Who wrote the first computer virus. What is a computer virus? Types of computer viruses

COMPUTER VIRUS COMPUTER VIRUS is a computer program capable of spontaneously multiplying and spreading without the knowledge of the user and against his wishes, disrupting the performance of the computer software (hence its name by analogy with a pathogenic virus). First appeared in the early 1980s. in the USA. By 1996, there were several dozen varieties of K. century. To combat them, antivirus programs are being developed. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, for the first time in domestic practice, established criminal liability for the creation, use and distribution of malicious programs for computers (Article 273 of the Criminal Code). The punishable offense is "creating computer programs or making changes to existing programs that knowingly lead to unauthorized destruction, blocking, modification or copying of information, disruption of the operation of a computer, computer system or their network, as well as the use or distribution of such programs or machine media with such programs ".

A large legal dictionary. - M .: Infra-M. A. Ya. Sukharev, V. E. Krutskikh, A. Ya. Sukhareva. 2003 .

See what "COMPUTER VIRUS" is in other dictionaries:

A fragment of executable code that copies itself into another program (main program), while modifying it. By duplicating itself, the virus infects other programs. The virus is executed only when the main program is started and calls it ... ... Financial vocabulary

See COMPUTER VIRUS. Dictionary of foreign words. Komlev N.G., 2006 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

COMPUTER VIRUS, a piece of code in a COMPUTER PROGRAM that can be copied and transferred from one computer to another, usually designed to disrupt the normal operation of a computer. Some viruses introduced into widespread ... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

A computer program capable of spontaneously multiplying and spreading without the knowledge of the user and against his wishes; disrupting the performance of the computer software (hence its name by analogy with a pathogenic virus). First… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

computer virus- A program that has the following properties: the ability to copy itself to other files, disks, computers; the ability to execute without an explicit call; the possibility of unauthorized access to information; the possibility of disguise ... ... Technical translator's guide

Computer virus- see Computer program ... Encyclopedia of Law

COMPUTER VIRUS- a computer program capable of spontaneously multiplying and spreading without the knowledge of the user and against his wishes, disrupting the operability of the computer software. The first K.V. appeared in the early 1980s. in the USA. Currently… … Legal encyclopedia

The beginning of the source code of a primitive virus for MS DOS in assembly language ... Wikipedia

(computer virus- 3.10 (computer) virus: Malicious software that can create copies of itself and / or other malicious programs. Source: GOST R 51275 2006: Information Security. Object of informatization. Factors affecting information. General… … Dictionary-reference book of terms of normative and technical documentation

A computer program capable of spontaneously multiplying and spreading without the knowledge of the user and against his will, disrupting the performance of the computer software (hence its name by analogy with a pathogenic virus). First… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Computer virus. Problems and Forecast, F. Fights, P. Johnston, M. Kratz. A small book by American specialists that gives an understanding of a computer virus in an accessible form. It summarizes the existing experience in protecting information from contamination, provides an overview ...

For comfortable and safe work at a computer, you must have a minimum of knowledge on ensuring the protection of personal data. To do this, first of all, you need to know what a computer virus is. You also need to remember that the best way to deal with it is antivirus software.

The definition of a computer virus is as follows: "A computer virus is software with the ability to copy itself, be embedded in system code and other software products, as well as cause irreparable damage to the hardware of a computer and information stored on its media.

The main purpose of any virus is to harm, steal information, or monitor a computer. Also, other actions of computer viruses can be traced. The propensity to reproduce allows for maximum damage. The fact that viruses are capable of multiplying not only within the local machine, but also travel over networks, including global ones, suggests that outbreaks of computer viruses are possible.

Phases and states typical of computer viruses

• Passive existence: in this state, the virus is written to the hard disk, but does not take any action until the conditions specified by the programmer are met.
• Reproduction: a condition in which a virus creates an uncountable number of copies of itself and is placed on the hard disk of a computer, and also transmitted to the local network with service packages.
• Active existence: in this mode, the virus begins to fulfill its purpose - to destroy, copy data, artificially occupy disk space and consume RAM.

How computer viruses appeared

The history of computer viruses officially dates back to 1981. Computing technology was in its infancy. Then no one knew what a computer virus was. Richard Skrenta wrote the first bootable virus for the Apple II computer. He was comparatively harmless and displayed a poem on the screen. Later, viruses for MS-DOS began to appear. In 1987, three virus epidemics were recorded at once. This was facilitated by the entry into the market of a relatively inexpensive IBM computer and the growth of computerization as a whole around the globe.

