Computer Virus

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 What is a Computer Virus
• A kind of software programs
– produced by unknown people and harmful
to the computers

• Some varieties of these software are the

– Viruses, Worms and Trojan horses

 What isTitle
a Computer Virus

• The term “Virus" is often commonly used

– to describe all kinds of malware (malicious

software)

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Damages
Title done by Viruses
Viruses
• Sometimes display unwanted messages

• Some tend to destroy programs or data

• Clog computer memory and hence sometimes

result in system crashes

• Format hard disks, Damage programs, Delete

files

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 Damages done by Viruses
• Simply replicate themselves

• Presents text, video, or audio messages making the

user know their presence

• Bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system

crashes and data loss

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 Virus spreading methods
• A viruses can copy itself and infect a computer

– without permission or knowledge of the user

• attaches itself to other software programs or

data files

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 Virus spreading methods
• Spreads from computer to computer when the
host is taken to the uninfected computer
– over a network such as over the Internet or carrying it

on a removable medium - a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive

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 Virus spreading methods
• Many viruses are existed in the Internet today
and new ones are discovered every day.
– spread via downloaded software and data files, and
email attachments, etc

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 Virus spreading methods
• Some old viruses are installed
themselves into the disk boot sector
– runs when the user boot the computer
from the disk

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Virus spreading methods
• Some viruses spread through instant
messaging
– A virus, in an infected machine, may send a web-
address-link as a message to other contacting
machines

– Thinking the link is from a friend (a trusted source),

the recipient may sometimes follow the link to the
website.

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 How Viruses are born?
• Unlike biological viruses, computer
viruses do not simply evolve by
themselves…
– deliberately created by programmers, or by
people who use virus creation software
 How Viruses are born?
• Viruses are written as
– research projects, pranks, vandalism,
– to attack the products of specific
companies,

– to distribute political messages,

– and financial gain from identity theft,
– spyware, and cryptoviral extortion.
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 How Viruses are born?

• Some virus writers

– consider their creations to be works of art
– See virus writing as a creative hobby

Releasing computer viruses is a crime in most jurisdictions

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Viruses can avoid detection
• To avoid detection by users, viruses employ
different deception methods
– They do not make themselves to
• change the date of last modified
• increase file sizes
• damage the files

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Viruses can avoid detection

– They kill the tasks associated with antivirus

software before it can detect them!!

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Viruses can avoid detection
– They kill the tasks associated with antivirus
software before it can detect them

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 How Antivirus software works?

• Use a heuristic algorithm to find viruses based

on common behaviors

– Examin the content heuristics of the computer's

memory (its RAM, and boot sectors)

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 How Antivirus software works?

• Some anti-virus programs gives you a

real time protection
– Examine files as they are being opened,
downloaded, copied, accessed, and
transmitted etc
 How Antivirus software works?

• They need regular updates

– in order to gain knowledge about the
latest threats

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 Damage prevention & data recovering

How to prevent damages caused by viruses?

• Take regular backups (including OS) on

different media, unconnected to the system

(most of the time)

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 Damage prevention & data recovering

How to prevent damages caused by viruses?

• Use backups on optical media like CD and DVD
(read-only), as they can no longer be affected
by viruses.

• Use an OS on a bootable, to start the

computer if the installed OS become unusable.

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Install reliable anti-virus software
– the most important step you can take towards keeping
your computer clean of viruses

• Update your anti-virus software regularly

– variations of viruses and new ones can be slipped if your
software is not current

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Get immediate protection
– Configure your anti-virus software to boot automatically
on start-up and run at all times

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Keep your computer Virus free
⦿ Don't automatically open attachments
ensure that you examine and scan email and other
attachments before they run as they might contain
viruses

⦿ Scan all incoming email attachments

Do not open any email attached files if the subject line is
questionable, unexpected or the source (address) is
unknown, suspicious or untrustworthy

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Keep your computer Virus free
• Delete chain emails and junk email
– Do not forward or reply to any of them, they clogs up
the network

– Some viruses can replicate themselves and spread

through email as a chain

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Be careful when downloading files from the
Internet
– Ensure that the source is a legitimate and reputable one

– save all downloads to one folder and test them with your
own anti-virus software before use

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Always scan new files for viruses before you
use them

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Backup your files on a regular basis

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• If your computer is on a network, make sure
you have security steps in place to prevent
unauthorized users putting files on your
computer .

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 Keep your computer Virus free
• Take care using USB flash cards, CDs, zip and
floppy disks
– The more computers flash cards, CDs, zip cards and
floppies have been used on, the better the chance of a
virus infecting them – clean them before use

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Thank You