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2 Computer Viruses, Malicious Logic, and Spyware
The virus activation process can be both time-related (activation on a specific date
or day of the week) and event-related (activation by launching a program, opening a
document, etc.).
Worms are viruses that spread across worldwide networks, affecting not just individual programs, but entire systems. Nowadays, this is the most dangerous virus
type, as in this case, information systems of the national level become targets of an
attack. With the global advent of the Internet, this type of security breach poses the
greatest threat, since any of the 40 million computers connected to the network may
be infected at any time.
By habitat, in other words, by infected objects, viruses are divided into file, boot,
network viruses, and macro viruses.
Typical Signs of Computer Virus Infection
When a computer is infected with a virus, timely detection is important. For this
purpose, one should know the main signs of their manifestation:
* termination of work (or incorrect work) of previously successfully functioning
programs;
• Slow computer operation;
• Impossibility to load the operating system;
• Disappearance of files and directories or distortion of their content;
• Change of file modification date and time;
• Change of file size;
• Sudden significant increase in the number of files on the hard drive;
• Significant decrease in the size of free RAM;
• Unwanted content display (popup messages or images);
• Unintended sound signals;
• Frequent freezes and malfunction.
2.1.2 A Brief History of Computer Viruses
This may seem paradoxical, but the fundamentals of the theory of self-replicating
mechanisms were formulated by none other than John von Neumann—one of the
fathers of computer engineering. In 1951, he suggested a method for creating such
mechanisms.
One of the first publications devoted to the creation of such self-replicating
systems is the article by L. S. Penrose, written in collaboration with her husband,
Nobel laureate in physics R. Penrose, on “self-replicating mechanical structures”
and published in 1957 by the American journal “Nature”.
Along with examples of purely mechanical structures, this article described an
abstract two-dimensional model of such structures capable of activation, capture,
and release. Four years later (in 1961), such programs came into existence, and the
“Russian trace” appeared for the first time. Namely, in 1961, three co-authors of
2 Computer Viruses, Malicious Logic, and Spyware
The virus activation process can be both time-related (activation on a specific date
or day of the week) and event-related (activation by launching a program, opening a
document, etc.).
Worms are viruses that spread across worldwide networks, affecting not just individual programs, but entire systems. Nowadays, this is the most dangerous virus
type, as in this case, information systems of the national level become targets of an
attack. With the global advent of the Internet, this type of security breach poses the
greatest threat, since any of the 40 million computers connected to the network may
be infected at any time.
By habitat, in other words, by infected objects, viruses are divided into file, boot,
network viruses, and macro viruses.
Typical Signs of Computer Virus Infection
When a computer is infected with a virus, timely detection is important. For this
purpose, one should know the main signs of their manifestation:
* termination of work (or incorrect work) of previously successfully functioning
programs;
• Slow computer operation;
• Impossibility to load the operating system;
• Disappearance of files and directories or distortion of their content;
• Change of file modification date and time;
• Change of file size;
• Sudden significant increase in the number of files on the hard drive;
• Significant decrease in the size of free RAM;
• Unwanted content display (popup messages or images);
• Unintended sound signals;
• Frequent freezes and malfunction.
2.1.2 A Brief History of Computer Viruses
This may seem paradoxical, but the fundamentals of the theory of self-replicating
mechanisms were formulated by none other than John von Neumann—one of the
fathers of computer engineering. In 1951, he suggested a method for creating such
mechanisms.
One of the first publications devoted to the creation of such self-replicating
systems is the article by L. S. Penrose, written in collaboration with her husband,
Nobel laureate in physics R. Penrose, on “self-replicating mechanical structures”
and published in 1957 by the American journal “Nature”.
Along with examples of purely mechanical structures, this article described an
abstract two-dimensional model of such structures capable of activation, capture,
and release. Four years later (in 1961), such programs came into existence, and the
“Russian trace” appeared for the first time. Namely, in 1961, three co-authors of