The first epidemic was triggered by the Brain malware, or "Pakistani virus". It was developed by the Alvi brothers to punish users using hacked versions of their software. The brothers did not expect the virus to travel outside Pakistan, but it did, and the Brain virus infected computers around the world.

A second epidemic occurred at Lehigh University in the United States of America, and several hundred floppy disks in the university's computer center library were destroyed. The epidemic was of an average scale for those times, and the virus affected only 4 thousand computers.

The third virus, Jerusalem, originated in several countries around the world. The virus destroyed all files as soon as they were launched. Among the epidemics of 1987-1988, this was the largest.

1990 was the starting point for an active fight against viruses. By this time, many programs were already written that harm computers, but until the 90s this was not a big problem.

In 1995, complex viruses began to emerge and an incident occurred in which all Windows 95 beta discs became infected with viruses.

Today, the expression "computer virus" has become commonplace, and the malware industry is growing and evolving rapidly. New viruses emerge every day: computer, telephone, and now viruses for watches. In spite of them, various companies produce security systems, but computers are still infected in all corners of the world.

Ebola computer virus

Today the computer virus "Ebola" is very relevant. Hackers send it by e-mail under the guise of names of well-known companies. The virus infects software installed on computers and is capable of very quickly deleting everything that is installed on the machine. In addition, it can reproduce, including over a local network. Thus, Ebola is considered one of the most dangerous targets today.

Malware classification

Computer viruses are classified according to various criteria. Depending on their behavior, they were conditionally divided into 6 categories: according to their environment, according to the peculiarities of the structure of the code, according to the method of infecting the computer, according to their integrity, according to their capabilities, and in addition there is a category of unclassified viruses.

According to the habitat, there are the following types of computer viruses:

• Network- these viruses spread over local or global networks, infecting a huge number of computers around the world.
• File- are embedded in a file, infecting it. The danger begins at the moment the infected file is executed.
• Boot- are embedded in the boot sector of the hard disk and begin execution at the time the system boots.

According to the peculiarities of the structure of the code, viruses are divided into:

According to the method of infecting the code, viruses are divided into two groups:

• Resident- Malicious programs that infect RAM.
• Non-resident- viruses that do not infect RAM.

By their integrity, they are divided into:

• Distributed- programs, divided into several files, but having a script for the sequence of their execution.
• Holistic- a single block of programs that is executed by a direct algorithm.

According to their capabilities, viruses are divided into the following four categories:

• Harmless- types of computer viruses that can slow down your computer by multiplying and consuming free space on your hard disk.
• Non-hazardous- viruses that slow down your computer, take up a significant amount of RAM and create sound and graphic effects.
• Dangerous- viruses that can lead to serious system failures, from freezing the computer to the destruction of the operating system.
• Very dangerous- viruses that can erase system information, as well as lead to physical destruction of the computer by disrupting the power distribution of the main components.

Various viruses that did not fall under the general classification:

• Network worms- viruses that calculate the addresses of available computers on the network and multiply. As a rule, they are classified as harmless viruses.
• Trojans, or Trojans. These types of computer viruses got their name in honor of the famous Trojan horse. These viruses disguise themselves as useful programs. They are designed mainly to steal confidential information, but there are also varieties of more dangerous representatives of malware.

How to detect a virus on your computer?

Viruses are able to be invisible, but at the same time perform unwanted actions on the computer. In one case, the presence of a virus is almost impossible to detect, while in another, the user observes a number of signs of a computer infection.

For those who do not know what a computer virus is, the following computer actions should cause suspicion of a danger:

• The computer started to run slower. Moreover, the slowdown is more than significant.
• The appearance of files that the user did not create. Particular attention should be paid to files that have a character set or an unknown extension instead of an adequate name.
• A suspicious increase in the occupied area of ​​RAM.
• Spontaneous shutdown and restart of the computer, its non-standard behavior, screen blinking.
• Inability to download programs.
• Unexpected errors and crash messages.

All these signs indicate that the computer is most likely infected, and an urgent need to scan it for files with malicious code. There is only one way to check your computer for viruses - antivirus software.

Antivirus programs, or antiviruses, are software systems that have extensive databases of computer viruses and perform a thorough scan of the hard disk for the presence of familiar files or code. Antivirus software can disinfect, delete, or isolate the file in a designated area.

Ways and methods of protection against malware

Protection against computer viruses is based on technical and organizational methods. Technical methods are aimed at using means of preventing virus threats: antiviruses, brandwalls, antispam and, of course, timely updating of the operating system. Organizational - methods that describe the correct behavior of a user at a computer in terms of information security.

