Today, almost everyone is familiar with the word virus. We meet him all the time in life, although we don’t really want it ourselves. In the modern era computer technology exist as well computer viruses, which affect the computer and can cause a lot of trouble. Many people ask: “ What is a computer virus? And how can you fight it?” A huge number of books and many articles have been written on the topic of virology.
Thousands of specialists in hundreds of different companies fight computer viruses. At first glance, it seems that the topic of protection against computer viruses is not so relevant and complex as to be the object of close attention. But this is absolutely not true. Computer viruses are one of the most common modern causes of information loss. There have even been cases when computer viruses blocked the work of enterprises and organizations. Moreover, there was a recorded case where a computer infected with a virus caused the death of a person. This happened in one of the hospitals in the Netherlands. The patient died due to a lethal dose of morphine. A desktop computer infected with viruses was producing incorrect information.
Computer virus
Today there are many different viruses. Each type of which can be programmed for certain actions and transmitted in a certain way. Depending on what is written in the main code of the virus, it will act within certain periods and perform strictly specified functions.
A computer virus can:
- permanently delete all important information;
- transfer to a remote server and delete information;
- just copy it to the specified location;
- monitor all actions of employees, etc.
A computer virus can cause loss important information Therefore, you should always remember to protect your computer from unauthorized access and virus attacks. The most important thing is that a simple user, without help special programs, will not be able to do this. A virus may be on the computer and not show any signs until the occurrence of some condition (also written in the code), this could be: a signal from the outside, the occurrence of a certain date, etc. To protect your computer from the possibility of losing information due to computer viruses, it is recommended to install anti-virus programs.
It should be emphasized that these programs must be installed immediately after installing the operating system and drivers. That is, this should be the first program that you install on your computer. In addition, today even an installed anti-virus program can be affected by a virus, so it is recommended to scan the computer at certain intervals with special anti-virus programs that are not installed - portable versions.
In custody
Despite the fact that antivirus companies make enormous efforts, the losses caused by computer viruses do not fall at all and reach unprecedented amounts of hundreds of millions of dollars annually. And this is clearly an underestimate, since only a small part of such incidents is known.
Therefore, it is necessary to make every effort to protect the computer, and, consequently, all information, from the effects of various computer viruses.
Video about computer viruses
From it you will learn:
- What is a computer virus
- How does it infect your computer?
- What are the signs that your computer is infected?
Many users consider computer viruses to be either a completely useless, empty application that does nothing, or a program that “explodes monitors,” disables power supplies and removes all the money from the balance in the current bank account.
In this article we will try to figure out what to expect from a computer virus and what not to expect.
Let's start with what viruses now definitely cannot do:
- Disable any hardware component of your PC directly.
Despite the fact that viruses cannot currently exploit PC components deeper than operating systems, there is a non-zero chance that one day such viruses may still appear. They will know how to communicate directly with devices in order to put them into technological modes or change something directly in the firmware or settings. The most vulnerable link in this regard at the moment is your hard drive.
What viruses can do:
- Block access to the operating system or program
- Irreversibly modify, delete and encrypt your data
- Using social engineering methods to extract financial benefit from the user
- Monitor user actions: record passwords entered, resources visited, documents opened
- Transform infected operating system into a Botnet network participant who, on command, can form DDos attacks, send spam, perform any other actions dictated by a special Botnet server
- Scan notebooks, documents, extracting postal addresses from them, sending the latter to spammers or producing your own mailing, inserting a virus into the body of the letter
- Disrupt the work of banking and other financial programs, obtain personal data from them, forward this data to attackers
- Propagate via email local network, internet network, hard disks, flash media, any information media, through infected files, p2p clients, Online Games, instant messaging services (ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!), VoIP programs (Skype), etc.
- Download new viruses, turning your computer into a breeding ground for viruses
- Significantly slow down the operating system and programs
- Disable the operating system and programs
Problems caused by viruses can be very diverse: some can be eliminated, some cannot. Almost all of these difficulties can be avoided, or at least the likelihood of their occurrence can be minimized. To do this, it is enough to have a working antivirus with up-to-date databases on the system.
Alexey Gavrilenko
Reproduction of materials is permitted only with an active link to the original article.
In search of protecting our data, we begin to think about how to protect our computer from third-party attacks with the aim of taking over our information. We will talk below about the types of malware and viruses that attack our PCs.
Let's start with perhaps the most common habitat of viruses and malware - the Internet. Only at first glance it may seem that the Internet is a big, kind “world”, very friendly and diverse with many paths and roads into its depths. But it is precisely in this “Internet world” that millions of different dangers live, including Internet viruses.
The Internet today is not only millions of pages on a variety of topics, it is also an insidious place with viruses, malware, and spyware. And even if you limit your use of the Internet, viruses still have a good chance of getting in and infecting your data on your computer.
According to the history of PC development, viruses did not “lag behind” electronics in their development. “Virtual diseases” began to be developed back in the 80s of the last century. Back then, viruses were mechanical structures that could self-repair, activate, and capture new types of information. But over the past half century, viruses have come very far in their development and types; many malicious programs and individual dangerous viruses have appeared. In order to understand what viruses exist today and what threats they pose if they get onto your computer, we list them below by group:
Classic computer viruses – a type of viruses that begin their activity only when they are directly activated, i.e. when, for example, a user starts watching a movie or a photo or a song on the computer, then at that moment hidden virus activates and adds its code and begins to operate. This type of virus can enter or be transferred from one computer to another only when we copy a media file or program infected with it from one PC to another, or transfer the infected file on some medium (disk, flash drive, etc.).
