Virus & Anti-virus

Edvinas Giniotis,
Iiin-10/1
VIRUS ANTI-VIRUS
Virus are
• A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer.

• 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, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk , CD ,
DVD , or USB drive .

• 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.
First viruses
CREEPER (1971):
This is perhaps the first ever noticed
computer virus. It found its way to infect
computers on ARPANET.  This virus is
mostly harmless.
BRAIN (1986)
This is the one that started it all.  Created by
two Pakistani brothers, the Brain virus is
widely considered to be the first PC
computer virus ever.  It wasn't particularly
virulent.  It was a boot sector infector, and
was accompanied by the creators' names
and phone numbers.   The brothers swore
the intention was not malicious, but the
genie was out of the bottle; the Brain virus
became the model for numerous viruses
and other malware for years to come.
How to know!
• A virus program contains instructions
to initiate some sort of "event" that An
An annoying
annoying
message
message
affects the infected computer. Each appearing
appearing on
on
virus has an unique event associated the
the computer
computer
screen.
with it. These events and their effects screen.
can range from harmless to
devastating. For examples:
Hard
Hard drive
drive Modification
Modification
erased.
erased. of
of data.
data.

VIRUS

Reduced
Reduced Files
Files
memory
memory oror overwritten
overwritten or
or
disk
disk space.
space. damaged.
damaged.
 File virus Boot sector
virus

Types
of
Viruses

Macro Virus
Virus Hoax
Most popular viruses
MELISSA (1999)
The Melissa virus was one of the first
viruses to be spread via e-mail, crashing
corporate networks by taking advantage of
the increasingly popular Microsoft Outlook
mail client.  The virus was spread by an
infected attachment to the email, and
automatically sent itself to the first 50
names in the user's address book, making it
the first virus to move from one computer to
another on its own.  The amount of email
passing through servers quickly increased
exponentially, forcing shutdowns and
business stoppages.  The Melissa virus was
also noteworthy because its creator was
caught and sent to prison.
ILOVEYOU (2000)
This is the virus that made us all afraid to
open attachments. ILOVEYOU was one of
the first to trick users into opening the file
that actually activated the virus.  The
ILOVEYOU worm masqueraded as a love
letter sent via e-mail, but instead was a
computer script that sent copies of itself to
users' Microsoft Outlook address book
entries, overwrote and deleted computer
files, modified Internet Explorer pages, and
even interfered with Registry keys.  It
caused billions of dollars worth of damages,
and is still considered one of the worst
worms ever.

NIMDA (2001)
This virus employs all sorts of methods to
establish its authority and does its ill-
conceived job fast and most effectively. Its
area of influence is wide and it is one
amongst the most feared viruses.
29TH APRIL 1999
CHERNOBYL VIRUS
• The virus was found in different parts of the
World.
• The media in China reported as many as a
hundred thousand computers affected.
South Korean officials estimated two
hundred and fifty thousand were hit, and, in
India, at least ten thousand PCs crashed ,
including ones run by major industries and
financial institutions. In the Middle East,
Israeli data recovery experts said there'd
been a catastrophe, with thousands of
computers affected. Egyptian firms sent
workers home as their systems were
paralysed : and there were reports of
thousands of computers losing vital
information right across the Gulf. Chernobyl
has not been propogated to the same extent
as the recent Melissa virus, which jammed
networks with e-mail, but it has caused far
greater damage.
Anti-virus
Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware , including
but not limited to computer viruses , computer worm , trojan horses , spyware and adware .
This page talks about the software used for the prevention and removal of such threats ,
rather than computer security implemented by software methods.

Most of the computer viruses written in the early and mid 1980s were limited to self-
reproduction and had no specific damage routine built into the code. That changed when
more and more programmers became acquainted with virus programming and created
viruses that manipulated or even destroyed data on infected computers.

There are competing claims for the innovator of the first antivirus product. Possibly the first
publicly documented removal of a computer virus in the wild was performed by Bernd Fix in
1987.
Other methods how to save computer

• Cloud antivirus
• Network firewall
• Specialist tools