Technical methods prevent viruses from entering the computer by means of software.

Antivirus- control the file system, tirelessly check and look for traces of malicious code. The firewall is designed to control information arriving through network channels and block unwanted packets.
The firewall allows you to prohibit a certain type of connection based on various criteria: ports, protocols, addresses and actions.

Antispam- control the receipt of spam, and when a suspicious message arrives in the mail client, they block the execution of attached files until the user enforces them. There is an opinion that antispam is the most ineffective way of fighting, but every day they block tens of millions of letters with embedded viruses.

Operating system update- the process by which developers fix errors and shortcomings in the OS, which are used by programmers to write viruses.

Organizational methods describe the rules for working with a personal computer, processing information, launching and using software, based on four basic principles:

1. Run and open only those documents and files that come from reliable sources, and in the security of which there is firm confidence. In this case, the user assumes responsibility for launching this or that program.
2. Check all incoming information from any external sources, be it the Internet, optical disc or flash drive.
3. Always keep the anti-virus database and the version of the shell software for catching and eliminating threats up to date. This is due to the fact that anti-virus software developers are constantly improving their products, relying on the emergence of new viruses;
4. Always agree with the offers of anti-virus programs to check the flash drive or hard drive connected to the computer.

With the advent of viruses, programs began to appear that allow them to find and neutralize them. New viruses appear in the world every day. Computer products to fix them are updated several times a day to stay up-to-date. So, without stopping, there is a constant struggle against computer viruses.

Today the choice of antivirus programs is very large. New offers appear on the market every now and then, and the most diverse: from full-fledged software systems to small subroutines focused on only one type of virus. You can find security solutions that are free or with a paid term license.

Antiviruses store in their signature databases extracts from the code of a huge number of objects dangerous for computer systems and during the scan they compare the codes of documents and executable files with their database. If a match is found, the antivirus will inform the user about it and offer one of the security options.

Computer viruses and antivirus programs are integral parts of each other. There is an opinion that for the sake of commercial gain, anti-virus programs develop dangerous objects on their own.

Antivirus software utilities are divided into several types:

• Detector programs. Designed to search for objects infected with one of the currently known computer viruses. Usually, detectors only look for infected files, but in some cases they are capable of treating them.
• Auditor programs - these programs remember the state of the file system, and after a while they check and verify the changes. If the data does not match, the program checks if the suspicious file has been edited by the user. If the scan is negative, the user will receive a message about the possible infection of the object.
• Healing programs- designed to treat programs and entire hard drives.
• Filters- check the information coming to the computer from the outside and deny access to suspicious files. As a rule, they display a request to the user. Filter programs are already being implemented in all modern browsers in order to find a computer virus in a timely manner. This is a very effective solution, taking into account the current level of development of the Internet.

The largest anti-virus complexes contain all the utilities that are combined into one large defense mechanism. The outstanding representatives of anti-virus software today are: Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Eset NOD32, Dr.Web, Norton Anti-Virus, Avira Antivir and Avast.

These programs have all the basic capabilities to have the right to be called security software systems. Some of them have extremely limited free versions, and some are offered only for cash rewards.

Varieties of antivirus programs

There are anti-viruses for home computers, office networks, file servers and network gateways. Each of them can find and remove viruses, but the main emphasis in different versions of such programs is on their intended purpose. The most complete functionality, of course, is possessed by antivirus software for the home, which has to perform tasks to protect all possible vulnerabilities.

What to do if you suspect a computer infection?

If the user thinks that the computer is infected with a virus, first of all, do not panic, but strictly follow the following sequence of actions:

• Close all programs and files with which the user is currently working.
• Run the anti-virus program (if the program is not installed, install it).
• Find the full check function and run.
• After the scan is finished, the antivirus will offer the user several options for actions with the detected malicious objects: files - disinfect, remove malicious programs, what is not removed - quarantine.
• It is advisable to strictly follow the recommendations of antivirus software.
• After cleaning is complete, restart the scan.

If the antivirus did not find a single threat during the scan, it means that the non-standard operation of the computer is caused by malfunctions in the PC hardware or internal errors of the operating system, which also happens quite often, especially if the operating system is rarely updated.

