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ERICA SANTIAGO ASHLEY GUY DAVID HOLLAND ASHLEY WHITE JESSICA PUETTNER
Viruses
By: Erica Santiago
What is a Virus?
a virus is software that spreads from program to program, or from disk to disk, and uses each infected program or disk to make copies of itself. basically computer sabotage.
Protect Yourselves
run a more secure operating system like UNIX, another computer operating system in which you never hear about viruses on these operating systems because the of the security features if you are using an unsecured operating system, you can buy virus protection software like McAfee or Norton AntiVirus to help avoid viruses, its very important that your computer is current with the latest update and antivirus tools, try to stay informed with recent threats about viruses and that you be careful when surfing the Internet, downloading files and opening attachments
Worms
By: Ashley Guy
Worms 101
worms have been around since 1988. a computer worm is very similar to that of a normal computer virus. unlike a virus though, the worm is a program that can copy itself across a network and it can run on itself. a worm also has a unique feature in the sense it doesnt have to have a host program in order to run. a worm works by copying itself into nodes or network terminals which does not require any intervention from the user itself worms began to take off in the late 90s and early 2000s. these modern worms ran themselves through the internet and many file sharing programs such as KaZaa, a music file-sharing program.
Types of Worms
the email worm
the email worm spreads itself through email the worm can hide itself in messages as a link or an attachment that will redirect the user to an infected website. many users become victims to this particular worm due to their vulnerability and willingness to read and open messages that they think could be interesting.
Protect Yourselves
even though it seems impossible to not catch a worm, its not. one of the best things a computer owner can do is install and run anti-virus software, especially the kind that updates automatically.
anti-virus software will notify the user when a virus or worm is found and prevent it from running and/or copying itself.
other precautions:
choosing secure passwords and changing them regularly not opening unfamiliar emails or attachments and most importantly not running or copying software from an unsecured website.
AntiVirus Software
By: David Holland
NAV
the most widely used software is the Norton AntiVirus. (NAV) since its release in 1990, over 100 million people around the world have used it. its a free program but in order to receive live updates, a valid subscription is needed. a yearly subscription is only $29.99.
McAfee
McAfee VirusScan is another popular antivirus program. its designed for home and home-office use. its used specifically on a Microsoft Windows platform. the 2007 edition includes a number of features including on access file sharing, inbound and outbound firewall protection, and daily definition updates.
Sophos
Sophos AntiVirus is an antivirus and anti-spyware program that is primarily aimed at corporate environments or businesses. includes a number of security tools and advice. also includes 24/7 support including upgrade alerts.
Kasperski
for the average home user and advanced users the Kasperski antivirus software has an easy to use interface. the program uses 3 tabs for protection, settings and support. it updates itself on an hourly basis and is one of the fastest antivirus programs available. however, quality comes at a price and year subscription is $49.99.
Specific Scanning
specific scanning or signature detection the application scans files to look for known viruses matching definitions in a virus dictionary when the antivirus looks at a file it refers to a dictionary of known viruses and matches a piece of code (specific patterns of bytes) from the new file to the dictionary.
Generic Scanning
generic scanning is also referred to as the suspicious behavior approach. generic Scanning is used when new viruses appear. in this method the software does not look for a specific signature but instead monitors the behavior of all applications.
heuristic analysis
Another Approach
in the heuristic method the software, for example, could try to emulate the beginning of the code of each new executable that the system invokes before transferring control to that executable. if the program attempts to use self-modifying code or appears to be a virus, its assumed that the virus has infected the executable. in this method there are a lot of false positives.
sandbox method
when an antivirus program will take suspicious code and run it in a virtual machine to see the purpose of the code and exactly how the code works. after the program has terminated, the software analyzes the sandbox for any changes, which could indicate a virus.
Heuristic Analysis
software tries to emulate the beginning of the code of each new executable that the system invokes before transferring control to that executable. if the program attempts to use self-modifying code or appears to be a virus, its assumed the virus has infected the executable. there are many false positives in this approach.
Sandboxing
in this approach an antivirus program will take suspicious code and run it in a virtual machine to see the purpose of the code and exactly how the code works. after the program is terminated the software analyzes the sandbox for any changes, which might indicate a virus.
The Aftermath
after the Melissa virus, the door for many was opened to new viruses. one of them was Chernobyl. Unlike Melissa, this one was destructive and infected over 600,000 computers all over the world. Chernobyl infected 300,000 computers in South Korea and it cost about $250 million in damages. in the Philippines, a virus now known as the Love Bug infected their computer systems and cost them billions of dollars in damages
Worms Attack
the first major worm was in 1988 when a student at Cornell made an experiment that accidentally got onto the Internet. this worm caused 6,000 computers all over the United States to freeze. all the infected computers had to be shut off and the worm had to be terminated. there was no really money damage but there was a lot of lost time at different research institutions. one of the most damaging worms in history is named Code Red in 2001. more than 359,000 computers all over the world were infected with this worm in less than 14 hours. the estimate cost of damages due to the worm was about $2.6 billion.
Types of Worms
a few different types of worms are emailing worms, instant messaging worms, internet worms and file-sharing networks worms. emailing worms are those in the attachments that are sometimes sent with emails. instant messaging worms usually infect a computer when an infected link is sent to a person and they open it. these also get into computers and automatically send to most if not all of the people on your buddy list. internet worms usually scan different computers and try to get into their systems. a lot of times they will try and be downloaded onto the computer by sending a request to be downloaded. file-sharing networks worms usually copy itself in a shared file under a name that is not suspicious and will start to infect the computer as well as those in the same network.
Conclusion
Computer viruses and worms can so easily be placed into your work station so you must be careful when going on the internet, opening emails from unknown users, make sure you have some kind of anti-virus software and always get updates so that you arent helping to spread viruses and worms to other people as well as harming yourself and your pocket.