How did I get a Virus

[Jay]

Well, lets start off with the basics. Where did I get the virus in the the first place? A large percentage of viruses are caught from infected emails. These demons in disguise look so much like any of the millions of normal spam email we all get everyday, but in that one email lies a time bomb just waiting to go for in our faces. The Melissa virus is a good place to start off with. This virus came about in 1999, were is was incorporated into a Word document that was down loadable from many of the internet news groups. Once the document was opened, it infected the user computer, of course there was no signs of anything wrong to that user. The real nightmare was that it replicated itself by going into your email and sending itself to the first 50 addresses you had in your address book. So the person receiving the email would see your name and say “ I know this person so it's ok to open”.This was one of the fastest spreading viruses known.

Now we get into the Worm viruses, which are codes that use security flaws to spread themselves throughout a network (Internet). The most famous one of theses was the Code Red Worm, which infected an estimated 250,000 computers in just a 9 hour span.This brought the internet, and may corporate networks, to a grinding halt in 2001. This worm spread , looking for more unsecured servers as it washed over the worlds internet service. The worm had three objectives encoded into itself

• Replicate itself for the first 20 days

• Replace the victim's starting web page with “Hacked by Chinese

• Comitt an attack on the White House web severs to overwhelm them.

Our third type of virus is the Trojan Horse virus. These types are just regular programs that are disguised as downloaded games or utilities, etc... for your computer (remember that oh so cool toolbar you downloaded) which are destructive to the computer itself. They may contain commands to delete system files or even format your system. They really don't do the self replication bit, thats done by you who sends an email to your friends saying “You got to try this toolbar”. Of course you didn't know that it had a Trojan Horse in it, but it's on it's way to your friends.

So now you know the story of “ How did I get a Virus”. A word to the wise, make sure that your firewall and antivrus applications are up to date. Don't be the next contestant of “How did I get a Virus”.

[Tony]

For experienced users, protecting themselves against viruses and trojans and just all kinds of trouble lurking around out there is not only common sense but common practice. What we need to realize is that many adult users still don't understand computers very well. That old stereotype of a 12 year old kid showing his parents how to do this or do that still applies today. Most parents I know trust their children completely when it comes to computer use. What they may not realize is that kids often do not think that what they do is unsafe. When we were young I am sure that many of us thought that we were invincible." I know what I'm doing Mom, don't worry." :) Well that isn't always the case. Kids like to go to those emulation sites and other popular sites and download a ton of games and other cool stuff, some of which contain harmful files. Add to that all the files being shared through MSN and trouble is on it's way. The most important thing these days is education. If you inform yourself and your children as to safe practice on the internet you will avoid a lot a hassle and possibly expense, down the road. My children have been told what they are allowed to do and what they need permission for on their computers. With all the attraction of bells and whistles out there it is increasingly important that they understand the possibilities and their consequences.

[Doug Woodall]

Nice article.
Especially the part about Firewalls.