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Applied Computer Technologies, Inc.
Advanced Technology Computer Systems, Peripherals, & Services
A computer virus is code written to spread and infect files on a computer without the user’s knowledge. The main purpose of a virus is to spread and infect other files and computers. A virus will not necessarily inflict damage to the system; however, there is no such thing as a “harmless virus.” Although viruses are generally written to be a prank, they can contain code that can violate the integrity of the system’s data and performance.
Since any person with good programming skills can write a virus, there is no way to know the exact number of viruses in the wild. The WildList is a compiled list of viruses that have been identified “in the wild.” Developed and maintained by Joe Wells, a consultant to IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, the WildList only names those viruses that have been positively identified in the wild. The list is updated on a monthly basis.
At the time of publication, there were close to 230 common viruses identified on the WildList.
Like a virus, a worm is a program or group of programs that is designed to inflict damage to a computer network. Worms do not need to attach themselves to a program like a typical virus; however, worms often start from a host system, and then disseminate through the network to infect other workstations. Often, worms can work in segments to perform different actions on different systems; however, the overall effect means the integrity of the data has been lost. Perhaps the most famous worm incident occurred in 1988 when a Cornell graduate student planted a worm as a network experiment. A bug within the program allowed the worm to multiply across hundreds of network links. This worm reportedly cost millions in man hour times for testing and repair of the systems it affected.
A trojan horse is a segment of code written in a program that was not documented by the original programmer. The code is generally used as a “loophole” to access and/or corrupt information.
Yes. Viruses infect thousands of systems every day, and can potentially cause a significant amount of damage to every system they come in contact with. With the tremendous growth of the World Wide Web, online services, and the amount of electronic media available to people, the threat of contracting a virus on a computer has dramatically increased. Viruses can cause a significant amount of damage to a system. According to the National Center for Computer Crime Data in Los Angeles, close to 550 million dollars have been lost to computer crimes. As a computer user, viruses can potentially affect your system; if you use a floppy disk, download a file, or even use a CD-ROM. There is not a computer that is “completely safe” from a virus.
Since virus identification and disinfection constantly changes as new viruses are written and evolve, there is not a standardized method to identify computer viruses. The Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC) has categorized viruses into three distinct categories according to the way they infect a computer system:
Most program viruses attach themselves to some kind of executable file, store itself in memory, and then corrupt the data within the program. Eventually, the virus will spread to other programs where it will corrupt the data within the program, and even change file names. Some common program viruses are Jerusalem and Vienna.
On every disk, hard drive, floppy disk, CD-ROM, etc., there is a boot sector. When a computer first uses a disk, it first reads the boot sector of the disk. A boot-sector virus can attach itself to executable code on this segment of the disk, and then spread to other systems or disks. Once a virus infects the boot sector, it can change the information about the disk size, and even format the disk without the user’s permission. Some common boot sector viruses are Michaelangelo, Stoned, and Empire.
A multipartite virus will infect both the boot sector and program files.
Listed below are some of the common symptoms some ACT customers have mentioned:
”My system keeps losing the settings in the System (CMOS) Setup, and the battery is new.”
“The controllers for the CD-ROM and/or hard disk are no longer present in the Windows Device Manager.”
“I typed MEM at the DOS prompt, and my system showed less than 640KB of conventional memory.”
“The screen looks like it was melting.”
“The size of my program keeps changing.”
“I kept getting random error within Windows.”
“My hard disk reformatted itself.”
“My Word documents with the extension .DOC keep changing to .DOT.”
“The extension for a program’s files keep changing.”
”It takes longer for my programs to load then it ever has before.”
Although there are a number of other variables that can also cause these symptoms, if your computer exhibits one of these symptoms, then you may want to obtain a virus scanner.
There are several steps you should take to keep a virus from infecting your system:
Please note that several new scanners can scan within an infected system. Make sure you follow any procedure from the manufacturer of the virus scanner. Additionally, do not try to delete files to try and delete the virus yourself; you will probably do more damage to your system by taking this form of action.
Symantec Antivirus Research Center (SARC) - Manufacturer of Norton AntiVirus. This site includes extensive information about virus alerts, as well as white papers on viruses.
Antivirus Online - Online publication for the IBM Antivirus. This online magazine provides valuable resource into understanding viruses, virus alerts, and other important virus information.
Antivirus Online Laboratory - Related to the Antivirus Online magazine, this site includes several scientific, technical, and reference information about viruses.
ThunderByte News Views and How To’s - Manufacturer of ThunderByte Anti-Virus Utilities; this page contains great disinfection information.
Datafellows - Virus information service from the manufacturers of F-Prot Professional. This site includes current virus information, FAQs, and a great virus information database.
Virus Central from Dr. Solomon’s - Great virus information from the makers of Dr. Solomon’s. Check out the Virus Gallery for some great virus screen captures.
AVP Virus Encyclopedia - Virus encyclopedia written by the makers of AVP.
Frequently Asked Questions on Virus-L/comp.virus - FAQ developed from a USENET news group.
National Computer Security Association - Independant organization developed to improve computer security.
We recommend some of the following sites to obtain some of the better anti-virus software programs:
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Changes last made on: February 27th, 1997