There are different types of software: useful and not very useful. In the latter case, we are talking about the notorious computer viruses. Computer virus- a malicious program that can reproduce copies of itself and independently penetrate (inject copies of itself) into the code of other programs, databases, hard disk boot sectors, etc. Moreover, this type of software is not limited to "penetration". The ultimate goal of most computer viruses is to cause some kind of harm to the recipient. The harmfulness of computer viruses boils down to deleting files, seizing part of the computer's disk space, blocking the work of its users, cracking personal data, etc.

Oh, however, not all viruses for computers so hostile. Some of them simply display harmless messages of humorous, advertising or political content on the monitor screen. In this case, no harm to the computer is observed. The same cannot be said about the user, whose nervous system is subjected to a certain test. A test that not all of us can handle. Torn mice, mutilated keyboards and broken monitors in commercials are a vivid confirmation of this.

By now, you've probably guessed, our today's conversation will go about the history of computer viruses.

Why exactly a "virus"?

I will begin this course in history with the origin of the name "computer virus". Why "virus" and not, say, "illness" or "injury"? The answer is simple - the whole point is in the striking similarity of the mechanisms of distribution of biological and computer viruses. Just as a biological virus takes over a cell in an organism, reproduces itself in it and then occupies a new cell, so does a computer virus. Having infiltrated a particular program, creating a certain number of copies of itself, the malicious software begins to invade other areas of the computer, and then moves to the next device. Agree, the analogy is more than obvious. Actually, that's why the "virus". True, not biological, but computer.

It is not known for certain who and when was the first to use this phrase. Therefore, without pretending to be the ultimate truth, I will voice the name of the person who is most often mentioned in this context. This (pictured on the right) is an astrophysicist and, in combination, a science fiction writer from the United States. Many believe that it is in his story "The Scarred Man"(1970) The word "virus" was first used in relation to a computer program.

No theory - no viruses!

As it often happens, word and deed differ noticeably in time. In our case, this can be confirmed by the fact that the substantiation of the theoretical foundations for the creation and functioning of self-replicating computer programs (viruses) took place decades before the appearance of the phrase itself.

In 1949, at the University of Illinois, an American mathematician of Hungarian descent John von Neumann taught a course of lectures on the topic "Theory and organization of complex automatic devices." Subsequently, the famous scientist summarized his lecture materials and published in 1951 a scientific work with a similar title "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automatic Devices". In the work, John von Neumann described in detail the mechanism for creating a computer program that could reproduce itself in the process of functioning.

Von Neumann's scientific research served as the main impetus for the practical creation of computer viruses in the future, and the scientist himself is rightfully considered the father of the theoretician of computer virology.

Developing the theory of the American, the German researcher Veit Rizak in 1972 publishes the article "Self-replicating automatic devices with minimal exchange of information." In it, the scientist describes the mechanism of operation of a full-fledged virus written in Assembly language for the SIEMENS 4004/35 computer system.

Another important scientific work in this field is considered to be a graduate diploma from the University of Dortmund. Jurgen Kraus... In 1980, in his graduate work "Self-replicating programs", the young researcher opened up questions of theory, described the self-replicating programs for the SIEMENS computer already existing at that time, and was the first to emphasize that computer programs are similar to biological viruses.

An observant reader may notice that the above scientific research concerned the development of exclusively "peaceful" computer programs capable of reproducing themselves. Theorists did not even think about the harmfulness of their "patients". For them, it was done by other persons, who recognized in time the enormous potential of this kind of programs for "damaging" computers and other equipment. But that was later, but for now, let's move on from theory to practice.

The first swallows

Having done what John von Neumann, a group of employees of an American company, spoke and wrote about Bell Laboratories in 1961 created an original game for IBM 7090 computers Darwin... During this game, a certain number of assembly programs ("organisms") were loaded into the computer's memory. Organisms belonging to one player had to absorb the organisms of another player, while capturing more and more game space. The victory was celebrated by the player whose organisms captured the entire game memory.

For those of you, dear readers, who want to get acquainted in detail with the chronology of the emergence of known computer viruses on the planet, I can recommend it in English. There you will find numerous interesting facts about praviruses (for example, Jerusalem / 1987 or Morris worm / 1988) and update your knowledge about the latest malware (for example, the Trojan horse Game Over / 2013). Of course, if you are fluent with English.

Virus to virus - strife!

Over the years that have passed since the first computer virus appeared, the main types (s) of malicious software have emerged. I will briefly dwell on each of them.

Classification of computer viruses:

• Network worm- a kind of "hostile" software that is able to independently spread using local or global computer networks. The first representative is the already mentioned Morris worm.


