Infecting a computer with malware is a problem that any user connected to the Internet and copying data from external media faces from time to time. This kind of “infection” can come at any time if the computer is not sufficiently protected for some reason. Knowledge of features various programs that destabilize the PC system will help you detect them in time and quickly get rid of them.

What does an infected computer have in common with a sick person?

It is known that a person most often gets sick under the influence of viruses - this kind of infection affects a specific organ or system and weakens the body, affecting its cells. The virus in some way feeds on human cells - and the harmful virus behaves in much the same way. computer program: it grabs and “eats” files, inserting itself into their program code. Cells affected by the virus die, and damaged computer files cannot be restored.

Both viruses and worms are intended to destabilize the operation of one computer or an entire network. Here are some of the most common ways of transmitting such an “infection”:

  1. By e-mail, if you open a letter with a suspicious attachment.
  2. By opening a link to a dubious site (such links are often found on various adult resources).
  3. In file sharing networks.
  4. On the OS driver.

Computer virus as a dangerous toy

This type of destructive programs was at first harmless - their creators invented viruses... for the game. According to its terms, viruses were sent to friends to see how many copies such a program could make of itself. The player who managed to completely fill someone else's computer was declared the winner. But then viruses began to be created for destructive purposes, namely, the destruction of data on a computer and the gradual incapacitation of operating system.

After the virus has penetrated the computer, it must be activated - for this, the infected object must gain control. In this regard, two types of viruses are distinguished:

  1. Bootable (capture sectors of permanent and removable media).
  2. File (captures files).

Once activated, the virus searches for similar objects. For example, a file virus “eats” one Word document and continues to move on to other documents until it completely destroys them - or is not identified.

Note that viruses have a rather limited specialization - if they are designed for one type of file, then they will infect similar objects. Viruses can also be created for specific operating systems: for example, a malicious program written for Windows will not work on Linux.

Network worms: memory eaters

If the computer is without visible reasons suddenly it starts to “slow down”, some programs start slowly, and the system often freezes, then most likely it is infected with a network worm that managed to bypass the security system or took advantage of some loophole in the OS.

Unlike a virus, a worm is not interested in data and does not affect files at all: It simply multiplies by copying itself and filling up the available disk space. If a worm is not detected in a timely manner, the computer network of an entire organization may freeze, since this malicious program feeds on memory. In addition, the worm can siphon off a lot of Internet traffic.

How to protect yourself from viruses and worms?

Most effective way protect your computer from network “infection” - install a legal and expensive protection system that will block any dangerous programs when they try to penetrate the OS.
But since there are no limits to the imagination of hackers and they constantly produce new viruses and worms aimed at ignoring protection, you need to remember the basic rules:

  • Do not open emails from unknown senders with strange subject lines and attachments with the .exe extension.
  • Use reliable mail systems, which themselves filter suspicious messages.
  • Refuse to download illegal content on dubious sites.
  • Be careful with torrents.
  • Additionally check removable media that connect to your computer.

These simple rules will help you protect your computer from unwanted programs.

Hi all.

I want to tell you about what a worm virus is. I call it a virus so that everyone can immediately understand what we are talking about. However, there is a difference between these concepts. Which? You will also read about this in my article.

I will also tell you how network worms spread, what types they come in, and how you can fight them.

The Worm: Clarification and Emergence

In the computer field, this term refers to a type of malicious program that spreads independently across the Internet or local networks. Its difference from a regular virus is that it does not infect other files to cause harm, but only copies itself. But this behavior can also cause many problems. Next you will understand what I mean.

History of appearance

The first work on the use of worms in distributed computing was carried out by Jon Hupp and John Schoch in 1978 at the Xerox Research Laboratory in Palo Alto.

First known example

It is impossible not to mention the “Morris Worm” - one of the first and most famous worms, named after its creator Robert Morris Jr. At the time of writing the program (1988), he was studying at Cornell University. Imagine, the graduate student's work penetrated approximately 6,200 PCs (about 10% of the total number of machines with Internet access at that time).

Why was this worm dangerous? Frequently creating copies of yourself. The fact is that Robert Morris indicated too short a time interval between the formation of clones. As a result of this seemingly insignificant error, the virus exhausted all computer resources, which led to their refusal of service. It ultimately caused $96.5 million in total damage.