The next type of viruses are Trojans . This is a very insidious type of virus, which carries a number of functions: failure of the PC operating system and all equipment in general; taking over PC resources for purposes contrary to yours; infection and destruction of data stored on a computer; capture and transfer of information stored on a computer to other persons.
Another type of virus is network worms. . Their task is to distribute their malicious copies to other PCs, as well as infect running programs with a virus. In addition, network worms can sometimes be characterized by the properties of Trojan programs
After we have decided on the ideas dangerous viruses, it’s worth thinking about how you can protect yourself from malicious attacks on your computer. Again, the question is not simple, but there are always options. For example, when purchasing anti-virus programs, you can rely on the advice of the software seller, become more familiar with existing ratings of security programs and reviews about them, and communicate with professionals in protecting your PC from virus attacks. And only after that should you choose a specific antivirus program. And even if later you are not satisfied with something in it, you can always replace it with another one.
Computer viruses can significantly reduce the performance of your computer and also destroy all data on your hard drive. They are able to constantly reproduce and propagate themselves. Something reminiscent of human viruses and epidemics. Below is a list of the ten most dangerous computer viruses in the world.
Multi-vector Nimda worm
Nimda- computer worm/virus that damages files and negatively affects the operation of the computer. First seen on September 18, 2001. The name of the virus comes from the word admin spelled backwards. Due to the fact that the Nimda worm uses several methods of propagation, it became the most widespread virus/worm on the Internet within 22 minutes. Distributed via email, open network resources, shared folders and file transfers, as well as through browsing malicious websites.
Conficker
Conficker is one of the most dangerous and well-known worms, targeting computers running operating systems Microsoft Windows. Linux systems and Macintosh are completely resistant to it. It was first discovered on the network on November 21, 2008. By February 2009, Conficker had infected 12 million computers around the world, including government, corporate and home computers. February 13, 2009, Microsoft company promised a $250,000 reward for information about the creators of the virus. A special group was even created to combat Conficker, which was unofficially dubbed Conficker Cabal. The damage caused by the malware is estimated at $9.1 billion.
Storm Worm is a backdoor Trojan horse that infects Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was first discovered on January 17, 2007. It is distributed mainly by email with a letter that has the heading “230 dead as storm batters Europe”, and later with other headings. The file attached to the letter contains a virus that creates an information “hole” in the computer system, which is used to receive data or send spam. It is estimated that about 10 million computers were infected with the Storm Worm malware.
Chernobyl
Chernobyl is also known as CIH, a computer virus created by Taiwanese student Chen Ying Hao in June 1998. Works only on computers running Windows control 95/98/ME. It is considered one of the most dangerous and destructive viruses, since after activation it is capable of damaging BIOS chip data and destroying all information from hard drives. In total, about 500,000 people were affected by Chernobyl personal computers worldwide, losses are estimated at $1 billion. The author of the virus, Chen Ying Hao, has never been brought to justice and now works for Gigabyte.
Melissa
Melissa is the first email macro virus, infecting about 20% of all computers worldwide. It was first noticed in March 1999. Malicious program was sent to the first 50 Outlook Express addresses. The letter had an attached file LIST.DOC (virus), allegedly containing passwords to 80 paid porn sites. The program was invented by David Smith from New Jersey. On December 10, 1999, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a fine of $5,000. While the damage caused by the virus amounted to about $80 million.
SQL Slammer
SQL Slammer was a computer worm that generated random IP addresses and sent itself to those addresses. On January 25, 2003, he struck Microsoft server and another 500,000 servers around the world, which led to a significant decrease bandwidth Internet channels, and South Korea, in general, was disconnected from the Internet for 12 hours. The slowdown was caused by numerous routers collapsing under the burden of extremely high outgoing traffic from infected servers. The malware spread with incredible speed, in 10 minutes it infected about 75,000 computers.
Code Red
Code Red is a specific type of computer virus/worm that attacks computers running the Microsoft IIS web server. It was first discovered on July 15, 2001. This malware basically replaced the content of pages on the affected site with the phrase “HELLO! Welcome to http://www.worm.com! Hacked By Chinese! In less than a week, Code Red hit more than 400,000 servers, including the White House server. The total damage caused by the virus is about $2.6 billion.
Sobig F
Sobig F is a computer worm that infected about a million computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems in 24 hours on August 19, 2003, thereby setting a record (although it was later broken by the Mydoom virus). Distributed via email with an attachment. After activation, the virus looked for addresses on the infected computer and sent itself to them. Sobig F itself was deactivated on September 10, 2003, and Microsoft promised $250 thousand for information about the creator of the virus. To date, the criminal has not been caught. The damage caused by the malware is estimated to be $5–10 billion.
Mydoom is an email worm that infects computers running Microsoft Windows. The epidemic began on January 26, 2004. The malware began to spread very quickly using email, a letter with the subject “Hello”, “Test”, “Error”, “Mail Delivery System”, “Delivery Notification”, “Report Server”, which had an attachment. When opened, the worm sent itself to other addresses, and also modified the operating system in such a way that the user could not access the websites of many news feeds, antivirus companies and to some sections of the Microsoft website. The virus has also put a huge strain on internet channels. Mydoom contains text message"Andy, I'm just doing my job, nothing personal, sorry." Was programmed to stop spreading on February 12, 2004.
I LOVE YOU
ILOVEYOU is a computer virus that has successfully infected more than three million personal computers running Windows. In 2000 it was distributed by email, a letter with the subject “ILOVEYOU” and the attachment “LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.VBS”. After opening the application, the worm sent itself to all addresses from address book, and also performed numerous changes to the system. The damage caused by the virus amounts to $10–15 billion, which is why it was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most destructive computer virus in the world.
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