Details Concerning the Virus - Case Study Example

Spread Of Computer Virus and Its Effect the Operating Systems Executive summary Battling with a computer virusis a usual event to anybody who is using a computer system either at domestic level or on a commercial scale. Several scholarly articles indicate that up to 82% of computer related business operations encounter presence of the virus at some given point in time. Virus causes devastating effects to the functionality of the operating systems leading to irreversible significant damages. Virus is intentionally created by computer expatriates with ill intentions and once its initial transmissions have taken place it becomes very difficult to regulate. Virus replicates very fast through several transmission medium such as the internet and may end up causing huge effect to computers globally. Presence of the virus can be felt in almost every computer platform including simple handheld devices to laptops or computer systems as big as mainframes. On the contrary to any other computer environment, it has been pointed out that virus infection is highest in a PC environment than any other computer related system. Introduction In the current business world, technology is quite critical in the-day-today operations of the business transactions. However, the use of a computer system and internet do not only play an important role in transaction processing, but is also vital for departmental coordination and sharing of files through the use of internet or local area network. The circumstance above is subjective to risk of computer virus infection. This paper is, therefore, meant to investigate details concerning the virus, its mode of transmission, nature of an effect to the operating system and appropriate preventive mechanism of the operating system from chances of virus infection. By definition, a computer virus is an infectious program that replicates or clones itself while seeking new host environment within the computer system either within the stored files or right inside the operating system. More or less similar to an infectious organisms, virus always assume the names of the computer files and can hide themselves within the computer programs thus making it quite difficult to prove its presence (McAfee Para 21). Transmission of the virus According to McAfee (Para 21), computer virus can easily spread within a minimum duration of one to three days either from a mass storage media, directly through the internet connection or from mail attachments with negative intentions. Despite the fact that internet has been negatively identified as the sole provider of computer virus, it is less likely to contract the virus from the internet compared to costumed software’s or program-based applications. Because there are automatic updates that users can download directly from the internet and implement to activate antivirus (Jamrich and Oja 115). Moreover, emails have been dismissed as breeding platform for virus and may not be used for a similar platform because there are no chances for virus to be transmitted through in ordinary texts. Infarct, virus transmission can only take place in the form of attachments as far as emails are concerned. However, when a proper security mechanism is put in place between internet browsers and the operating systems then chance of transmission are reduced to less than 1%. Types of virus There is an assumption that all virus are destructive that is not true because some virus is inactive in nature and has no effect to the operating systems while some are more serious to the extent of destroying data or may end up erasing important files from the operating system. Some of the most common harmful virus includes the following 1) Boot sector virus 2) File infectious virus 3) Polymorphic virus 4) Stealth virus Boot sector virus The above virus corrupts the boot records of the computer system by simply overwriting the original boot code of the operating system thus transferring such codes to other available sectors of the disk while placing recognition to the boot sector disk as obsolete sports. Therefore, when the computer loads up the booting files, then virus assumes full control causing the operating system to abort booting operation. A computer may acquire a boot sector virus when an infected disk is used to boot up a computer system thus loading the virus into the system right before the bootstrap could take full control of the booting operation (Avoine Et al 43). File infectious virus On the contrary to the boot sector virus that only affects the booting operations of a computer system, file infectious virus attack stored files within a computer system. The above type of virus attaches itself to the executable files stored within the computer system while others directly attack the operating system. Some of the file infectious virus operates in amore similar way to a boot-sector by rewriting on the already existing files with some hidden attributes leading to the execution of the virus itself other than the required file (Avoine Et al 43). Polymorphic virus It is the most difficult type of virus to be detected within the computer systems due to its adaptability to encryption and, therefore, very difficult to be detected by the antivirus application. Once it attacks an operating system, it alters the algorithm formats of the executable file that hinders its detection as a foreign code. In order to eliminate the above kind of virus, a stronger antivirus system is applied that