The Evolution of the Computer Virus
Introduction
In simple terms a virus can be defined as software, which is unwanted and executes arbitrary code on systems. It acts as a small software program, which has the capability of exploiting other software programs in order to piggyback[1]. The terms viruses and malwares are used interchangeably, however, in technical terms, the viruses are a subset of malware and so are trojans, worms and rootkits.
The name for the “Computer Virus” has actually derived from its biological counterpart because of their proximity in properties. Similar to the functioning of biological viruses, a computer virus must use another program to exploit some other program in order to start functioning. Hence, this principle characteristics trait results in the name “Computer “Virus”.
1. Why is Computer Virus created?
Few researchers believe in constructing viruses for staying up-to date security inaccuracies and for finding vulnerabilities in the antivirus software. This helps them to stay aware and acquainted against the people who write viruses with the main motive of procuring damages.[2]
The creation of virus involves not only the coding phase but also a testing phase, in order to check the capability of virus to spread itself. Then the virus attack phase also needs to be developed. ‘Diverse intentions motivate people to write these viruses. Few of the intentions behind programmers to develop these viruses are’[1] –
• Few programmers find it as a sense of thrill and excitement .These people can be compared to despoilers or hooligans but who are acquaint with computer programming skills.
• Few programmers’ harm un-intentionally, for example- Robert Tappan Morris had never expected that the worm develope...
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...tackers. For an example- the 2003 "Lirva" worm attempted to download "BackOrifice" which was a remote access software package[7].
4.1 Recent Trends
• Data Stealing Payloads-
Traditionally, viruses were not intended to cause very destructible payload, though few viruses resulted in the Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. However with the evolution criminal activities over internet, the viruses have developed to inculcate keyloggers and password stealing capabilities within them.
For an example, the 2003 "Lirva" worm had the capability to store keystores in a separate encrypted file.
• Fast and Furious Worms
This is a new fast growing trend among viruses to target a single vulnerability instead of multiple ones. It results in the saturation of the target population. For an example the Code Red Worm at its peak had started affecting more than 2000 hosts every minute
This virus searches for a new vulnerable host in order to survive and carry the disease to the next victim. The critical aspect around the spread of a virus is how drastically the reproduction process occurs. Without being controlled, the contamination throughout any species causes the spread to take place in a toxic way, “On day one, there were two people. And then, four, and then, sixteen. In three months, it’s a billion.
Bob is at the skate park, showing off his skills as a skateboarder. With one wrong move, he fell off of his skateboard, and his knee scrapped on the concrete, causing a big gash on his knee. A virus enters in the knee, and it has a mission. Its mission is to infect every organ in Bob's body.
On August 12, 2003, a computer worm was released called MSBlaster.B, which was distributed through two files “teekids.exe” ( which included code that directs compromised computers to attack the Microsoft domain name www.windowsupdate.com and a backdoor file “Lithium” ( which allows a way into a password protected system without use of a password and remote control a system). The worm itself targeted mostly Windows 2000 & Windows XP systems. If Windows NT or Windows 2003 servers do not have the appropriate patches, they too may be vulnerable. The function of the worm is to exploit the DCOM RPC vulnerability.
There are probably as many answers to that question as there are hackers (maybe more). It is important to realize that these people are individuals with their own hopes, fears, desires, and everything else that comes with being human. However, there are general patterns to the motivation behind the computer hacker's drive to manipulate technology. The problem of hacker motivation is probably one of the more interesting questions concerning this sub-culture (Hacker-Bible, 1995).
Beal, V. (2011, March 29). The difference between a computer virus, worm, and Trojan horse.
Hackers have a multitude of tools and techniques to accomplish their goals, and as old tools and techniques become obsolete, new ones are created. Three questions regarding hacker tools and techniques are addressed here. What are the common tools used to conduct a denial of service attack (DoS)? What is a buffer overflow attack, and how does a SQL injection attack take place?
Multi-platform computer worms are a tool that computer hackers use to infect computers to gain control access. Computer worms are a dangerous virus because they are self-replicating, meaning that they multiply themselves and spread onto other computer networks seeking a lapse in internet security. Computer worms do not need to attach themselves onto an existing computer program to gain access to the victim computer files. The computer worm was created on accident by a Cornell student named Robert Morris; he was seeking a way of managing the internet in 1988. “Morris had no malicious intent, but a bug in his program caused many of the computers the worm landed on to crash. … but worms had come of age and have since evolved into an effective way of attacking systems connected to the internet” (Barwise). Today, hackers use the Morris worm to infect computers. “Five men believed to be responsible for spreading a notorious computer worm on Facebook and other social networks — and pocketing several million dollars from online schemes — are hiding in plain sight in St. Petersburg, Russia …” (Richmond). Since the good intended creation of the worm it has only been used maliciously as a computer virus by money seeking computer hackers such as the Koobface gang in Russia.
Malware could be defined as several different objects such as worms, viruses, Trojans, or blended, so I’m going to compare malware to a car manufacturer. There are countless models that a car manufacturer makes, so it would be difficult to distinctly describe, Ford as solely a truck or sedan company. We know manufactures make several types of different vehicles. Let’s get back to malware and let me give you an example.
Malware can survive in a number of ways say different sizes, shapes and also the purpose ranging from viruses to spyware and to bots. Malware in general is classified into two types. They are the concealing malware and infectious malware. In case of infectious malware, the malware code is said to spread all over which means that the software code shall replicate from one user to another and this goes on. In infectious malware, we need to consider two cases, which are called the viruses and the worms. Viruses are termed as the software that has executables within itself and causes the executables to spread when it is run. The second case called worms is a software which infects a computer and then spreads to others.
What is the “MALWARE”? A malware refers to software programs designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system. In Spanish, "mal" is a prefix that means "bad," making the term "bad ware" .Malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. Viruses, for example, can cause havoc on a computer's hard drive by deleting files or directory information. Spyware can gather data from a user's system without the user knowing it. This can include anything from the Web pages a user visits to personal information, such as credit card numbers.
Malicious software in short known as Malware. It is also known as computer Contaminant. Similar to biological parasite, malware also reside in a Host. Malware will get installed on host without user’s consent. Generally a software is considered malware based on the intent of the creator...
Virus is one of the most common malware. Unlike spyware, virus is largely designed to harm useful programs or wreck down an entire operating system. There are many ways through which virus may enter a computer. The most common way is via email attachments. A...
Nazario, Jose “Defense and Detection Strategies against Internet Worms”, Artech House Computer Security Library, 2004
...h the threat of “Mobile Malware” looming in the air, the desire to give the general public fair warning has never been greater. This paper was intended to provided that knowledge the general public needs and will reinforce the topic to those who were already aware. The history of malware gave you a look into the not so distant past. The discussion of technical examples of malware was intended to show you how rapidly the threat is developing along with the statistics of malware’s current expansion, and the future examples of malware and research showed you concepts that were unimaginable to the common electronic consumer. The majority of malware was originally designed to be a practical joke, but as we can see from the ever growing desire for malicious intent, the evolution of malware has followed suite. We can only hope that the growing need for security can be met.
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.