Distribution methods

To get into our system, the worm uses the following tricks:

  1. Detection of shortcomings in the structure and administration of what we have software. By the way, the Morris Worm took advantage of the “gaps” in postal service Sendmail, Finger service and calculated the password using a dictionary. It is noteworthy that the spread of such pests does not even need to be controlled - they work autonomously.
  2. Have you heard about social engineering? It involves controlling our behavior without help. technical means. That is, its methods are based on the human factor.
    So, the second way to spread worms is to use this engineering. This means that we ourselves launch a malicious program. Of course, we don’t suspect this, because it disguises itself as normal software.
    For example, VBS.LoveLetter took advantage of the fact that file extensions are hidden in Outlook Express, so it will not arouse suspicion. This mechanism is popular in spam and social media. networks, etc.

The speed with which pests spread depends on various circumstances: network topology, methods of searching for vulnerabilities, how quickly they can create their clones, etc. They manage to spread most quickly from one IP address to another.

In general, they often try to break into computers randomly. Moreover, modern antiviruses quickly detect them, work on errors and make the system invulnerable.

Types of computer worms

Depending on the method of spread, the following types of worms are distinguished:

Another difference

Considering the principle of action, worms can also be divided into the following groups:

  • Residential ones that are not able to boot as simple files, so they only fall into RAM and infect functioning software. Thus, they can be eliminated by simply rebooting the computer, since this action resets the RAM.
  • Pests that download as executable files are more dangerous. After infecting the memory, they leave the code on the hard drive so that they can be activated even after the PC is restarted. They can do this by creating special keys in Windows registry. Such disgrace can only be fought with antiviruses.

As you can see, a worm virus is not a harmless thing.

) computer networks.

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    Subtitles

    Hi all! This video is about how to remove Trojan horse, keylogger virus or any other type of virus or malware. In one of the previous videos, we already looked at how to remove viruses from a computer or laptop with Windows 10, 8 or 7; the link is in the description. Symptoms of computer infection by a Trojan program include user-authorized deletion, blocking, modification or copying data, as well as a noticeable slowdown in the operation of computers and computer networks. In addition, Trojans can cause unstable operation or freezing of some programs or the Network and the Internet. We have already discussed in detail what to do if the browser does not open pages, while other applications have no problems accessing the Internet, in one of the previous videos of our channel, the link is in the description. Of course, the first thing you need to do if you find signs of Trojans, keyloggers or other viruses on your PC is to scan your computer using anti-virus programs. We have already shown the rating of the best free antiviruses in one of our videos. Therefore, we will not consider it again. You will find a link to this video in the description. Second, disconnect your computer from the Internet and clear Windows Task Scheduler of viruses and malware. Link to video on how to do this in the description. Third, remove all possible malware from your computer using the Programs and Features menu. Link to video with instructions in description. Fourth, clear the system startup from launching malicious processes. Detailed instructions with instructions for action are described in the video, the link to which is in the description. If the described methods did not bring the desired result, and you know in which folder the Trojan or other malicious program file is located, then you can try to remove it manually. To do this, simply select it and delete it, then empty the Trash. But it often happens that when you try to delete a file or folder with malware, it is not deleted. The user receives a message that the file or folder is write-protected or delete-protected and cannot be accessed. In this case, we recommend watching a video with instructions on how to bypass such a block and delete the desired file or folder. Link to the video in the description. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that before you begin removing viruses from your PC, it is better to disconnect it from the Internet. If none of the methods helps remove the malicious program and restore normal system operation, then this can be done by rolling back the system to a previously created restore point or, as a last resort, by performing a clean installation of Windows. Links to relevant videos from detailed instructions you will find in the description. Clean Windows installation 10 per computer or laptop with bootable flash drive or disk. How to create, delete or roll back a restore point Windows system 10. In conclusion, to prevent viruses and Trojan attacks from infecting your computer: Do not run programs you receive from the Internet or as an email attachment without checking them for viruses. Check all external drives for presence of viruses before copying or opening the files they contain or booting your computer from such discs. Install an antivirus program and use it regularly to scan your computer. Set up automatic scanning of your computer every time you turn on your PC and when you connect an external storage device. The main means of protecting information is backing up valuable data stored on hard drives. That's not all. Please like and subscribe to the channel if this video was useful to you. Thanks everyone for watching, good luck.

Story

Early experiments on the use of computer worms in distributed computing were conducted at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center by John Shoch and Jon Hupp in 1978. The term "worm" was influenced by the science fiction novels When HARLEY Was One Year Old by David Gerrold (1972), which described worm-like programs, and On Shockwave. (English) John Brunner (1975), where the term itself is introduced.

One of the most famous computer worms is the “Morris Worm,” written in 1988 by Robert Morris Jr., who was a student at Cornell University at the time. The spread of the worm began on November 2, after which the worm quickly infected approximately 6,200 computers (this is about 10% of all computers connected to the Internet at that time).

