Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms

In January 2002 programmer Simon Vallor was sentenced to two years in prison for releasing the "mass mailer" viruses Gokar, Admirer and RedesiB. [8] Vallor claimed he thought that the viruses were harmless. [9] In February 2003, two people belonging to a group called "THr34t-Krew" were arrested in relation to the creation and release of the T-K Worm [10]. In May 2005 Andrew Harvey and Jordan Bradley admitted creating and releasing the T-K Worm which went on to infect 19,000 computers.[11]. In October 2005 Harvey received three months in pr ...

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Computer worm, Computer worm - Penalties

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In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. A computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Extending the analogy, the insertion of a virus into the program is termed as an infection, and the infected file (or executable code that is not part of a file) is called a host. Viruses are one of the several types of malicious software or malware. In ...

Including:

• Computer virus - Definition
• Computer virus - Use of the word virus
• Computer virus - History
• Computer virus - Why people create computer viruses
• Computer virus - Replication Strategies
• Computer virus - Nonresident viruses
• Computer virus - Resident viruses
• Computer virus - Host types
• Computer virus - Methods to avoid detection
• Computer virus - Avoiding bait files and other undesirable hosts
• Computer virus - Stealth
• Computer virus - Self-modification
• Computer virus - Viruses and legitimate software
• Computer virus - The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses
• Computer virus - The role of software development
• Computer virus - Anti-virus software and other countermeasures

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A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program, similar to a computer virus. A virus attaches itself to, and becomes part of, another executable program; however, a worm is self-contained and does not need to be part of another program to propagate itself. They are often designed to exploit the file transmission capabilities found on many computers. The main difference between a computer virus and a worm is that a virus can not propagate by itself whereas worms can. A worm uses a network to send copies of itself to other syste ...

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• Computer worm - Penalties

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CIH, also known as Chernobyl or Spacefiller, is a computer virus written by Chen Ing Hau of Taiwan. It is considered to be one of the most harmful widely circulated viruses, destroying all information on users' systems and in some cases overwriting the system BIOS. CIH computer virus - History. In September 1998, Yamaha shipped a firmware update to their CD-R400 Drives that were infected with the virus. In October 1998, a demo version of the Activision game SiN that was propagated by us ...

Including:

• CIH computer virus - History
• CIH computer virus - Virus specifics
• CIH computer virus - CIH v1.2/CIH.1103
• CIH computer virus - CIH v1.3/CIH.1010A and CIH1010.B
• CIH computer virus - CIH v1.4/CIH.1019
• CIH computer virus - CIH.1049
• CIH computer virus - CIH.1106

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Melissa can spread on word processor Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000. It can mass mail itself from e-mail client (MUA) Microsoft Outlook 97 or Outlook 98. The worm does not work on any other versions of Word, including Word 95. The worm cannot mass mail itself by any other mail client, even Outlook Express. If a Word Document containing the virus, either LIST.DOC or another file infected, is downloaded and opened, then the macro in the document, which had the virus, runs and attempts to mass mail itself. When the macro mass mails, it collects the first 50 entries from the alias list, or address ...

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Melissa computer worm, Melissa computer worm - History, Melissa computer worm - Worm Specifications, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.A/Original Version, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.I/Empirical, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.O, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.U, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.V, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.W, Melissa computer worm - Melissa.AO

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Spyware rarely comes alone: an affected computer can rapidly become infected with large numbers of spyware components. Users frequently notice unwanted behavior and degradation of system performance. A spyware infestation can create significant unwanted CPU activity, disk usage, and network traffic — slowing down legitimate uses of these resources. Stability issues — application or system crashes — are also common. Spyware which interferes with the networking software commo ...

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Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

Read more here: » Spyware: Encyclopedia II - Spyware - Effects and behaviors

On August 26, 2005, Farid Essebar and Attila Ekici were arrested in Morocco and Turkey, respectively. They are believed to be the men behind the coding of the worm. A signature in the Zotob worm code suggested it was coded by Diabl0 and the IRC server it connects to is the same used in previous version of Mytob. Diabl0 is believed to have incorporated the code of a Russian nicknamed houseofdabus [10] whose journal has been shut down by authorities [11], just after the arrest of Diabl0. The cod ...

