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Viruses, Trojans and Worms

Did you know that the top ten viruses have each caused over $3 Billion (U.S.) in damages in lost time, data and equipment? The largest loss so far due to one virus or worm, the SoBig virus as of 2Feb04, is over $37 Billion in damages.

The MyDoom virus is a recent monster creating havoc on computer systems worldwide and has the distinction of being the fastest-spreading virus to date. At its peak of activity MyDoom infected 1 in 12 email messages! Experts in the computer security field have stated that the virus writers may be gaining the upper hand.

Have you ever been curious about the actual viruses running around the Internet, so-called viruses in the wild? Check out Trend Micro's interactive map to see where the biggest viruses are infecting computers all over the world.

eWeek.com produced a Special Report: Email Worms 2004 that contains many articles about the latest viruses and how they have infected so many computers so quickly.

Question: What the heck are viruses, Trojans and worms, anyway?

Answer: Nastie bits of software programming engineered to cause grief and distributed by unknowing or uncaring computer operators.

If you have been anywhere near a computer in the last few years, or if you listen to the nightly news, you know that we are not talking about colds, condoms or fish bait.

Viruses were the first challengers in the software arena in the battle of good versus evil. Software viruses have been around for so long that the term virus is used generically to refer to viruses, Trojans, worms and other nasties.

Read on to learn how to protect your computer system from viruses, Trojans and worms.

Viruses

Viruses are small programs that may or may not harm your computer when activated. Basically, viruses are sets of instructions that tell a computer to do something. In all cases viruses are written to alter the way a computer works. Some viruses seem to have been written just to aggravate the end user, while others may actually do damage like deleting files or reformatting hard drives. In many cases viruses are poorly written and that in itself will often cause computers to behave unpredictably and even crash.

Characteristically, viruses are self-replicating. That means that viruses will copy themselves in such a way as to assure their continued execution. Viruses will remain on your computer or network until eradicated using anti-viral software. A firewall is recommended to heighten your computer's security.

Spammers, those evil persons who prey on unknowing, uninitiated and trusting souls for the sake of the almighty dollar, have adapted viruses to do their dirty work of capturing email addresses for mass mailing purposes. Sometimes, a virus can hog system resources so much that the computer slows to a crawl or even crashes.

The Symantec Knowledge Base describes different kinds of viruses that differ with respect to their means of infection. Viruses have certainly evolved since their invention so it is safe to assume that newer and more virulent, and possibly, more destructive viruses are being unleashed on the general public right now.

Trojans

The Trojan War was a conflict between the early Greeks and the people of Troy in the 12th or 13th century B.C. It seems that the Trojan king's son, Paris, ran off with Helen, the wife of an important figure in Sparta, which ignited a ten-year war between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Finally, the Greeks pretended to withdraw leaving behind a huge wooden horse. The Trojans believed the horse to be an offering to the goddess Athena, and so, brought it inside their city. Greek warriors who lay hidden inside the dubious gift horse exited at nightfall to open the city gates to their waiting comrades. The Greeks killed the men of Troy and carried off the women.

The Greeks, who offered the Trojan Horse disguised as a gift, were victorious over the unsuspecting people of Troy. It must have been a great shock for the Trojan recipients and a smug victory for the Trojan's creators. The term Trojan horse has come to mean "subversion introduced from the outside". Are you catching the parallel here?

Fast forward to the 21st century A.D. and witness the Trojan Horses of today. Rogue software disguised as a lamb, say a downloaded game or an email attachment, becomes activated and turns into a wolf, say a key logger that reports your every key stroke back to someone with unknown intentions. Trojans could have been called wolves-in-sheep-clothing, but the Trojan name stuck.

Trojans are being used by spammers to gain entry to unprotected computers. Once inside, the Trojan program maintains an open port to serve as a spam relay, or mass mailing station. It is feared that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg with respect to the destruction that Trojans could wield on our collective computer systems.

Are you wary of Greeks bearing gifts?

Worms

Worms are self-replicating nasties that send themselves out to the multitudes via email. Worms and viruses do not transfer themselves from system to system in the same way, but both require a "host" file. The host file may be an innocent email or another document that the worm copies from itself. Think of one of those three-panel mirrors where you can change the angle of the outer two mirrors so that you see many reflections of your face — in both directions. You get the idea.

Worms replicate fast and that is their strength. The shear number of documents created or emailed can overwhelm a server. Imagine many servers bogged down by a tremendous number of documents. Worm activity can bring Internet traffic to a crawl and leave the targeted sites inaccessible.

Protection from Viruses, Trojans and Worms

The best way to protect your computer system from any harm that might be caused by viruses, Trojans or worms is to use regularly updated anti-virus software, anti-spy software, and a firewall.

Anti-virus software comes in several flavors from many software production companies. If you do not have an up-to-date anti-virus program installed and working on your computer, then try one of the available online anti-virus scanners to check your system right now.

It's better to install one of the anti-virus programs on your computer system instead of relying on the online scanners for regular protection from viruses, Trojans and worms. With the online anti-virus scanner you have to remember to go to the scanner Web site and request a scan. Then you have to remain online for the length of time it takes to scan your system.

With the standard anti-virus software programs that reside on your computer you can have real-time protection. As your computer is receiving email messages each message and attachment will be scanned for nasties and you will be alerted at once if one is found. The main point to remember in choosing your anti-virus software is that it must be regularly updated to be of any value.

To get you started, here's my recommended anti-virus software programs.