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VIRUSES/

WHAT IS A VIRUS/MALWARE?
ACOMPUTER VIRUSIS AMALWAREPROGRAMTHAT, WHEN EXECUTED,REPLICATESBY INSERTING

COPIES OF ITSELF (POSSIBLY MODIFIED) INTO OTHERCOMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATAFILES, OR THE

BOOT SECTOROF THEHARD DRIVE; WHEN THIS REPLICATION SUCCEEDS, THE AFFECTED AREAS ARE THEN
SAID TO BE "INFECTED"

 VIRUSES OFTEN PERFORM SOME TYPE OF HARMFUL ACTIVITY ON INFECTED HOSTS, SUCH AS:
STEALINGHARD DISKSPACE ORCPUTIME
ACCESSING PRIVATE INFORMATION
CORRUPTING DATA, DISPLAYING POLITICAL OR HUMOROUS MESSAGES ON THE USER'S SCREEN
SPAMMING THEIR CONTACTS,LOGGING THEIR KEYSTROKES
EVEN RENDERING THE COMPUTER USELESS

HOWEVER, NOT ALL VIRUSES CARRY A DESTRUCTIVE PAYLOAD OR ATTEMPT TO HIDE THEMSELVESTHE
DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF VIRUSES IS THAT THEY ARE SELF-REPLICATING COMPUTER PROGRAMS
WHICH INSTALL THEMSELVES WITHOUT USER CONSENT.

 VIRUS WRITERS USESOCIAL ENGINEERINGAND EXPLOIT DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF

SECURITY VULNERABILITIESTO GAIN ACCESS TO THEIR HOSTS' COMPUTING RESOURCES. THE VAST
MAJORITY OF VIRUSES TARGET SYSTEMS RUNNINGMICROSOFT WINDOWS, EMPLOYING A VARIETY OF
MECHANISMS TO INFECT NEW HOSTS,AND OFTEN USING COMPLEX ANTI-DETECTION/STEALTH
STRATEGIES TO EVADEANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE.MOTIVES FOR CREATING VIRUSES CAN INCLUDE SEEKING
PROFIT, DESIRE TO SEND A POLITICAL MESSAGE, PERSONAL AMUSEMENT, TO DEMONSTRATE THAT A
VULNERABILITY EXISTS IN SOFTWARE, FORSABOTAGEANDDENIAL OF SERVICE, OR SIMPLY BECAUSE
THEY WISH TO EXPLOREARTIFICIAL LIFE AND EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS.

 COMPUTER VIRUSES CURRENTLY CAUSE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS' WORTH OF ECONOMIC DAMAGE EACH
YEAR, DUE TO CAUSING SYSTEMS FAILURE, WASTING COMPUTER RESOURCES, CORRUPTING DATA,
INCREASING MAINTENANCE COSTS, ETC. IN RESPONSE,FREE, OPEN-SOURCEANTIVIRUS TOOLS HAVE
BEEN DEVELOPED, AND AN INDUSTRY OFANTIVIRUS SOFTWAREHAS CROPPED UP, SELLING OR FREELY
DISTRIBUTING VIRUS PROTECTION TO USERS OF VARIOUS OPERATING SYSTEMS.

VULNERABILITIES AND INFECTION VECTORS

SOFTWARE BUGS - OFTEN DESIGNED WITH SECURITY FEATURES TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED USE OF SYSTEM

RESOURCES, MANY VIRUSES MUST EXPLOIT AND MANIPULATESECURITY BUGS(SECURITY DEFECTS) IN A SYSTEM OR
APPLICATION SOFTWARE TO SPREAD AND INFECT

SOCIAL ENGINEERING AND POOR SECURITY PRACTICES - IN ORDER TO REPLICATE ITSELF, A VIRUS MUST BE

PERMITTED TO EXECUTE CODE AND WRITE TO MEMORY. FOR THIS REASON, MANY VIRUSES ATTACH THEMSELVES TO
EXECUTABLE FILES THAT MAY BE PART OF LEGITIMATE PROGRAMS

