Definition of virus "Computer viruses" is the term that defines the class of programs which illegally explore resources of systems. It is an executable code able to reproduce itself. Viruses are an area of pure programming, and, unlike other computer programs, carry intellectual functions on protection from being found and destroyed. They have to fight for survival in complex conditions of conflicting computer systems. Computer viruses have pervaded popular culture at least as successfully as they have the world's computer population. Computer viruses replicate by attaching themselves to a host a program or computer and co-opting the host's resources to make copies of themselves. Symptoms can range from unpleasant to fatal. Computer viruses spread from program to program and computer to computer. There are other computer pathogens, such as the "worms" that occasionally afflict networks, and the "Trojan horses" that put a friendly face on malicious programs, but viruses are the most common computer ill by far. Types of viruses. There are different types of viruses, and they have already been separated into classes and categories. For instance: dangerous, harmless, and very dangerous. No destruction means a harmless one, tricks with system halts means a dangerous one, and finally with a devastating destruction means a very dangerous virus. But viruses are famous not only for their destructive actions, but also for their special effects, which are almost impossible to classify...
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...------------------------------------------------- Computer Viruses are a major threat to business information systems April 23, 2013 Computer Viruses are a major threat to business information systems Computer viruses are programs that infect your system and multiply. Viruses have many symptoms: some can simply slow down your computer whilst others can have more severe effects like moving documents and/or deletion of documents or programs. No matter the severity of the virus and its symptoms they should be dealt with by an up-to-date anti-virus program and security software, as systems with out-of-date protection are more susceptible and at risk. I agree that computer viruses are a major threat to business information systems because it is a way for hacker to gather useful information about a company and harm them. According to CNN workplace computer virus infections are up forty-eight percent over last year due to the increased spread of macro viruses usually found in files attached to E-mail, according to the International Computer Security Association, Inc. The number of infections per one thousand personal computers was twenty-one point fourty-five in nineteen ninty-seven; it's now at thirty-one point eighty-five, said the ICSA, in Carlisle, Pa. The study is based on a survey of some 300 corporations and corporate sites, representing some 750,000 PCs and servers. The rising virus epidemic can be blamed on macro viruses in Microsoft Word documents sent as attached...
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...A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also used to refer to other types of malicious software, including: adware and spyware programs. A virus can spread from one computer to another. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer. As stated above, the term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware (malicious software). Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is malicious software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner's permission or approval. It appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install but instead, it facilitates unauthorized access of the user's computer system. On the other hand, a computer worm is a self-reproductive malware computer program. It uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other computers on the network and it may...
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...A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself[1] and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly, but erroneously, used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have a reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious or unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves. An example of a virus which is not a malware, but is putatively benevolent, is Fred Cohen's theoretical compression virus.[2] However, antivirus professionals do not accept the concept of benevolent viruses, as any desired function can be implemented without involving a virus (automatic compression, for instance, is available under the Windows operating system at the choice of the user). Any virus will by definition make...
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...Computer Virus A computer virus is a malicious piece of executable code that propagates typically by attaching itself to a host document that will generally be an executable file. ✓ Typical hosts for computer viruses are: – Executable files (such as the ‘.exe’ files in Windows machines) that may be sent around as email attachments – Boot sectors of disk partitions – Script files for system administration (such as the batch files in Windows machines, shell script files in Unix, etc.) – Documents that are allowed to contain macros (such as Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Access database files, etc.) ✓ Any operating system that allows third-party programs to run can support viruses. ✓ Because of the way permissions work in Unix/Linux systems, it is more difficult for a virus to wreak havoc in such machines. Let’s say that a virus embedded itself into one of your script files. The virus code will execute only with the permissions that are assigned to you. For example, if you do not have the permission to read or modify a certain system file, the virus code will, in general, be constrained by the same restriction. ✓ At the least, a virus will duplicate itself when it attaches itself to another host document, that is, to another executable file. But the important thing to note is that this copy does not have to be an exact replica of itself. In order to make more difficult the detection by pattern matching, the virus may alter itself...
