Recent Computer Virus

brief introduction to computer viruses

A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the owner. The term "virus" is often misused, but to refer to other types of malware, adware, spyware and programs that do not have the ability to reproduce. A true virus can not spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer, for example because a user has sent over a network or Internet or on a removable media like a floppy disk, CD, DVD or USB stick. Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or file system is accessed by another computer. The term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, Trojans, rootkits more, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, and other malware and unwanted), including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread to other computers without needing to be transferred within a host, and a trojan is a program that appears harmless, but has a hidden agenda. Worms and Trojans such as viruses, can cause injury or to a computer system hosted data, functional performance, or networking throughput, when executed. Some viruses and other malware from symptoms visible to the user's computer, but many are illegal. Most personal computers are now connected to the Internet and local networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today, viruses can also benefit from network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, instant messaging, file systems and sharing spread.

history

Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet in the early 1970s.

Creeper is an experimental program of self-replication written by Bob Thomas at BBN in 1971. Creeper used to infect the ARPANET DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied to the remote system where the message, "I am the vine, catch me if you can!" Was displayed. The program was created to remove Reaper Creeper.

A program called "Rother J" was the first computer virus to appear "in nature" - that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta, it attached to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk. This virus was created as a joke when Richard Skrenta was still in high school. It was injected in a game on a floppy disk. On the 50th use virus Elk Cloner would be activated and infects the computer and display a short poem that begins "Elk Cloner: The program of a personality."

The first PC virus in the wild was a boot sector virus dubbed (c) Brain

, Created in 1986 by the Farooq Alvi Brothers, operating from Lahore, Pakistan. The brothers reportedly created the virus to deter pirated copies of software they had written. However, analysts have claimed that the Ashar virus, a variant of the brain, perhaps it is based on earlier code of the virus in

Before computer networks become widespread, most viruses spread on removable media, especially the hard disk. In early personal computer, many users regularly exchanged information and programs on floppies. Some viruses spread by infecting programs stored on these disks, while others have settled in the disk boot sector, ensuring they would run when the user starts the computer from the disk often inadvertently. PC then would try to first boot from a floppy disk if o.