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Zotob computer worm, Zotob computer worm - Rbot variant, Zotob computer worm - Sequence of events, Zotob computer worm - Arrest of the coders

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Mydoom is primarily transmitted via e-mail, appearing as a transmission error, with subject lines including "Error," "Mail Delivery System," "Test" or "Mail Transaction Failed" in different languages, including English and French. The mail contains an attachment that, if executed, resends the worm to email addresses found in local files such as a user's address book. It also copies itself to the "shared folder" of peer-to-peer file- ...

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Mydoom computer worm, Mydoom computer worm - Technical overview, Mydoom computer worm - Timeline

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If a machine receives a Distributed Denial of Service attack from a botnet, few choices exist. Given the general geographic dispersal of botnets, it becomes difficult to identify a pattern of offending machines, and the sheer volume of IP addresses does not lend itself to the filtering of individual cases. Passive OS Fingerprinting can identify attacks originating from a botnet: network administrators can configure newer firewall equipment to take action on a botnet attack by using inform ...

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Botnet, Botnet - Purpose, Botnet - Organization, Botnet - Types of attacks, Botnet - Preventive measures

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During the 1980s and 1990s, it was usually taken for granted that malicious programs were created as a form of vandalism or prank. More recently, the greater share of malware programs have been written with a financial or profit motive in mind. This can be taken as the malware authors' choice to monetize their control over infected systems: to turn that control into a source of revenue. Since 2003 or so, the most costly form of malware -- in terms of time and money spent in recovery -- has been the broad category known as spywareSee also:

Malware, Malware - Goals, Malware - Infectious malware: viruses and worms, Malware - Capsule history of viruses and worms, Malware - Concealment: Trojan horses and rootkits, Malware - Malware for profit: spyware botnets loggers and dialers, Malware - Malware tools and aids, Malware - Exploit, Malware - Rootkit, Malware - Curing an infection

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Windows-based computers can rapidly accumulate a great many spyware components. Users frequently notice unwanted behavior and degradation of system performance. A spyware infestation can create significant unwanted CPU activity, disk usage, and network traffic -- slowing down legitimate uses of these resources. Stability issues -- application or system crashes -- are also common. Spyware which interferes with the networking software commo ...

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Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

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An algorithm that uses, for example, the variables A and B but not the variable C could stay intact even if you added lots of codes that changed the content in the variable C. The original algorithm: Start: GOTO Decryption_Code Encrypted: ... lots of encrypted code ... Decryption_Code: *A = Encrypted Loop: B = *A B = B XOR CryptoKey *A = B A = A + 1 GOTO Loop IF NOT A = (Decryption_Code - Encrypted) GOTO Encrypted CryptoKey: some_random_number The same algorithm, bu ...

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Polymorphic code, Polymorphic code - Example

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In order to avoid detection by users, some viruses employ different kinds of obfuscation. Some old viruses, especially on the MS-DOS platform, make sure that the "last modified" date of a host file stays the same when the file is infected by the virus. This approach does not fool anti-virus software, however. Some viruses can infect files without increasing their sizes or damaging the files. They accomplish this by overwriting unused areas of executable files. These are called cavity viruses. For example the CIH virus, or Chern ...

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Computer virus, Computer virus - Definition, Computer virus - Use of the word virus, Computer virus - History, Computer virus - Why people create computer viruses, Computer virus - Replication Strategies, Computer virus - Nonresident viruses, Computer virus - Resident viruses, Computer virus - Host types, Computer virus - Methods to avoid detection, Computer virus - Avoiding bait files and other undesirable hosts, Computer virus - Stealth, Computer virus - Self-modification, Computer virus - Viruses and legitimate software, Computer virus - The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses, Computer virus - The role of software development, Computer virus - Anti-virus software and other countermeasures

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One fundamental fact that makes the compilation of a unified list of viruses difficult is naming. When a new virus appears, the rush begins to identify and understand it as well as develop appropriate counter-measures to stop its propagation. Along the way, a name is attached to the virus. As the developers of anti-virus software compete partly based on how quickly they react to the new threat they usually study and name the viruses independently. By the time it is identified which names denote the same virus the di ...