• Trojan horse, trojan- a type of computer virus spread (downloaded to a PC) directly by a person. Unlike a worm, a Trojan cannot spontaneously take over a particular computer. The first Trojan horse in 1989 was the AIDS computer virus.


• Polymorphic computer virus- malware with an increased level of protection against its detection. In other words, it is a computer virus created using a special programming technique that allows it to remain undetected for longer. The first polymorphic virus was Chameleon (1990).


• Stealth virus- a computer virus capable of partially or completely hiding its presence at the place of download and activation. In fact, it is a stealth virus, the key difference from a polymorphic virus is the way of masking. The mechanism for concealing the presence of a stealth virus is to intercept calls to the operating system from the anti-virus software. Frodo (1990) is considered to be the progenitor of this group of computer viruses.

If something is done, it means that someone needs it.

What are the goals of the creators of computer viruses? Yes, very different. For the most part, according to Western analysts, we are talking about disabling the computer equipment of competitors / enemies or stealing money belonging to persons attacked by the virus.

At the same time, there are other, sometimes quite amusing, reasons for the development of computer viruses. Some activists spread the political through the virus. Others, filled with concern for others, use it to point out the vulnerability of certain software. There are even people who, watching the consequences of a viral attack, get perverted human pleasure. They are having fun, in a word.

Also, the role of developers in the creation and distribution of computer viruses cannot be discounted. Someone may ask the question: how can this be? That's how! The losses from virus attacks worldwide are estimated at billions of US dollars annually. The capitalization of the international paid antivirus software market is also estimated in billions. You can come to a simple thought: this is an inexhaustible gold mine. First, the virus is created (albeit with the help of intermediaries), and then it is effectively treated by the customer. For money.

This is nothing new. Especially if you remember what caring activists reproach transnational pharmaceutical companies for. Then in my speculations, you can find a healthy grain. And not even one.

In brief, the whole history of the emergence of computer viruses. Be careful and may happiness, health and three bags of money be with you.

Hello again.
Topic of today's article. Types of computer viruses, principles of their work, ways of infection with computer viruses.

What are computer viruses in general.

A computer virus is a specially written program or an assembly of algorithms that are written with the aim of: joking, harming someone's computer, gaining access to your computer, to intercept passwords or extort money. Viruses can self-copy and infect your programs and files with malicious code, as well as boot sectors.

Types of malware.

Malware can be divided into two main types.
Viruses and worms.

Viruses- spread through a malicious file that you could download on the Internet, or may end up on a pirate disk, or often transmit them via Skype under the guise of useful programs (I noticed that schoolchildren often come across the latter, they are supposedly given a mod for a game or cheats, but in fact may be a virus that can harm).
The virus introduces its code to one of the programs, or is masked by a separate program in the place where users usually do not go (folders with the operating system, hidden system folders).
The virus cannot start itself until you launch the infected program yourself.
Worms already infect many files on your computer, for example, all exe files, system files, boot sectors, etc.
Worms often enter the system themselves, using the vulnerabilities of your OS, your browser, or a certain program.
They can penetrate chats, communication programs such as skype, icq can be distributed via e-mail.
They can also be on sites, and using the vulnerability of your browser to penetrate your system.
Worms can spread over the local network, if one of the computers on the network becomes infected, it can spread to other computers, infecting all files in its path.
Worms try to write for the most popular programs. For example, now the most popular browser is "Chrome", so scammers will try to write for it, and make malicious code on sites for it. Because it is often more interesting to infect thousands of users who use a popular program than a hundred with an unpopular program. Although chrome is constantly improving security.
The best protection against network worms This is to update your programs and your operating system. Many neglect the updates, which they often regret.
Several years ago I noticed the following worm.

But he obviously did not get through the Internet, but most likely through a pirated disc. The essence of his work was as follows - he allegedly created a copy of each folder on a computer or on a flash drive. But in fact, he did not create a similar folder but an exe file. When you click on such an exe file, it spreads even more throughout the system. And now you just got rid of it, you come to a friend with a flash drive, throw off the music from him, and you come back with a flash drive infected with such a worm and you had to take it out again. I don't know if this virus caused any other harm to the system, but soon this virus ceased to exist.

The main types of viruses.

In fact, there are many types and varieties of computer threats. And it is simply impossible to consider everything. Therefore, we will consider the most common recently and the most unpleasant.
Viruses are:
— File- are located in an infected file, are activated when the user turns on this program, they cannot activate themselves.
— Boot- can be loaded when loading windows, hitting startup, when inserting a USB flash drive or the like.
- Macro viruses - these are various scripts that can be located on the site, can send them to you by mail or in Word and Excel documents, perform certain functions inherent in the computer. Exploit vulnerabilities in your programs.