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...people rely on computers to do homework, work, and create or store useful information. Therefore, it's important for the information to be stored and kept properly. It's also extremely important to protect computers from data loss, misuse and abuse. For example, businesses need to keep their information secure and shielded from hackers. Home users also need to ensure their credit card numbers are secure when participating in online transactions. A computer security risk is any action that could cause loss of information to software, data, processing incompatibilities or damage to computer hardware. An intentional breach in computer security is known as a computer crime, which is slightly different from a cybercrime. A cybercrime is known as illegal acts based on the Internet and is one of the FBI's top priorities. There are several distinct categories for people that perpetrate cybercrimes, and they are: hacker, cracker, cyberterrorist, cyberextortionist, unethical employee, script kiddie and corporate spy. A hacker is defined as someone who accesses a computer or computer network unlawfully. They often claim that they do this to find leaks in the security of a network. The term cracker refers to someone intentionally accessing a computer or computer network with malice in mind. They access computers with the intention of destroying or stealing information. Both crackers and hackers are having advanced network skills. A cyberterrorist is someone who uses a computer network or...
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...The person might have a computer virus infection when the computer starts acting differently. For instance getting slow or when they turn the computer on, it says that all the data is erased or when they start writing a document, it looks different, some chapters might be missing or something else ubnormal has happened. The next thing usually the person whose computer might be infected with virus, panics. The person might think that all the work that have been done is missing. That could be true, but in most cases viruses have not done any harm jet, but when one start doing something and are not sure what you do, that might be harmful. When some people try to get rid of viruses they delete files or they might even format the whole hard disk like my cousin did. That is not the best way to act when the person think that he has a virus infection. What people do when they get sick? They go to see a doctor if they do not know what is wrong with them. It is the same way with viruses, if the person does not know what to do they call someone who knows more about viruses and they get professional help. If the person read email at their PC or if they use diskettes to transfer files between the computer at work and the computer at home, or if they just transfer files between the two computers they have a good possibility to get a virus. They might get viruses also when they download files from any internet site. There was a time when people were able to be sure that some sites...
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...A computer virus is a program that is designed to damage your computer, programs, and files. Like a virus in a living thing, a computer virus can spread if it is not removed. Some viruses are more dangerous than others. One of the most common places for a computer virus to appear is on a file found on the Internet or attached to an E-mail. Computer viruses didn’t really exist until the mid 1980s. The first computer viruses were created in university labs to demonstrate how much of a threat the vicious code could be. There are many kind of viruses that exist today. Some of the most common of Computer Viruses are: File Viruses, Boot Sector/Partition Viruses, Multi-Partite Viruses, Trojan Horses, File Overwriters, Polymorphic viruses, and Stealth Viruses. A File Virus is the most common kind of virus. These kinds of viruses usually infect .EXE and COM files, which are the main component of a program or application. A file virus can insert its own code into part of the file, so that when the infected program file is run, the virus is executed first. Most file viruses are memory resident. Because of this, they can easily attach themselves to other programs that are being run and start to infect that file. A simple virus will overwrite and destroy a host file, immediately letting the user know that there is a problem because the software will not run. Because these viruses are immediately sensed by the computer, they have a less chance to spread. More complex written viruses will cause...
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...An Overview of Computer Viruses in a Research Environment Matt Bishop Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 ABSTRACT The threat of attack by computer viruses is in reality a very small part of a much more general threat, specifically attacks aimed at subverting computer security. This paper examines computer viruses as malicious logic in a research and development environment, relates them to various models of security and integrity, and examines current research techniques aimed at controlling the threats viruses in particular, and malicious logic in general, pose to computer systems. Finally, a brief examination of the vulnerabilities of research and development systems that malicious logic and computer viruses may exploit is undertaken. 1. Introduction A computer virus is a sequence of instructions that copies itself into other programs in such a way that executing the program also executes that sequence of instructions. Rarely has something seemingly so esoteric captured the imagination of so many people; magazines from Business Week to the New England Journal of Medicine [39][48][60][72][135], books [20][22][31][40][50][67][83][90][108][124], and newspaper articles [85][91][92][94][114][128] have discussed viruses, applying the name to various types of malicious programs. As a result, the term “computer virus” is often misunderstood. Worse, many who do understand it do not understand protection in computer systems, for example...
