What is Virus?

By Prempal Singh 0 Comment December 18, 2018  cyber security terminology, virus, what is virus

A virus is an independent program that is installed against the will of the user on computer. The virus installs itself into the software or into the operating system, damages the software, and then continues to spread throughoutthe system. The same makes the human biological virus that causes thedisease, hence the name.

The word “virus“is often used by both ordinary users and professionals as a designation for any malware. However, the virus in the classical sense is precisely a pestthat breaks a PC, disrupting its normal operation. 

In addition to viruses,there are other malicious programs. So, for example, there are Trojans – programs that allow attackers to remotely use your computer for their own purposes without your knowledge. There are worms – breeding viruses,the purpose of which is to install themselves on as many computers as possible. Rn Ionian, adware and ransomware programs are also categorized as malware.

Viruses exist from the earliest stages of computer history. When the Internet did not exist yet,viruses got onto other computers by transferring infected files on a diskettefrom a computer to another computer. Now, when data is transmitted mainlyvia the Internet, it is much easier to get infected with a virus.

A computer virus can be“picked up” in different ways. For example, web pages and email attachments can be used to directly launch a virus into the system. Often,a virus is embedded in a program downloaded from the Internet that “releases”the virus into the wild after you install it.

When a virus is launched, it infects many files, that is, copies its malicious code into them in order to exist on the computer as long as possible. Both simple Word documents and scripts, program libraries and all other files on your computer can been dangered. 

What damage does a computer virus cause?

Viruses can cause a variety of harm. In most cases, they delete files or permanently damage them. If this happens to an important system file, you will not be able to start the operating system after the infection.

Damage to physical equipment is also possible, but ithappens quite rarely. For example, among other things, the virus can accelerate the video card, causing it to overheat and lead to failure.

Simply destroying files does not bring financial gain for criminals, so the viruses became uninteresting to them. Moreover, today there are much more profitable malicious programs – the same extortioners or adware, the so-called “Adware”.