Types of viruses.
-Trojans
- Spies
- Ransomware
- Vandals
- Rootkits
- Botnet
- Keyloggers
These are the most common types of threats that you may encounter. But in reality there are many more.
Some viruses can even combine and contain several types of these threats at once.
- Trojans... The name comes from the Trojan horse. It penetrates your computer under the guise of harmless programs, then it can open access to your computer or send your passwords to the owner.
Recently, such Trojans have been widespread, which are called stealers. They can steal saved passwords in your browser, in game mail clients. Immediately after launch, it copies your passwords and sends your passwords to email or hosting to an attacker. It remains for him to collect your data, then they are either sold or used for their own purposes.
- Spyware track user actions. What sites the user visits or what does the user do on his computer.
- Ransomware... These include Winlockers. The program completely, or completely blocks access to the computer and requires money for unlocking, for example, put on an account or so on. In no case, if you get caught up in this, you shouldn't send money. The computer will not be unlocked for you, and you will lose money. You have a direct road to the Drweb website, where you can find how to unlock many winlockers by entering a certain code or performing some actions. Some winlockers can disappear for example in a day.
- Vandals can block access to antivirus websites and access to antivirus and many other programs.
- Rootkits(rootkit) - viruses are hybrids. They can contain various viruses. They can gain access to your pc, and a person will have full access to your computer, and they can merge into the kernel level of your OS. Came from the world of Unix systems. They can mask various viruses, collect data about the computer and about all computer processes.
- Botnet quite an unpleasant thing. Botnets are huge networks of infected "zombie" computers that can be used for DDoS sites and other cyber attacks using infected computers. This type is very common and difficult to detect, even antivirus companies may not be aware of their existence for a long time. Many people can be infected with them and do not even suspect about it. You are no exception, and maybe even I.
— Keyloggers(keylogger) - keyloggers. They intercept everything that you enter from the keyboard (sites, passwords) and send them to the owner.

Ways of infection with computer viruses.

The main routes of infection.
- Operating system vulnerability.

— Browser vulnerability

- Antivirus quality is lame

- User stupidity

- Removable media.
OS vulnerability- no matter how hard you try to rivet protection for the OS, security holes are found over time. Most viruses are written under windows as it is the most popular operating system. The best defense is to keep your operating system up to date and try to use a newer version.
Browsers- This is due to browser vulnerabilities, especially if they are old again. It is also treated with frequent updates. There can also be problems if you download browser plugins from third-party resources.
Antivirus- free antiviruses that have less functionality than paid ones. Although paid ones do not give 100 results in defense and misfire. But it is desirable to have at least a free antivirus. I already wrote about free antiviruses in this article.
User stupidity- clicks on banners, click on suspicious links from letters, etc., install software from suspicious places.
Removable media- viruses can be installed automatically from infected and specially prepared flash drives and other removable media. Not so long ago, the world heard about the BadUSB vulnerability.

https://avi1.ru/ - you can buy very inexpensive promotion on social networks on this site. You will also receive really profitable offers for purchasing resources on your pages.

Types of infected objects.

Files- Infect your programs, system and regular files.
Boot sectors- memory resident viruses. As the name implies, they infect the boot sectors of the computer, assign their code to the computer's startup and are launched when the operating system starts up. Sometimes they are well disguised, which is difficult to remove from startup.
Macros- Word documents, excel and the like. I use macros and vulnerabilities in Microsoft office tools injects its malicious code into your operating system.

Signs of a computer virus infection.

Not the fact that when some of these signs appear, it means the presence of a virus in the system. But if they are available, it is recommended to check your computer with an antivirus or contact a specialist.
One of the common signs is this is a strong overload of the computer... When your computer is running slowly, although you seem to have nothing turned on, programs that can heavily load the computer. But if you have antivirus, notice the antiviruses themselves load the computer very well. And in the absence of such software that can load, then more likely there are viruses. In general, I advise you to reduce the number of startup programs to start at startup.

may also be one of the signs of infection.
But not all viruses can put a heavy load on the system, some are almost difficult to notice changes.
System errors. Drivers stop working, some programs start to work incorrectly or often crash with an error, but before, let's say this was not noticed. Or programs start to reboot frequently. Of course, this happens because of antiviruses, for example, the antivirus deleted it by mistake, believing the system file to be malicious, or deleted a really infected file but it was associated with the system files of the program and the removal entailed such errors.

