Virus: Vital Information Resources Under Siege
Everyone who has a computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone has probably heard of computer viruses and the importance of protecting their devices against possible virus infections! Malware is a generic term for different subgroups of various types of computer virus. The reason they are divided into different groups is because of the various ways they attack our computing devices.
Firstly, knowledge of the various types of computer virus attacks enables users to better understand the risks associated with viruses. Users can unwittingly leave themselves open to being vulnerable to nefarious behaviour of others, who try to gather their private details, bank and credit card details, etc. to commit crimes against innocent users of computing devices!
Secondly, even with the best knowledge in the world, having no properly installed proactive defence will make all that knowledge entirely worthless to the user and victim of these computer crimes. Computer virus are a crime, there is no such thing as a good computer virus, even the most innocent popup will surprise and annoy you when it won’t go away.
I will give a breakdown of the various subtypes of computer virus in the next section. followed by preventive measures against them that are simple and cost effective, for home users at least.
Computer Virus Terminology:
Virus
A basic computer virus needs to replicate or copy itself in order to spread itself around from computer to computer or computer network to computer network. In the early days of personal computing in the 1980’s a virus would copy itself from floppy disks to computers. Then the occasional cdrom got infected with a virus during the programming stage like with Sony and Eircom.Net here in Ireland. Nowadays it is more like to be your USB flash key or external hard disk drive that can spread computer virus infections to your computers and laptops, etc.
Malware
Malware is a generic term for any kind of computer infection which causes annoyance on your computer or mobile device and possibly interferes with the users interaction with the device. It can be anything from mildly annoying to destructive behaviour like ransomware. Ransomware has appeared more frequently in last the decade and can lock up your device completely and make it unusable. Finding a cure for this can be difficult but there is some new hope appearing on the horizon recently!
Rootkit
A rootkit is a piece of software which secretly installs itself in a computer operating system. It tries to hide itself from the user or system administrator and covertly perform the actions it was programmed to do. A typical action is for rootkit to make the computer system a part of a botnet. This is a group of computers used to attack websites or other computer networks. It can also be used as a weapon of industrial espionage similar to the infamous Stuxnet virus which was designed to infiltrate the Iranian nuclear research facility and knock its centrifuges offline!
Worm
A computer worm unlike a generic computer virus does not need to be copied to other devices. It can replicate itself as it spreads through computer networks. It generally spreads through unpatched, unsecure computer systems, security holes and zero day exploits. These are security issues that have not yet been discovered by the companies themselves, the operating system manufacturers or the anti-virus security vendors. One of the problems Worms can cause is slowing down the speed of computer networks and using up the bandwidth preventing access to the network, etc.
Trojan
A Trojan or Trojan Horse computer virus is a piece of software or program downloaded onto a computer and it does NOT do exactly what it says on the tin. Usually it does nothing or fails, and you think it did not work but it has infected your system and you don’t know it. This is probably the most treacherous of all computer virus software hence its’ name! Without adequate protection a system will be infected and the user will be totally unaware until something goes wrong! Again it can steal vital information or lock up the computing device and put it out of action.
Keylogging
A keylogger is a piece of computer software installed on a computer to record keystroke inputs from the computer user to steal secure credentials, etc. from said user or company the user works for. It is often portrayed in movies as being installed by spies or agents of industrial espionage, etc.
Phishing
Phishing is where a user receives an email in their inbox purporting to be from a financial institution like their bank asking for their username and password account details. This is used by hackers to steal money from peoples their bank accounts, savings or use their credit card details to shop online, etc.
Adware
Adware are popups on your screen usually appearing from the internet advertising software. Usually for software you don’t need and may not even do the job it purports to do. It can hijack your browser homepage to land on its own webpage every time the user opens his/her internet browser. Apart from annoying popups in the bottom right taskbar they can also fill the screen with loads of popups which can only be closed one by one.
Spam
Spam is when your email inbox is filled up with emails selling anything from unregulated pharmaceuticals to advertising dating sites and porn sites. Apart from the human embarrassment this can cause, this also slows down your email server and it takes time to delete these spam emails if you don’t have a spam filter with your Internet Security Suite. Named after the Monty Python Spam sketch!
Solutions
Large corporations have a vast aray antivirus software such as Firewalls, Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems, Universal Threat Management Systems and Spam filters. to combat computer virus and virus emails There are a relative few simple steps to help home users protect their own computing devices from adverse the effects of using computers and the Internet these days.
A user does not have to buy a very Inexpensive anti-virus packages are available to combat these problems as there are some very good free anti-virus packages available and used in conjunction with 3 simple steps I outline below will help to keep devises virus free of protection we will call Steps 123.
Steps 123
Step 1
Always have an anti-virus package which is up to date with its anti-virus definitions and is always turned on and actively protecting your system.
Step 2
Always have Windows Updates turned on, this also includes Apple OS X and Linux updates, and make sure all relevant updates especially security updates are installed and present.
Step 3
Always have your firewall turned on and actively blocking ports, whether the firewall comes with your Internet Security Suite or even Windows Firewall, which does do it its job once it is turned on.
And Finally don’t click on any dubious, suspicious emails or internet links and if your computer or browser gives you a warning, follow the warning or risk the consequences!
In Conclusion
“Change is inevitable, except from vending machines!”
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