Distribution Mechanisms

All mechanisms (“attack vectors”) of worm propagation are divided into two large groups:

  • Exploitation of vulnerabilities and administrative errors in software installed on a computer. The Morris worm exploited software vulnerabilities known at that time, namely in the sendmail mail server, the finger service, and guessed a password using a dictionary. Such worms are capable of spreading autonomously, selecting and attacking computers in a fully automatic mode.
  • Using the means of so-called social engineering, the user is provoked to launch a malicious program. To convince the user that a file is safe, flaws in the program's user interface can be used - for example, the VBS.LoveLetter worm took advantage of the fact that Outlook Express hides file extensions. This method widely used in spam mailings, in social networks etc.

Sometimes there are worms with a whole range of different propagation vectors, victim selection strategies, and even exploits for different operating systems.

Spread speed

The speed at which a network worm spreads depends on many factors: the network topology, the algorithm for searching for vulnerable computers, and the average speed of creating new copies. Network worms that spread across a network by directly using TCP/IP protocols, that is, from any IP address to any other, are characterized by rapid spread.

Provided that each instance of the worm reliably knows the address of a previously uninfected network node, exponential reproduction is possible. For example, if each instance infects one computer per second, the entire IPv4 address space will be filled with the worm in half a minute. A hypothetical worm that would be able to spread at such a speed was given the name "blitzkrieg worm." Researcher N. Weaver from the University of Berkeley considered simple suboptimal algorithms that could allow a worm, reproducing somewhat more slowly, to nevertheless infect the Internet in 15 minutes. This type of worm is called the "Warhol worm" - in honor of Andy Warhol, the author of the saying:

Most email worms are distributed as a single file. They do not need a separate "infection" part, since usually the user-victim using mail client or Internet browser voluntarily downloads and launches the entire worm.

Often, worms, even without any payload, overload and temporarily disable networks simply due to their intensive spread. A typical meaningful payload may consist of corrupting files on the victim computer (including changing web pages, the so-called “deface”); it is also possible to organize a botnet from infected computers to trick the user into running a malicious program under a plausible pretext, even though to a warning from antivirus software. Thus, to provide comprehensive protection against modern worms and any other malware, it is necessary to use proactive protection. A method of protection against network worms based on “credits of trust” is also being considered. A number of advantages come from using firewalls and similar utilities (for example, Windows Worms Doors Cleaner)

A computer virus and computer worm are malicious programs that are capable of reproducing themselves on computers or through computer networks. In this case, the user does not suspect that his computer is infected. Since each subsequent copy of a virus or computer worm is also capable of self-replication, the infection spreads very quickly. There are a lot various types computer viruses and computer worms, most of which are highly destructive.

What you need to know about computer viruses and worms

Malicious software from the viruses and worms subclass includes:

  • Email-Worm
  • IM-Worm
  • IRC-Worm
  • Net-Worm
  • P2P-Worm
  • Virus
  • Computer worms

    Most known computer worms are spread in the following ways:

    • as a file sent as an attachment in an email;
    • in the form of a link to the Internet or FTP resource
    • as a link sent via ICQ message or IR
    • through peer-to-peer data exchange networks P2P (peer-to-peer)
    • Some worms spread as network packets. They penetrate directly into the computer memory, then the worm code is activated.
  • Computer worms can exploit network configuration errors (for example, to copy themselves completely available disk) or security holes in the operating system and applications. Many worms spread copies of themselves across the network in several ways.

  • Viruses

    Viruses can be classified according to the way they infect a computer:

    • File viruses
    • boot sector viruses
    • Macro viruses
    • Virus scripts
  • Any program of this subclass of malware may also have program functions as additional ones.

How to protect yourself from computer viruses and worms

It is recommended to install antivirus: anti-malware software on all your devices (including PCs, laptops, Mac computers and smartphones). An anti-malware solution must be updated regularly to protect against the latest threats. A good antivirus (such as Kaspersky Anti-Virus) detects and prevents viruses and worms from infecting your PC, and Kaspersky Internet Security for Android is an excellent choice for protecting Android smartphones. Android based. Kaspersky Lab has created products for the following devices:

  • Windows based PC;
  • Mac computers;
  • smartphones;
  • tablets

Computer Virus – Worm

Worm consists of two very different definitions. One relates to and the other to optical storage technology.

1). Type of computer virus.

Just like a living worm, which makes its way through dirt and soil, a computer worm makes its way through the computer's memory and hard drive.

A computer worm is a type of virus that reproduces itself but does not change any files on your computer.

However, worms can cause havoc by multiplying and dividing themselves so many times that they take up all the available memory on the computer's hard drive.

If the worm consumes memory, your computer will run very slowly. And depending on the type of worm, this can lead to hard drive failure and loss of all data.