The appearance of ads in browsers or even banners start to appear on the desktop.
The appearance of non-standard sounds when the computer is running (squeaks, clicks for no reason, and the like).
The CD / DVD drive opens by itself, or just starts to read the disc even though the disc is not there.
Turning on or off the computer for a long time.
Hijacking your passwords. If you notice that various spam is being sent on your behalf, from your mailbox or social network page, as the likelihood that a virus has penetrated your computer and passed the passwords to the owner, if you notice this, I recommend checking with an antivirus without fail (although it is not a fact that this is the case the attacker got your password).
Frequent access to the hard disk... Each computer has an indicator that blinks when using various programs or when copying, downloading, moving files. For example, your computer is just turned on, but no programs are used, but the indicator starts flashing frequently, supposedly programs are being used. These are already viruses at the level of the hard disk.

Here, in fact, we examined the computer viruses that you may encounter on the Internet. But in fact, there are many times more of them, and it is not possible to fully protect yourself, except perhaps not to use the Internet, not to buy discs and not to turn on the computer at all.

All software can be roughly divided into useful and malicious. In the second case, we are, of course, talking about computer viruses, the first of which appeared in the 70s and 80s of the last century. Since then, these pest programs have evolved a lot, but even now they have many similarities with their ancestors.

As you may have guessed, this article is about the history of computer viruses. So, you will find out who came up with these ill-fated programs and what path they have passed from the moment of their formation to the present day.

History of the name

It’s worth starting with why viruses were named that way, and not otherwise. After all, you could have come up with a name more related to computer topics. The point is that these programs are very similar in the way they are distributed to biological viruses. Both one and the other constantly reproduce themselves, gradually capturing more and more new parts of the body. Moreover, both computer systems are not limited to one medium, but constantly infect an increasing number of victims.

Unfortunately, it is not known exactly who is the author of this well-established term. True, many experts say that the phrase "computer virus" was first used by science fiction writer Gregory Benford. In his 1970 work "The Man in Scars", it is a virus that refers to a program that harms computers.

Theory

If we talk about the emergence of various new technologies, then, as often happens, first a theory is born, and only then it comes to practice. Viruses are no exception to this rule.

Back in 1949, the American mathematician John von Neumann taught a course on complex automatic devices. Then, already in 1951, he published a scientific work called "The theory of self-replicating devices", which described in detail the possibility of creating a computer program with the ability to copy itself.

Much later, in 1972, Veit Rizak developed the theory of the American. He described in detail the mechanism of operation of a full-fledged application, which was essentially a virus, for the Siemens 4004/35 system. And finally, in 1980, Jurgen Kraus, being a graduate of the University of Dortmund, for the first time compared such a program with a biological infection.

Of course, all of the above has had a huge impact on the history of computer viruses. But, as you may have noticed, all the works of scientists were devoted exclusively to harmless programs capable of self-reproduction.

From theory to practice

Inspired by John's writings, Bell Laboratories decided to put his theories to the test. They created a game for the 7090. The project was named Darwin.

The essence of this toy was that a number of assembly programs (they were called organisms) were placed in the computer's memory. In this case, the organisms were approximately equally divided between the two players. The programs then began the self-copying process, consuming both disk space and enemy organisms. Accordingly, the winner was considered the player whose "wards" completely absorbed all the allotted memory, while destroying the opponent's organisms.

As you can see, Darwin's mechanism is very similar to modern malware. Even though the game did not actually affect any functions of the computer, it is she who is considered the prototype of all viruses.

Creeper and Reaper

In the wake of Darwin's success, developers began to create more and more applications with similar functionality, but Creeper should be singled out separately among them. It is an experimental virus that dates back to 1970. The program infected DEC PDP-10 computers running the Tenex operating system and displayed a message on their screens: I`m the creeper! Catch me if you can ("I am the Creeper! Catch me if you can!"). Despite this behavior, the application never made it out of the test bench, so it is not considered the first computer virus.

What's more interesting is the Reaper program, made by the same development team. Oddly enough, this was the only task of which was to find and destroy the Creeper. And I must say that she successfully coped with this. Since then, of course, a lot of time has passed, but it was Creeper and Reaper who initiated the eternal struggle between viruses and antiviruses. What happened next?

With the onset of the 1980s, the era of the development of personal computers, as well as floppy disks as information carriers, began. This is the very time when the first computer virus appeared. For example, 15-year-old schoolboy Richard Skrenta developed in 1981 a program for the Apple II, capable of infecting the DOS operating system that boots from a floppy disk. The virus was named Elk Cloner and, which is very important, it could copy itself to "healthy" media, thus traveling from one computer to another.

