Introduction
Starting this
report I did not know too much about computer viruses. In fact I
did not know many people if any at all that had a computer virus.
I think that Mr. Sasabe's problem with the virus
he had, had to do with the amount of computers that he used. I feel
that as long as you stick to one computer and do not jump around you have
much less of a chance catching a virus. I think that you could prbably
relate that to sex. The less people you are with the less chance
of catching a virus. Granted there is protection out there like anti-virus
programs and virus detectors but they are not full proof.
I am not
to worried about computer viruses because I am ignorant in saying that
I do not think I will ever get one. I know that I can get one but
I think that the risk is very low. I use a lot of the computers on
campus and I am pretty good at just doing what I have to do and not browsing
or opening unecessary files. My home computer as well as the computers
in the lab have virus checkers. So that gives me a better chance
of not catching a virus as to someone with no checker.
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 17:59:32 -1000
From: Akira Sasabe
To: Leon James
Subject: My Report 2
Dr. James,
I decided to retype the whole thing today and I
did just about the half of it
now, and the information seems to appear all right on my web page.
It was
really unfortunate since this time I decided to use computers only
at Porteus
and Moore Hall. I still do not know what was the cause of the virus
problem,
but I think as long as I stick with one computer, it seems to be OK.
I found
my "favorite" computer at Porteus and do my best to secure the seat
whenever
I come in to do the work.
I just hope that I find out the cause of this problem
so other people who do
not have computers at home will not suffer like me...
Interpretation of Edupage Online
DOE ISSUES WARNING ON CRACKER TOOLS The U.S.
Department of
Energy has issued a bulletin warning that
two new computer attack tools, known as
Teardrop and Land, are being used maliciously
by crackers intent on breaking into
computer systems and networks. The software
sniffs out vulnerable servers and
launches attacks based on the "denial-of-service"
strategy that overwhelms servers with
bogus messages, blocking out legitimate traffic.
"They hit the button and go down to the
cinema with their girlfriends," says a senior
systems consultant with the Defense
Information Systems Agency. "They come back
and see that they have looked at
200,000 systems." (TechWeb 24 Dec 97)
Hey if I am reading
this right then someone must be tying up the University's line because
if you have ever tried to get in it is terrible. I think I am reading
and understanding this right. From what I gather there are programs
out there that hackers use to find vulnerable systems and launch viruses
on them. The example given was for those systems that denies service
to non-mambers and these "crackers" overwhelm the system by sending in
bogus passwords and login names. Doing this blocks out the regular
users. Therefore if I am reading this right someone should investigate
the UH system because it is hard to connect at times.
Online
resources I recommend
For general security information see:
1.ciac.llnl.gov/ciac
2.www.mcafee.com/support/techdocs/vinfo/default.asp
3.IBM's
virus warning site
4.Computer
Virus Myths
5.Symantec's
Anti-Virus Research Centre
6.www2.offutt.af.mil/wipo/virushoax.html
7.csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/virus/
Added links:
Mining
Company Guide to Antivirus Software
Computer
Virus Help by Henri Delger
Doug
Muth's Anti-Virus Help Page
Dr
Solomon's, your resource for Anti-Virus solution
Virus
Alert by CNET.COM
Discussion
What are computer
viruses?
Computer
viruses are programs that can infect other programs. They copy themselves
into your programs. A lot of these viruses encrypt or hide themselves
as to not be detected by other people before it is too late.
What is their
purpose?
Viruses
have no purpose other than possibly destroying a persons hard drive and
making their computer useless. Not all viruses are as damaging.
Who creates them?
Wouldn't
you like to know well here is a list of names and addresses... Yeah
right, well computer programmers and hobbyists create them if you ask me.
I do not know of too many other people who would be knowledgeable enough
about them nor care about making them.
Why?
Why
do people create viruses? How about because they can! Why climb
a mountain? Because it is there. Viruses are just a puzzle
to these people that create them they just want to see what they can do
and find their limits if you ask me. They are just challenging themself
even if it is to the destruction of others. I think that must be
more of a turn on for some of these people to make these things like a
control thing.
How
do they work?
Viruses work only if
you execute them, either by running the program they've glommed onto or
by booting your system from an infected disk.
How
do they spread?
Most I did not know
this but there are three different kinds of viruses based on how they spread.
The three different kinds of viruses based on that are: boot sector viruses,
program viruses, and macro viruses.
Boot sector viruses
are transmitted through boot disks and affect your computer while it boots
or reboots your system. These viruses can not be caught from sharing
files or executing programs. And guess what since there are less
computers that require a boot disk to start you have less of a chance of
getting one.
Program viruses attach
themselves to executable files associated with other programs. I
THINK a great example would be Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Excel, etc.
Anyway these viruses hook onto EXE or COM files and are saved into your
computers memory and from then on it can infect any other program that
is executed.
Macro viruses affect
the template used to create documents or spreadsheets. Once that
template is infected it spreads to all the other documents opened with
that applications. These viruses also infect or spread between applications.
This is the virus to have an eye out for because they are becoming widespread.
What
types are there?
There are three different
types out there being the: boot sector viruses, program viruses, and macro
viruses.
Virus
myths
According to what I
have read at several locations virus warnings are not real and are just
prank or hoax. These pesky little irritating email forwards that
you recieve saying watch out for this virus because it will do this etc.
are not real. Here is a list of some false email messages some of
which I have recieved warning me of viruses: Good Times, Penpal Greetings,
Make Money Fast, Deeyenda, Irina, NaughtyRobot, and death69.
This is only a bunch of them there are a whole lot more out there and I
am sure more to come. If you really want to know all the myths out
there or a GREAT deal of them I suggest checking out Rob
Rosenberger's page on Computer Virus Myths.
Why
people propagate them?
Like
I mentioned before why not? People get a kick out of scaring people,
especially the gullible ones. Just like people may ge the urge of
scaring a friend by jumping out of a corner or around the door. Why
climb the mountain? Because it is there. I do not know why people
propagate these myths maybe it is because they lack the audience and need
attention.
My Impressions
and Reactions
There
are a lot of reports done on computer viruses by the students in my generation
and I have selected a few that I really like. I enjoyed David
Chang's report on viruses because it was easy to read and not confusing
at all. The insertion of his tree branch lines broke the monotony
that a lot of my reports have. However I still am against them in
my reports because they take a bit longer to load. Aaron
Libed's page has a reat layout and is easy to read as well as attractive
to the eye. I think he did a great job. All I have to say is
hats off to this man his pages are well worth checking out Mr.
Roy Macareg.
Conclusion
I have learned a great deal on viruses. I know I am not as
vulnerable as many people believe just as long as I am careful of what
I download and where I get my disks from. It would also be a great
idea to get a virus scanner and update it often. You can apparently
never be to safe because there is a small chance that you catch the virus
that will end you cyber life until you either get a new system or reload
everything. There is a vast amount of information on the internet
on computer viruses and it is very easy to look into. If you just
come across one page about viruses you can be almost 100% certain it will
contain links to other pages which will take you to other pages etc.
So have fun on your searches.