If a worm affects your hard drive's free space, your computer will take a very long time to access files or folders.

And ultimately, you won't be able to save anything or create new folders until the worm is eliminated.

The worm is difficult to detect because it is usually an invisible file. These files often go undetected until your computer starts to slow down or has other problems.

If we focus on global statistics, then approximately 80% to 90% of personal home computer users do not even suspect that there was a worm in their system.

You and I will blame anyone, but not the worm, because we simply forget about it.

Why? There are so many infected computers, you ask.

The thing is that users of personal home computers have practically no opportunity to. This is despite the assurances of major Internet security companies.

Always stick to only one point of view in this matter. "My home is my castle"!

And believe me, for some reason none of Kaspersky’s assurances (that everything is under CONTROL) make me happy. Because every company pursues its own mercantile goals, and this, of course, is Money.

Continuing the topic.

In a vast territory, all over the globe, with regard to home computers, only a small part of them are equipped with anti-virus programs that were purchased legally.

Most users simply do not have the opportunity to purchase high-quality antivirus programs for themselves.

What kind of security are we talking about here, tell me. And attackers and software developers, knowing this, simply take advantage of the situation.

I’ll tell you a secret, often software developers and let’s call them “well-wishers” are the same people.

Guess for yourself why)).

Just don’t tell anyone, it’s a top secret)).

Unlike various viruses and Trojan horses, worms can reproduce and move between systems without any action on the part of users.

For these reasons, it's a good idea to have one installed on your system that can identify and remove the worm before it has a chance to repeat its spread on other computers.

Security updates such as Windows Update, closes security “patch holes” that prevent your computer from being infected.

So, stay tuned for updated security protocols. antivirus programs, until new versions. But this only applies licensed programs. All others will act at their own peril and risk!

2). Optical technology storage

Worm can mean “Writ Once, Read Many.” This is a way to record data on various media in computer.

Optical storage is a technology that allows you to write to a disk once or repeatedly, and then read the recorded data an unlimited number of times.

WORM devices were introduced in 1970 and immediately gained popularity as a way to archive data.

Not to be confused with “Archiving” programs, I am describing a way to save your data, not an archiving program.

The capacity of WORM disks started at 140 MB, but gradually increased to 8 GB. But Blu-ray (blue ray), in a single-layer format holds 23.3 GB, and in a double-layer format 46.6 GB!

But the Japanese would not be Japanese if they had not developed this topic further, and in the summer of 2012 a new generation disk was presented, which was created using completely different technologies, and whose storage capacity reaches 1 TB! (tera byte), that's 1000 gigabytes.

It may seem to you that we are now talking about a hard drive. Not at all, this is an ordinary disc, which is no different from a DVD disc, but with unusual properties.

The fact is that before this, in order to write information to a disk, it was necessary to apply a special layer to the disk itself.

But the new disks are radically different from their counterparts, since there are no layers on these disks; information is recorded over the entire thickness of the disk. Hence the large amount of information placed on it.

Oh, those Japanese (Hanosaka Sansei))).

However, the old WORM technology does not have standard format. WORM discs are only compatible with the WORM media on which they were recorded.

It was obvious that this technology had no future. It was expensive and therefore not widely used.

Today, the majority optical drives are based on either CD-R or DVD-R technology.

Unlike WORM discs, CD-R or DVD-R players can usually read any CD, regardless of the manufacturer.

Due to improved compatibility and reduced costs, burning CDs and DVDs, almost all modern computers have the capability.

But it won’t be long before our children will charge their Cell phones, without any wires, using wireless technology.

The same will apply to the transfer of all data without exception. Our apartments will get rid of hundreds of meters of wires and cables. A system units, even the most powerful gaming computers, will be built into the display itself, no more than two centimeters thick.

And we will no longer hear such familiar phrases from parents, “Andrey son, you forgot to take your phone with you to school,” it’s just that the phone will already be implanted in your offspring’s earlobe, and this will not mean that you are saying “blue or not... Dick,” not at all.

Oh, these technologies. James Bond in action, for your money)).

Of course, this will be available if you have money, but if you don’t, then-!!!

As one of my good friends Savat said: “Humanity invented the Internet in order to rule the world without leaving your apartment.”

“Over time, in the near future, humanity will be destroyed by its advanced technologies, because man will destroy life itself!”

p.s.: to protect your computer to the maximum and not to become infected (or to minimize) computer viruses, install it on your computer good antivirus and in addition to this, scan your computer from time to time with an additional scanner, I recommend using it, especially since it is completely free and fast.

Good luck to everyone, bye, let's write off)) with uv., Savat.