FOR EXAMPLE, AN EXECUTABLE MAY BE CREATED AND NAMED PICTURE.PNG.EXE", IN

WHICH THE USER
SEES ONLY "PICTURE.PNG" AND
THEREFORE ASSUMES THAT THIS
FILE IS AN IMAGE AND MOST LIKELY IS SAFE, YET WHEN OPENED RUNS THE EXECUTABLE
ON THE CLIENT MACHINE

VULNERABILITIES AND INFECTION VECTORS

VULNERABILITY OF DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS TO VIRUSES - THE VAST MAJORITY OF

VIRUSES TARGET SYSTEMS RUNNINGMICROSOFT WINDOWS. THIS IS DUE TO MICROSOFT'S LARGE

MARKET SHARE OF DESKTOP USERS. THE DIVERSITY OF SOFTWARE SYSTEMS ON A NETWORK LIMITS THE
DESTRUCTIVE POTENTIAL OF VIRUSES AND MALWARE. OPEN-SOURCEOPERATING SYSTEMS SUCH AS
LINUXALLOW USERS TO CHOOSE FROM A VARIETY OFDESKTOP ENVIRONMENTS, PACKAGING TOOLS,
ETC., WHICH MEANS THAT MALICIOUS CODE TARGETING ANY OF THESE SYSTEMS WILL ONLY AFFECT A
SUBSET OF ALL USERS.

INFECTION TARGETS AND REPLICATION TECHNIQUES

COMPUTER VIRUSES INFECT A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT SUBSYSTEMS ON THEIR HOSTS. ONE MANNER OF
CLASSIFYING VIRUSES IS TO ANALYZE WHETHER THEY RESIDE INBINARY EXECUTABLES(SUCH AS.EXEOR
.COM FILES), DATA FILES (SUCH ASMICROSOFT WORDDOCUMENTS ORPDF FILES), OR IN THEBOOT SECTOR
OF THE HOST'SHARD DRIVE(OR SOME COMBINATION OF ALL OF THESE).

INFECTION TARGETS AND REPLICATION TECHNIQUES

RESIDENT VS. NON-RESIDENT VIRUSES - AMEMORY-RESIDENT VIRUS(OR SIMPLY "RESIDENT

VIRUS") INSTALLS ITSELF AS PART OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM WHEN EXECUTED, AFTER WHICH IT
REMAINS INRAMFROM THE TIME THE COMPUTER IS BOOTED UP TO WHEN IT IS SHUT DOWN. RESIDENT
VIRUSES OVERWRITEINTERRUPT HANDLINGCODE OR OTHERFUNCTIONS, AND WHEN THE OPERATING
SYSTEM ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS THE TARGET FILE OR DISK SECTOR, THE VIRUS CODE INTERCEPTS THE
REQUEST AND REDIRECTS THECONTROL FLOWTO THE REPLICATION MODULE, INFECTING THE TARGET. IN
CONTRAST, ANON-MEMORY-RESIDENT VIRUS(OR "NON-RESIDENT VIRUS"), WHEN EXECUTED, SCANS THE
DISK FOR TARGETS, INFECTS THEM, AND THEN EXITS

INFECTION TARGETS AND REPLICATION TECHNIQUES

MACRO VIRUSES - MANY COMMON APPLICATIONS, SUCH ASMICROSOFT OUTLOOKAND

MICROSOFT WORD, ALLOWMACROPROGRAMS TO BE EMBEDDED IN DOCUMENTS OR EMAILS, SO THAT

THE PROGRAMS MAY BE RUN AUTOMATICALLY WHEN THE DOCUMENT IS OPENED. AMACRO VIRUS(OR
"DOCUMENT VIRUS") IS A VIRUS THAT IS WRITTEN IN A MACRO LANGUAGE, AND EMBEDDED INTO THESE
DOCUMENTS SO THAT WHEN USERS OPEN THE FILE, THE VIRUS CODE IS EXECUTED, AND CAN INFECT THE
USER'S COMPUTER.

INFECTION TARGETS AND REPLICATION TECHNIQUES

BOOT SECTOR VIRUSES - BOOT SECTOR VIRUSESSPECIFICALLY TARGET THEBOOT SECTOR/

MASTER BOOT RECORD[35](MBR) OF THE HOST'SHARD DRIVEOR REMOVABLE STORAGE MEDIA (

FLASH DRIVES,FLOPPY DISKS, ETC.)

