|
All Just simply about Computer VirusComputer-Virus Writer's: A Few Barmy In The Belfry?
by:
Dean Phillips
"Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a girlfriend. Aged
14 to 34. Capable of creating chaos worldwide."
The above description is the profile of the average computer-virus writer, according to Jan Hruska, the chief executive of British-based Sophos PLC, the world's fourth-largest anti-virus solutions provider.
"They have a chronic lack of girlfriends, are ordinarily
socially inadequate and are drawn obsessively to write self-
replicating codes. It's a form of digital graffiti to them,"
Hruska added.
To create and spread cyber infections, virus writers explore
known bugs in existing software, or look for vulnerabilities
in new versions.
With much and much new OS (operating system) versions, there
will be much new forms of viruses, as every single computer code
or OS wish carry new features, and new executables that can
be carriers of the infection.
Executables are files that launch applications in a
computer's operative
system, and feature much conspicuously
in
new platforms like Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Windows XP
than they did in the older DOS or Windows 3.1.
Virus writers likewise share information to create variants of
the same infection, such as the Klez worm, which has been
among the world's most prolific viruses.
The Klez, a mass-mailing worm that originated in Gregorian calendar month
2001, propagates via e-mail victimisation a wide variety of messages
and destroys files on local and network drives.
But the news gets worse. Recent events have uncovered what
may be a new trend: spammers paying virus writers to create
worms that plant an open proxy, which the sender then can
use to forward spam automatically. Many an suspect this
occurred with the SoBig virus.
The Sobig worms, began spreading in the early part of
2003. The unusual thing simply about them was they contained an
expiration date and were given a short life cycle to see how
features worked in the wild.
Having an expiration date likewise does the virus much
dangerous, because most folk would-be have been alerted to
the new worm inside
a few weeks and anti-virus definitions
would have been updated.
A variant of Sobig, Sobig-F was so efficient that simply a few
infected machines could send thousands of messages. Sobig-F
created a denial-of-service effect on several networks, as e-
mail servers became clogged with copies of the worm.
According to Mikko Hypponen, manager of anti-virus research
for Finland-based F-Secure Corp, Sobig-F sent an calculable
300 million copies of itself.
Computer Economics, Inc. states, "Nearly 63,000 viruses have
rolled through the Internet, effort an calculable
$65
billion in damage." However criminal prosecutions have been
few, penalties light and simply a handful of folk have gone
to prison for spreading the blasting bugs.
Why is so little being done? Old
laws and, for many an
years, as crazy as it sounds, a "wink, wink" or even as loving
attitude toward virus creators.
One person has been sent to prison in the United States and
just two in Britain, authorities say. But the low amount
are "not reflective of how seriously we take these cases,
but much reflective of the fact that these are really hard
cases to prosecute," same
Chris Painter, the deputy chief of computer crimes at the U.S. Department of Justice.
So what can you do to protect yourself against computer viruses?
Well, 1st and foremost, do sure you have evidenced anti-virus protection like like Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee's ViruScan.
In addition, If you haven't already done so, I extremely
recommend commencement Microsoft's Service Pack 2. SP2 tightens your PC's safety with a new Windows Firewall, an improved Automatic Updates feature, and a pop-up ad blocker for Net
Explorer. Plus, the freshly minted Safety Center gives you one easy-to-use interface for keeping tabs on your PC's safety apps.
"Male. Obsessed with computers. Lacking a girlfriend. Aged
14 to 34. Capable of creating chaos worldwide."
Now, I'm no psychiatrist, but to me, the above description
sounds much like causal agency with a few "bats in the belfry!"
Just simply about the author:
Dean Phillips is an Net
marketing expert, writer,
publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be
reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Circulated by Article Emporium
| |