Basically, the program didn't harm the PC much. The virus for the Apple II only displayed a message on the computer screen. It was written in poetic form. However, Elk Cloner was an unpleasant surprise for users. After all, they had never encountered anything like this before. In addition, the program managed to infect a lot of computers, which by the standards of that time quite went down to the first virus outbreak.

Brain

The next important event happened in 1986. Programmers Amjad and Bazit Alvi created the first computer virus for IBM systems called Brain. According to the developers themselves, they wanted to punish the local pirates with the help of their brainchild, but the situation got out of their control. Believe them or not - this is a personal matter for everyone.

The Brain computer virus has burst far beyond the borders of Pakistan, and it was there that its creators lived, and managed to harm tens of thousands of users. In the United States alone, 20,000 computers were affected by it. Of course, now it does not sound too threatening, but then it was equated to a global epidemic.

The end of the floppy era

Time passed, technologies developed, and the era of floppy disks gradually began to decline. Along with this, the Internet gained wide popularity, thanks to which users began to exchange information with each other. Undoubtedly, all these are very positive aspects, but precisely because of them, computer viruses have become much more dangerous.

To date, they have evolved so much that they can spread at an alarming rate. In just a few hours, a particular virus can infect millions of computers, disrupting the work of even government agencies and large companies. What can we say about ordinary users. Moreover, several different types of viruses have emerged, each with its own characteristics. They will be discussed below.

"Worms"

These malicious programs are distinguished by their ability to spread themselves. To do this, they use the vulnerability of applications, affecting them both through local and through global networks (Internet). In theory, a "worm" can infect all computers in the world in 15 minutes, but, fortunately, this is not possible in reality.

The first and one of the most famous representatives of this type of virus is the so-called Morris worm. It was created in 1988 and in the shortest possible time managed to infect about 6,200 computers, which then corresponded to about 10% of all PCs connected to the Internet.

Trojans

As for Trojans, unlike the same "worms", they cannot spread on their own. These viruses get on the computer as a result of certain actions of the users themselves. For example, you can install a program that is legal and harmless at first glance, but under its guise it will hide malware.

After infecting a computer, the Trojan begins to perform all sorts of unauthorized actions. So, he can collect information, including passwords, or simply use the resources of the system for any unseemly purposes.

The first representative of this type of virus is AIDS, which raged in 1989. Then it spread on floppy disks, replaced the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and started counting the number of system downloads. As soon as that number reached 90, the Trojan encrypted the names of all files on the C drive, making it impossible to use the OS. The person, accordingly, was asked to pay to get access to his information again.

Polymorphs

They stand out in that they have an increased level of protection against detection by antivirus utilities. Simply put, these viruses, thanks to the special programming technique used to create them, can go unnoticed for a long time, harming the system. The first of the known polymorphs is relatively young. It appeared in 1990 and was named Chameleon, and its creator is Mark Washburn.

Stealth viruses

At first glance, stealth viruses are very similar to polymorphs. They also hide their presence on the computer, but use slightly different methods for this. Stealth viruses intercept requests of antivirus programs to the operating system, thereby excluding the possibility of their detection. The first representative of this family is considered to be the Frodo program, developed in Israel at the end of 1989, but its debut use took place already in 1990.

A little about protection

While viruses were developing, antiviruses, the best way to fight them, also did not stand still. So, in addition to the already mentioned Reaper, utilities made to protect against unwanted software appeared periodically. True, until 1981, viruses did not pose a serious threat, so there was no need to somehow resist them.

If we talk about antiviruses in the modern sense of this term, the first of them began to be used in 1985. The program was called DRProtect and prevented all third-party BIOS-related activities by restarting the computer if detected.

Nevertheless, malware developers gradually learned to bypass the protection provided by the primitive antiviruses of the time. The situation was saved only in 1992 thanks to the program of Eugene Kaspersky. An emulator of the system code was built into it, which, with some changes, is used in antiviruses to this day.

Who needs it?

It is logical that the developers of viruses, creating them, pursue some specific goals. However, their intentions can be very different, ranging from damage to competitors' equipment and ending with the desire to steal other people's money. Often, during attacks on large companies, ordinary users become victims of virus outbreaks, because they are less able to protect themselves from them.

Be that as it may, you must be prepared for such situations. Always update your antivirus to the latest version, and you will minimize the chances of infecting your computer.