We are always getting asked “Why do people create these computer viruses? Why don’t they use their skills to do something useful??!!”
In the early days of computer viruses it was always about the kudos that the virus writers had between themselves about what their viruses could do – maybe flashing up a message on a screen or destroying the data on a computers hard drive with the intent on spreading automatically and infecting other machines. This was usually done via removable media such as a floppy disk.
The term “virus” is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet (via email or file sharing websites), or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD or a USB drive. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a networked system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.
As stated above, the term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan Horses, most rootkits, spyware dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system’s data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.
Nowadays, the most usual incentive behind creating computer viruses is motivated by financial gain. Whether it’s installing a keylogging program on a pc with the intent on grabbing a users login and password details for banking or ecommerce sites, grabbing credit card details or any other data that should be kept secure. This would be in the form of Trojan Horse piece of Malware which trys to remain undetected on the infected machine. Another method of exploit is installing a virus to join the infected machine to what is known as a ‘Botnet’. This is a collection of many pc’s, often 100′s of thousands located worldwide which then become under the control of criminal gangs. With such a de-centralised collection of compromised machines the criminal gangs can then use these machines to their own purposes. This may be to send out thousands upon thousands of spam email messages or to create Denial of Service attacks (DoS) on large organisations computer networks. An example of a botnet being put to use is the current attacks being made on major organisations related to the wikileaks campaign.
Now that more and more people are relying on internet based services it’s imperative that they protect themselves when online. Please check back for tips and advice on the best ways to protect your pc’s and also what to look out for when online.
