Computerviren

Some people dont believe in computer viruses. But they are a serious problem in our “computer world”. The first documented virus attack was in 1987 at the university of Delaware.
The growth of the number of viruses is about 227% per year. I’ll give you a short introduction into the world of “cyberspace crime” an I’ll try to help you to prevent virus infection.

1.What is a computer virus?

A computer virus is a program which is often hidden in executable files like pictures or word-documents.
It is able to clone itself so it can infect the PC’s data with copies of itself.
Viruses are programmed by Hackers and they are created just for destruction.

2.How does a virus spread?

A virus spread to a new system by an interconnection.
An interconnection is an connection of computers. This can be a network in a company, a connection with modens like the internet or just a floppy disk.
Remember: Every contact between your PC and any other system is an opportunity for an infection.

There are different types of viruses.
The following viruses are the most popular.

Boot sector viruses

Three out of four virus infections are boot sector viruses. It is hard to detect this kind of virus because the boot sector, which the virus infects is the thing that loads when you start your computer.

Polymorphic viruses

They consist of an algorithmic system. They change their appearance with each infection. So it is very hard for the virus program to detect them. They can change their appearance about 2 billion times.

But the most popular destructive program is the worm. It is the easiest and fastest way to destroy billions of computers. Worm attacks cause a lot of damage every year.
On this poster you see how a worm spreads.( An dieser Stelle habe ich ein Poster gezeigt mit dem System wie sich ein Wurm verbreitet. Ihr wisst ja...Schneeballsystem. Wenn ihr’s nicht wisst, googelt einfach danach.)
It’s a simple procedure. The worm logs itself into the E-Mail checking program and sends itself to all adresses which the victim has saved in his program. And this procedure repeats over and over again. In German we would call it “Schneeballsystem”. At present the most popular worm is Sober-C.

How can you protect your system?

Use an updated version of anti-virus software to scan floppy discs before using them.
Note any suspicious behaviour.
Burn your most important files onto CD.
I hope you enjoyed my little introduction. And be prepared for everything that will come in the future.