Learning About Internet Security
Internet Viruses
(Reprint from June, 2000 issue.)
Introduction
Computer Viruses have been with us for a long time, but today with the
popularity of the Internet, the threat posed by a computer virus should now be
elevated to a status comparable with grand-scale embezzlement or a rampaging
violent disgruntled employee. Because many businesses depend on their
computer records, a malicious computer virus can quickly put you out of a job
and your employer out of business. The recent "I Love You" virus
caused over $15 billion damage to computer systems worldwide in a matter of
hours.
Becoming Infected
Can you get a virus simply by visiting a web site? Not usually. Web pages, by
themselves, only contain text that can easily be read. However, a web site may
use plug-ins or other similar components, which may have viruses, attached to
them. Viruses can also be attached to FTP file downloads, some types of images,
compressed files, or even multimedia content. Normally, infected plug-ins will
not use a security certificate or similar measure for authentication.
Virus Protection
Protection software from virus infection can be purchased and installed on each
computer in use. However, if you don't enable the virus protection and keep its
databank up-to-date, it can't help you. The better quality virus software
programs will check both web site content and email messages in realtime. They
will also let you know when it is time to update the virus databank.
Virus Protection Effectiveness
Virus protection software is not always effective. As long as there is
information in the virus databank to compare against, the virus protection
software should be able to do its job. But it can only check for those viruses
that it knows about. New viruses are spread between databank updates, hence the
need for updates.
Virus Mutations
Viruses can mutate. Some viruses are written in a way that permits them to adapt
themselves according to your computer. Once this metamorphosis takes place, they
may become undetectable by your virus protection software. These types of
mutating viruses are exceptionally difficult to locate and remove.
Emailed Viruses
A virus infected email attachment is the most common way that viruses are spread
through the Internet. Receiving the infected email is not known to spread the
virus, if it is completed deleted from the system before the attachment is
opened. But opening the attachment will spread the virus. This means making sure
that the infected email is not simply moved to your Deleted Items folder where
it could accidentally be opened at a later date, but that it is truly deleted
from your computer. Be sure to empty your Trash or Deleted Items folder to
completely remove the affected file.
Some virus protection software companies offer you the
ability to check for viruses on both incoming and outgoing email. "Outgoing
email checking" helps to prevent the spreading of viruses. If your software
does offer this feature, make sure that it is enabled as the default setting.
Virus Protection Conflicts
Installing other software programs may interfere with the virus protection
software. Usually this is caused because the other software's installation
program will probably need to modify system files that the virus protection
software is trying to protect. In some cases the installation will noticeably
fail, while in other cases, the installation program may be fooled into thinking
that its attempt to write to the system files was successful and you will not
notice the failed installation until you go to run the new program. It may be
necessary for you to temporarily disable your virus protection software during
the installation if you experience these types of problems.
Computer Performance
Because your virus protection software is checking all incoming data, you may
notice perceptible delays when web pages are loading. This added processing
overhead, in most cases, should have a minimal impact on your normal Internet
browsing. If it does, then it may be time to upgrade your computer. Always
consider purchasing and installing additional RAM before committing to a new
computer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Internet Viruses can be an extremely dangerous security risk, but
with prudence and vigilance they can also be a relatively easy foe to
thwart. For additional information on Internet viruses, see these other web
sites for:
Internet Hoaxes
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html#notajoke
http://www.scambusters.com/VirusHoaxes.html
Internet Virus Information web sites
http://www.wt.net/WT.net/virus.htm
http://kumite.com/myths
By Steve
Duell
ASIS SFBA Webmaster
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