performs the scanning of all the algorithms and code within the operating system in addition to usual scanning of the applications and system files (Avoine Et al 43) Stealth virus Stealth virus has a habitual trend of hiding right inside the memory of the operating systems and uses that platform to develop its storage files. Due to potential of creating multiple files, the virus replicates and occupies most parts of the memory available for the users. Such kind of virus requires sharp antivirus software and once detected, they must be completely disabled, and the memory of the disk components be restored (Avoine Et al 43). How does virus spread? The process by which a computer system acquires virus ranges from technical aspects to the user who operates the computer system. However, most virus get transmitted by they come into contact with an infected file that is shared between two or more computer systems. Besides, human nature is also embraced in this concept because it is within his mandate and behavior that the spread of the virus can either be enhanced or controlled. Technological scholars have pointed various means that computer virus get spread some of, which include the following Malicious or infected computer games: downloading of games from the internet without proper scanning subjects a computer system to the threat of virus infection. If a person downloads an infected game from the internet and uses it within a shared network then it increases chances of virus infection through the entire network. The circumstance involved around this is that, virus requires activation to achieve an active format in order to spread from one given computer system to the other (FSC Para 7). Over the counter software’s: Buying of software without proper scrutiny also acts as one of the possible avenues for virus infection. scholars clarify that if a customer buy a software from a vendor and tests it in an infected machine then tests and takes it back due to some form of dissatisfaction then there is a likeliness that the next subsequent buyers may be subjected to virus threat if they follow a similar means of testing (FSC Para 7). Sharing of infected storage media: Since virus are designed to thrive and propagate too fast within the storage hardware’s, sharing of infected disks across different computers increases chances of virus threat. A single infected disk that is shared amongst different machines non-observant source increase vulnerability. Opening of infected files enables virus to leap from its inactive format to a highly infectious program. Ultimately, virus also spread through a computer network of any kind (FSC para 7). Unauthorized hackers: Breaking into the systems by unauthorized personnel’s creates weaknesses into the system by posting some inactive forms of the virus into the operating system thus increasing chances for virus infection. Through unauthorized means of system access, virus may create access to communication system hence causing unprotected use of the system that continues for a longer duration without proper knowledge of the system administrator (FSC, 2001). Effects of virus to the operating system Bidgoli (94), clarifies that virus cause devastating effect to the operating system that can either be categorized intentional or non-intentional. Not all viruses cause a direct effect to the operating system, but whichever way the effect is still significant in the long run. Most viruses distort the system files of the operating system hence redirecting the operating system to a slower mode of operation or erroneous results especially when it comes to financial calculations. Some virus replicates files within the operating system thus leading to a discloser of confidential data to the internet that may lead to a huge loss to the holder. Besides, most viruses consume resources that are needed to aid functionality of the operating system slowing down the response time of the operating system. Possible consideration to protect the computer from unnecessary threat of virus includes ensuring that the virus utility is active and updated all the time. users must also be vigilant about sharing, or portable medium and one must be careful about the source of files while carrying out downloads amongst other security measures. Conclusion Virus forms a wider range of deviant applications to normal functioning of the operating system. Whereas some forms of the virus some forms of the virus do not cause direct effect to the computer system, all forms of the virus are of significant effect in the long run. The paper has pointed different forms of variously ranging from the boot sector to stealth virus. Ultimately, it is clear that most forms of the virus often take the version of a genuine application making their identification even more difficult. Works cited: McAfee. An Introduction to Computer Viruses and other Destructive Programs. McAfee Public. 710 Walsh Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95051. Retrieved on 3 august 2014. Avoine, Gildas Et al. Computer system security: basic concepts and solved exercises. Lausanne: EPFL Press. 207. Print. F-secure corporation. Computer Viruses–from an Annoyance to a Serious Threat. F-Secure Corporation. White Paper September 2001. Jamrich, June and Oja, Dan. Computer concepts. Mason, Ohio: South-Western; Andover: Cengage Learning [distributor]. 2012. Print. Bidgoli, Hossein. Handbook of Information Security Volume 3. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Print. Read More