STEALTH STRATEGIES
IN ORDER TO AVOID DETECTION BY USERS, SOME VIRUSES EMPLOY DIFFERENT KINDS OF DECEPTION.

SOME OLD VIRUSES, ESPECIALLY ON THE MS-DOS PLATFORM, MAKE SURE THAT THE "LAST MODIFIED"
DATE OF A HOST FILE STAYS THE SAME WHEN THE FILE IS INFECTED BY THE VIRUS. THIS APPROACH DOES
NOT FOOL ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE, HOWEVER, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH MAINTAIN AND DATE
CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECKSON FILE CHANGES.

STEALTH STRATEGIES
READ REQUEST INTERCEPTS - THE INFECTION OCCURS ANY RECOURSE TO CLEAN THE SYSTEM IS

UNRELIABLE. IN MICROSOFT WINDOWS OPERATING SYSTEMS, THENTFS FILE SYSTEMIS PROPRIETARY.

DIRECT ACCESS TO FILES WITHOUT USING THE WINDOWS OS IS UNDOCUMENTED. THIS LEAVES
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE LITTLE ALTERNATIVE BUT TO SEND A READ REQUEST TO WINDOWS OS FILES THAT
HANDLE SUCH REQUESTS.

STEALTH STRATEGIES
SELF-MODIFICATION - ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS TRY TO FIND VIRUS-PATTERNS INSIDE ORDINARY

PROGRAMS BY SCANNING THEM FOR SO-CALLED VIRUS SIGNATURES. UNFORTUNATELY, THE TERM IS
MISLEADING, IN THAT VIRUSES DO NOT POSSESS UNIQUE SIGNATURES IN THE WAY THAT HUMAN BEINGS
DO. SUCH A VIRUS SIGNATURE IS MERELY A SEQUENCE OF BYTES THAT AN ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM LOOKS
FOR BECAUSE IT IS KNOWN TO BE PART OF THE VIRUS. A BETTER TERM WOULD BE "SEARCH STRINGS".
DIFFERENT ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS WILL EMPLOY DIFFERENT SEARCH STRINGS, AND INDEED DIFFERENT
SEARCH METHODS, WHEN IDENTIFYING VIRUSES. IF A VIRUS SCANNER FINDS SUCH A PATTERN IN A FILE, IT
WILL PERFORM OTHER CHECKS TO MAKE SURE THAT IT HAS FOUND THE VIRUS, AND NOT MERELY A
COINCIDENTAL SEQUENCE IN AN INNOCENT FILE, BEFORE IT NOTIFIES THE USER THAT THE FILE IS INFECTED.

STEALTH STRATEGIES
ENCRYPTED VIRUSES - ONE METHOD OF EVADING SIGNATURE DETECTION IS TO USE SIMPLE

ENCRYPTIONTO ENCIPHER THE BODY OF THE VIRUS, LEAVING ONLY THE ENCRYPTION MODULE AND A
CRYPTOGRAPHIC KEYIN CLEARTEXT.IN THIS CASE, THE VIRUS CONSISTS OF A SMALL DECRYPTING
MODULE AND AN ENCRYPTED COPY OF THE VIRUS CODE. IF THE VIRUS IS ENCRYPTED WITH A DIFFERENT
KEY FOR EACH INFECTED FILE, THE ONLY PART OF THE VIRUS THAT REMAINS CONSTANT IS THE
DECRYPTING MODULE, WHICH WOULD (FOR EXAMPLE) BE APPENDED TO THE END. IN THIS CASE, A VIRUS
SCANNER CANNOT DIRECTLY DETECT THE VIRUS USING SIGNATURES, BUT IT CAN STILL DETECT THE
DECRYPTING MODULE, WHICH STILL MAKES INDIRECT DETECTION OF THE VIRUS POSSIBLE.

