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Internet Security

What is a Computer Virus?

Computer security is a major issue in today's society. Many of the important facets of our lives revolve around computers, and keeping our machines safe is essential. The popularity of the internet and the consistency with which we use it has led to serious outbreaks of computer viruses. Viruses have become so problematic that they are regularly mentioned in both print and online media. It is essential that you protect yourself against viruses, especially those transmitted via the internet. A virus can be transmitted through an e-mail or an innocuous looking floppy disk. Millions of computers are infected each hour, and if yours is next, you could lose all of your data on your network or on the machine itself. Once gone, it will be irretrievable.

A computer virus is a program that replicates itself. Just like a real virus, it must have a host to exist. These problem programs started with the first computers in the sixties, and have continued, in mass form, today. The virus payload, or the damage done, can be something harmless or something very serious. It can be as simple as displaying a message or a picture or it can completely reformat your hard drive. Recent virus attacks have caused computers to shut down by themselves. Viruses get a bit more widespread each day because of the internet. Original viruses were spread through the use of disks, but most people no longer use external media like disks to store information. As a result, most viruses now are spread through the use of e-mail and the internet. Opening an e-mail attachment or downloading a dangerous program can give your computer a virus. There are currently about fifty thousand viruses in existence, but more than two hundred new threats are created each month.

There are a number of different goals involved with viruses. The earliest virus programs were written as pranks or experiments. As some programmers begin to learn their way around systems and the internet, they write viruses just to see what they can do with it. For example, a beginning programmer might write a virus code to see how far it could spread. Others, though, have far more hostile intents for writing viruses. One reason they might write code like this is to vandalize current websites. This is a lot like kids with a can of spray paint near a public wall. Another reason a virus gets written is to cause a loss of data to major systems. Viruses can completely erase the memory files of computer systems if written properly, and many virus authors have this intention, for one reason or another, as they write their vicious code. There have been many viruses written for revenge. Employees who are about to lose their jobs can sometimes leave viruses behind on the company system to do damage to their former employer's ability to do business. Lots of viruses though, are written for profit. Viruses can send e-mail spam (so the original sender is disguised), causing the computer to serve as a host to illegal data, or engage in other illegal activities. Moreover, viruses can be used to spy on users, display pop-ups while the user is not on the internet, and obtain user information like bank accounts or credit card numbers.

There are two major types of viruses: worms and Trojan horses. Trojan horses, though, can be a type of worm. A worm transmits itself to infect other computers. Trojan horses are hidden viruses. Being hidden helps the program to get installed in the first place. Trojan horses are programs that quietly run in the background, inviting the user to run them, while spreading its malicious code. This code can do any number of things. It can start right away or it may simply install a program that won't start for sometime. Once it does start, it can delete all of the files on the computer or it can infect the computer and try to infect other computers on the network. There are a number of ways viruses are delivered, and as a Trojan horse is the most common. It usually comes with other pieces of software that a user might find interesting. This software is usually shared through a file-sharing network or downloadable off of the internet. Once the user installs the software, the virus also gets installed.

You can protect yourself against viruses through the use of a good anti-virus program. There are both free and expensive software applications available that can be set to self-update to protect from viruses. You can also protect yourself by curbing your downloading activities. You should also decide not to open any e-mail attachments unless you know the sender. Taking these safety precautions will help keep you from getting a computer virus.

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