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List of computer viruses, List of computer viruses - Naming, List of computer viruses - Scope, List of computer viruses - List of viruses and related programs

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CIH spreads under the Portable Executable file format under Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows ME. CIH does not spread under Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. Due to the fact that CIH infects a Portable Executable file, it fills in the gaps of empty space commonly seen in PE files. Hence, that earned CIH another name, "Spacefiller". The size of the virus is 1 kilobyte, but files do not grow at all. It uses methods of ju ...

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CIH computer virus, CIH computer virus - History, CIH computer virus - Virus specifics, CIH computer virus - CIH v1.2/CIH.1103, CIH computer virus - CIH v1.3/CIH.1010A and CIH1010.B, CIH computer virus - CIH v1.4/CIH.1019, CIH computer virus - CIH.1049, CIH computer virus - CIH.1106

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As the spyware threat has worsened, a number of techniques have emerged to counteract it. These include programs designed to remove or to block spyware, as well as various user practices which reduce the chance of getting spyware on a system. Nonetheless, spyware remains a costly problem. When a large number of pieces of spyware have infected a Windows computer, the only remedy may involve backing up user data, and fully reinstalling the operating system.

Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

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Spyware does not directly spread in the manner of a computer virus or worm: generally, an infected system does not attempt to transmit the infection to other computers. Instead, spyware gets on a system through deception of the user or through exploitation of software vulnerabilities. The most direct route by which spyware can get on a computer involves the user installing it. However, users are unlikely to install software if they know that it will disrupt their working environment and compromise their privacy. So many spyware progra ...

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Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

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In a small number of cases, firms have distributed audio compact discs with spyware that activates when the disc finds itself in a computer with autorun enabled. Sony's Extended Copy Protection, uncovered in October 2005, has provided the most widespread and infamous example to date. Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware. AOL Instant Messenger [38] EDonkey2000 See also:

Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

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The first recorded use of the term Spyware occurred on October 17, 1994 in a Usenet post that poked fun at Microsoft's business model. Spyware later came to refer to espionage equipment such as tiny cameras. However, in early 2000 the founder of Zone Labs, Gregor Freund, used the term in a press release for the ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall. [1] Since then, comp ...

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Spyware, Spyware - History and development, Spyware - Spyware adware and tracking, Spyware - Routes of infection, Spyware - Effects and behaviors, Spyware - Advertisements, Spyware - Stealware and affiliate fraud, Spyware - Identity theft and fraud, Spyware - Digital rights management, Spyware - Spyware and cookies, Spyware - Typical examples of spyware, Spyware - User consent and legality, Spyware - Remedies and prevention, Spyware - Anti-spyware programs, Spyware - Security practices, Spyware - Notable programs distributed with spyware, Spyware - Notable programs formerly distributed with spyware

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The term "virus" was first used in an academic publication by Fred Cohen in his 1984 paper Experiments with Computer Viruses, where he credits Len Adleman with coining it. However, a 1972 science fiction novel by David Gerrold, When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One, includes a description of a fictional computer program called "VIRUS" that worked just like a virus (and was countered by a program called "ANTIBODY"); and John Brunner's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider describes programs known as "tapeworms" which spread through a networ ...

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Computer virus, Computer virus - Definition, Computer virus - Use of the word virus, Computer virus - History, Computer virus - Why people create computer viruses, Computer virus - Replication Strategies, Computer virus - Nonresident viruses, Computer virus - Resident viruses, Computer virus - Host types, Computer virus - Methods to avoid detection, Computer virus - Avoiding bait files and other undesirable hosts, Computer virus - Stealth, Computer virus - Self-modification, Computer virus - Viruses and legitimate software, Computer virus - The vulnerability of operating systems to viruses, Computer virus - The role of software development, Computer virus - Anti-virus software and other countermeasures

Read more here: » Computer virus: Encyclopedia II - Computer virus - Use of the word virus