STEALTH STRATEGIES
POLYMORPHIC CODE - WAS THE FIRST TECHNIQUE THAT POSED A SERIOUSTHREATTO VIRUS

SCANNERS. JUST LIKE REGULAR ENCRYPTED VIRUSES, A POLYMORPHIC VIRUS INFECTS FILES WITH AN
ENCRYPTED COPY OF ITSELF, WHICH IS DECODED BY A DECRYPTION MODULE. IN THE CASE OF
POLYMORPHIC VIRUSES, HOWEVER, THIS DECRYPTION MODULE IS ALSO MODIFIED ON EACH INFECTION.
A WELL-WRITTEN POLYMORPHIC VIRUS THEREFORE HAS NO PARTS WHICH REMAIN IDENTICAL BETWEEN
INFECTIONS, MAKING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO DETECT DIRECTLY USING SIGNATURES

STEALTH STRATEGIES
METAMORPHIC CODE - TO AVOID BEING DETECTED BY EMULATION, SOME VIRUSES REWRITE

THEMSELVES COMPLETELY EACH TIME THEY ARE TO INFECT NEW EXECUTABLES. VIRUSES THAT UTILIZE
THIS TECHNIQUE ARE SAID TO BEMETAMORPHIC. TO ENABLE METAMORPHISM, A METAMORPHIC ENGINE
IS NEEDED. A METAMORPHIC VIRUS IS USUALLY VERY LARGE AND COMPLEX. FOR EXAMPLE,W32/SIMILE
CONSISTED OF OVER 14,000 LINES OFASSEMBLY LANGUAGECODE, 90% OF WHICH IS PART OF THE
METAMORPHIC ENGINE.

COUNTERMEASURES
ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE - MANY USERS INSTALLANTIVIRUS SOFTWARETHAT CAN DETECT AND ELIMINATE
KNOWN VIRUSES WHEN THE COMPUTER ATTEMPTS TODOWNLOAD OR RUN THE EXECUTABLE (WHICH MAY
BE DISTRIBUTED AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT, OR ONUSB FLASH DRIVES, FOR EXAMPLE. SOME ANTIVIRUS
SOFTWARE BLOCKS KNOWN MALICIOUS WEB SITES THAT ATTEMPT TO INSTALL MALWARE. ANTIVIRUS
SOFTWARE DOES NOT CHANGE THE UNDERLYING CAPABILITY OF HOSTS TO TRANSMIT VIRUSES. USERS
MUST UPDATE THEIR SOFTWARE REGULARLY TOPATCHSECURITY VULNERABILITIES("HOLES"). ANTIVIRUS
SOFTWARE ALSO NEEDS TO BE REGULARLY UPDATED IN ORDER TO RECOGNIZE THE LATESTTHREATS. THE
GERMANAV-TESTINSTITUTE PUBLISHES EVALUATIONS OF ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS AND
ANDROID.

COUNTERMEASURES
RECOVERY STRATEGIES AND METHODS - ONE MAY REDUCE THE DAMAGE DONE BY VIRUSES BY

MAKING REGULARBACKUPSOF DATA (AND THE OPERATING SYSTEMS) ON DIFFERENT MEDIA, THAT ARE
EITHER KEPT UNCONNECTED TO THE SYSTEM (MOST OF THE TIME), READ-ONLY OR NOT ACCESSIBLE FOR
OTHER REASONS, SUCH AS USING DIFFERENTFILE SYSTEMS. THIS WAY, IF DATA IS LOST THROUGH A
VIRUS, ONE CAN START AGAIN USING THE BACKUP (WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY BE RECENT).

COUNTERMEASURES
VIRUS REMOVAL - MANY WEBSITES RUN BY ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE COMPANIES PROVIDE FREE ONLINE
VIRUS SCANNING, WITH LIMITED CLEANING FACILITIES (THE PURPOSE OF THE SITES IS TO SELL
ANTIVIRUS PRODUCTS). SOME WEBSITESLIKE GOOGLE SUBSIDIARYVIRUSTOTAL.COMALLOW
USERS TO UPLOAD ONE OR MORE SUSPICIOUS FILES TO BE SCANNED AND CHECKED BY ONE OR MORE
ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS IN ONE OPERATION.

COUNTERMEASURES
RECOVERY STRATEGIES AND METHODS - ONE MAY REDUCE THE DAMAGE DONE BY VIRUSES BY

MAKING REGULARBACKUPSOF DATA (AND THE OPERATING SYSTEMS) ON DIFFERENT MEDIA, THAT ARE
EITHER KEPT UNCONNECTED TO THE SYSTEM (MOST OF THE TIME), READ-ONLY OR NOT ACCESSIBLE FOR
OTHER REASONS, SUCH AS USING DIFFERENTFILE SYSTEMS. THIS WAY, IF DATA IS LOST THROUGH A
VIRUS, ONE CAN START AGAIN USING THE BACKUP (WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY BE RECENT).