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...Howard Mayo NT1230 4/3/12 8 Common Types of Computer Viruses Dictionary.com defines a computer virus as “a segment of self-replicating code planted illegally in a computer program, often to damage or shut down a system or network (“Virus,” 2012).” The term virus has become more generic over the years and has come to represent any type of malware, or malicious software. There are many types of malware that can be classified as viruses but it is the intention of this paper to examine 8 of the most common types. These types are virus, worms, trojans, adware/pop-up ads, spyware, keyloggers, rootkits, and scareware. * Virus- as defined above, a virus is self-replicating code planted in a computer program. This malware’s sole purpose is to destroy or shut down systems and networks. (“Virus,” 2012). * Worms- These are standalone programs whose sole purpose is to replicate and spread themselves to other computers. Their main use is to search for and delete certain files from computers. * Trojans- This malware is designed to look like a useful program while giving control of the computer to another computer. It can be used for several malicious things: * As part of a botnet to use automated spamming or distribute denial-of-service attacks. * Electronic money theft * Data theft * Downloading or uploading of files to the computer * Deletion or modification of files * Crashing the computer * Watching the viewer’s screen * Anonymous...
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...Introduction and Abstract Copyright(c), 1984, Fred Cohen - All Rights Reserved This paper defines a major computer security problem called a virus. The virus is interesting because of its ability to attach itself to other programs and cause them to become viruses as well. There are two spellings for the plural of virus; 'virusses', and 'viruses'. We use the one found in Webster's 3rd International Unabridged Dictionary Given the wide spread use of sharing in current computer systems, the threat of a virus carrying a Trojan horse [Anderson72] [Linde75] is significant. Although a considerable amount of work has been done in implementing policies to protect from the illicit dissemination of information [Bell73] [Denning82], and many systems have been implemented to provide protection from this sort of attack [McCauley79] [Popek79] [Gold79] [Landwehr83], little work has been done in the area of keeping information entering an area from causing damage [Lampson73] [Biba77]. There are many types of information paths possible in systems, some legitimate and authorized, and others that may be covert [Lampson73], the most commonly ignored one being through the user. We will ignore covert information paths throughout this paper. The general facilities exist for providing provably correct protection schemes [Feiertag79], but they depend on a security policy that is effective against the types of attacks being carried out. Even some quite simple protection systems cannot be proven 'safe' [Harrison76]...
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...How Ethics Relate To Computer Crimes Herman T. Everidge III Legal and Ethical Issues in Computing CIS 4253, 847 James R. Moore, Jr. September 29, 2012 Computer Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses and Malware Malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on computer systems; viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware are the most common types of malware. Computer viruses show us how vulnerable we are; viruses can have a devastating effect on businesses, they disrupt productivity and can cause billions of dollars in damages. They also show us how sophisticated and interconnected we have become. Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses; computer viruses pass from computer to computer much like a biological virus passes from person to person. Computer viruses are created by people by writing code to create the virus, and designing the attack phase which could be a message or initiate the destruction of a piece of hardware. Early viruses were pieces of code embedded in legitimate programs, like games or word processors. A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs; it might attach itself to a program and each time the program runs the virus runs too, and they can reproduce by attaching to other programs. E-mail viruses travel as an attachments to e-mail messages and can replicate themselves by automatically mailing itself to people in the victim's e-mail address...
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...put down some information to create an Xbox live account got sold off. Computer misuse act The computer misuse act is a law that is made to protect computer users against attacks that are meant to steal information from the user the people who would normally do these attacks are known as hackers. Hackers can get to your accounts through things like your password and username this is why people keep telling you to have strong passwords that don’t relate to you directly. There are many different ways that a user can have security problems on their computers these are things like… • Hacking • Viruses • Identity theft Hacking...
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