COUNTERMEASURES
OPERATING SYSTEM REINSTALLATION - MICROSOFT'SSYSTEM FILE CHECKER(IMPROVED IN
WINDOWS 7 AND LATER) CAN BE USED TO CHECK FOR, AND REPAIR, CORRUPTED SYSTEM FILES.

RESTORING AN EARLIER "CLEAN" (VIRUS-FREE) COPY OF THE ENTIRE PARTITION FROM ACLONED DISK, A
DISK IMAGE, OR ABACKUPCOPY IS ONE SOLUTIONRESTORING AN EARLIER BACKUP DISK IMAGE IS
RELATIVELY SIMPLE TO DO, USUALLY REMOVES ANY MALWARE, AND MAY BE FASTER THAN DISINFECTING
THE COMPUTEROR REINSTALLING AND RECONFIGURING THE OPERATING SYSTEM AND PROGRAMS
FROM SCRATCH, AS DESCRIBED BELOW, THEN RESTORING USER PREFERENCES.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

MACRO VIRUSES
THESE VIRUSES INFECT THE FILES CREATED USING SOME APPLICATIONS OR PROGRAMS THAT CONTAIN
MACROS SUCH AS DOC, PPS, XLS AND MDB. THEY AUTOMATICALLY INFECT THE FILES WITH MACROS AND ALSO
TEMPLATES AND DOCUMENTS THAT ARE CONTAINED IN THE FILE. THEY HIDE IN DOCUMENTS SHARED THROUGH EMAIL AND NETWORKS.

MACRO VIRUSES INCLUDE:

RELAX
BABLAS
MELISSA.A
097M/Y2K

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

MEMORY RESIDENT VIRUSES
THEY USUALLY FIX THEMSELVES INSIDE THE COMPUTER MEMORY. THEY GET ACTIVATED EVERY TIME
THE OS RUNS AND END UP INFECTING OTHER OPENED FILES. THEY HIDE IN RAM.

MEMORY RESIDENT VIRUSES INCLUDE:

CMJ
MEVE
RANDEX
MRKLUNKY

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

OVERWRITE VIRUSES
THESE TYPES OF VIRUSES DELETE ANY INFORMATION IN A FILE THEY INFECT, LEAVING THEM PARTIALLY
OR COMPLETELY USELESS ONCE THEY ARE INFECTED. ONCE IN THE COMPUTER, THEY REPLACES ALL THE FILE
CONTENT BUT THE FILE SIZE DOESNT CHANGE.

OVERWRITE VIRUSES INCLUDE:

TRJ.REBOOT
WAY
TRIVIAL.88.D

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

DIRECT ACTION VIRUSES
THESE VIRUSES MAINLY REPLICATE OR TAKE ACTION ONCE THEY ARE EXECUTED. WHEN A CERTAIN
CONDITION IS MET, THE VIRUSES WILL ACT BY INFECTING THE FILES IN THE DIRECTORY OR THE FOLDER
SPECIFIED IN THE AUTOEXEC.BAT. THE VIRUSES ARE GENERALLY FOUND IN THE HARD DISKS ROOT
DIRECTORY, BUT THEY KEEP ON CHANGING LOCATION.

DIRECT ACTION VIRUSES INCLUDE:

VIENNA VIRUS

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

DIRECTORY VIRUS
ALSO KNOWN AS CLUSTER VIRUS OR FILE SYSTEM VIRUS. THEY INFECT THE COMPUTERS DIRECTORY
BY CHANGING THE PATH INDICATING FILE LOCATION. THEY ARE USUALLY LOCATED IN THE DISK BUT AFFECT
THE ENTIRE DIRECTORY.

DIRECTORY VIRUSES INCLUDE:

DIR-2 VIRUS

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

WEB SCRIPTING VIRUS
MOST WEB PAGES INCLUDE SOME COMPLEX CODES IN ORDER TO CREATE AN INTERACTIVE AND
INTERESTING CONTENT. SUCH A CODE IS OFTEN EXPLOITED TO CAUSE CERTAIN UNDESIRABLE ACTIONS.
THEY MOSTLY ORIGINATE FROM THE INFECTED WEB PAGES OR BROWSERS.

WEB SCRIPTING VIRUSES INCLUDE:

JS.FORTNIGHT A VIRUS THAT SPREADS VIA MALICIOUS EMAILS.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

MULTIPARTITE VIRUS
THESE TYPE OF VIRUSES SPREAD IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. THEIR ACTIONS VARY DEPENDING ON THE
OS INSTALLED AND PRESENCE OF CERTAIN FILES. THEY TEND TO HIDE IN THE COMPUTERS MEMORY BUT DO
NOT INFECT THE HARD DISK.

MULTIPARTITE VIRUSES INCLUDE:

FLIP
INVADER
TEQUILA

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

FAT VIRUSES
THESE LARDY VIRUSES ATTACK THE FILE ALLOCATION TABLE (FAT) WHICH IS THE DISC PART USED TO
STORE EVERY INFORMATION ABOUT THE AVAILABLE SPACE, LOCATION OF FILES, UNUSABLE SPACE ETC.

FAT VIRUSES INCLUDE:

THE LINK VIRUS

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

COMPANION VIRUSES
THESE TYPES OF VIRUSES INFECT FILES JUST LIKE THE DIRECT ACTION AND THE RESIDENT TYPES. ONCE
INSIDE THE COMPUTER, THEY ACCOMPANY OTHER EXISTING FILES.

COMPANION VIRUSES INCLUDE:

ASIMOV.1539
STATOR AND TERRAX.1069

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

POLYMORPHIC VIRUS
THEY ENCODE OR ENCRYPT THEMSELVES IN A DIFFERENT WAY EVERY TIME THEY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER.
THEY USE DIFFERENT ENCRYPTION AND ALGORITHMS. THIS MAKES IT DIFFICULT FOR THE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE TO
LOCATE THEM USING SIGNATURE OR STRING SEARCHES (SINCE THEY ARE VERY DIFFERENT IN EACH ENCRYPTION).

POLYMORPHIC VIRUSES INCLUDE:

MARBURG
TUAREG
SATAN BUG
ELKERN

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

WORM
THIS PROGRAM IS VERY SIMILAR TO A VIRUS AND HAS THE ABILITY TO SELF-REPLICATE LEADING TO
NEGATIVE EFFECTS ON YOUR COMPUTER.

WORM VIRUSES INCLUDE:

LOVGATE.F
SOBIG.D
TRILE. C
PSWBUGBEAR.B
MAPSON

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

TROJANS
TROJANS CAN ILLEGALLY TRACE IMPORTANT LOGIN DETAILS OF USERS ONLINE. FOR EXAMPLE E-BANKING IS VERY
COMMON AMONG USERS, THEREFORE, VULNERABILITY OF TRACING YOUR LOGIN DETAILS WHENEVER YOUR PC IS
WORKING WITHOUT ANY STRONG POWERFUL ANTIVIRUS INSTALLED.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

EMAIL VIRUS
THIS IS A VIRUS SPREAD VIA AN EMAIL. SUCH A VIRUS WILL HIDE IN AN EMAIL AND WHEN THE
RECIPIENT OPENS THE MAIL.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

BROWSER HIJACKER
THIS VIRUS CAN SPREAD IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS INCLUDING A VOLUNTARY DOWNLOAD. IF INFECTS
CERTAIN BROWSER FUNCTIONS ESPECIALLY IN FORM OF RE-DIRECTING THE USER AUTOMATICALLY TO
CERTAIN SITES. A GOOD EXAMPLE IS

BROWSER HIJACKERS INCLUDE:

THE COOL WEB SEARCH

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES

BOOT INFECTORS
THEY INCLUDE THE BOOT SECTOR PLUS MASTER BOOT RECORD TYPES. ALL THE VIRAL CODES CAN BE
SEPARATE LOCATION; HOWEVER THEY INFECT THE HARD DISKS OR THE FLOPPY.

BOOT INFECTORS INCLUDE:

THE BRAIN VIRUS -IT IS THE VERY FIRST WILD VIRUS TO BE CREATED.