What is a virus in computers

When you execute the program, the malware can spread to other files and damage your computer. Downloader Trojan This Trojan targets your already-infected computer. Game-thief Trojan The losers here may be online gamers. This Trojan seeks to steal their account information. Infostealer Trojan As it sounds, this Trojan is after data on your infected computer. Ransom Trojan This Trojan seeks a ransom to undo damage it has done to your computer.

Remote Access Trojan This Trojan can give an attacker full control over your computer via a remote network connection. Rootkit Trojan A rootkit aims to hide or obscure an object on your infected computer. Trojan banker This Trojan takes aim at your financial accounts. Trojan IM This Trojan targets instant messaging. It steals your logins and passwords on IM platforms.

There are a lot more. Examples of Trojan malware attacks Trojan malware attacks can inflict a lot of damage. Rakhni Trojan. This malware has been around since More recently, it can deliver ransomware or a cryptojacker allowing criminals to use your device to mine for cryptocurrency to infected computers.

This banking Trojan is another oldie but baddie. It uses keystroke logging — recording your keystrokes as you log into your bank account, for instance — to steal your credentials and perhaps your account balance as well. First, the dos: Computer security begins with installing and running an internet security suite. Run periodic diagnostic scans with your software. You can set it up so the program runs scans automatically during regular intervals. Cybercriminals tend to exploit security holes in outdated software programs.

In addition to operating system updates, you should also check for updates on other software that you use on your computer. Protect your accounts with complex, unique passwords. Create a unique password for each account using a complex combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Keep your personal information safe with firewalls. Back up your files regularly.

If a Trojan infects your computer, this will help you to restore your data. Be careful with email attachments. To help stay safe, scan an email attachment first.

Trojan war winners and losers A final note on Trojans for history and mythology buffs. Editorial note: Our articles provide educational information for you. NortonLifeLock offerings may not cover or protect against every type of crime, fraud, or threat we write about.

Our goal is to increase awareness about cyber safety. They insist the user download their antivirus program to remove the virus. Developers often release security updates to patch up vulnerabilities in the software, and it is essential to actually install these updates.

Cybercriminals often take advantage of these vulnerabilities to infect computers with viruses and other malware. There are certain warning signs that indicate your computer might have a virus. You may suddenly experience problems with your hardware or accessories, or see your computer executing commands on its own. These are some common signs that your computer may have a virus. There are several steps you should take if your computer has a virus. The steps will differ depending on whether you have a PC or a Mac.

There are many different steps you can take to protect your computer and devices from viruses and other kinds of malware. In recent years, cybercriminals have increasingly been using viruses to target businesses , healthcare organizations, and governments.

Despite this trend, computer viruses still remain a major cybersecurity threat to personal computer users. They can be extremely destructive and often destroy data or seriously damage computers.

For these reasons, computer users need to be aware of this malware threat and take action to protect their devices from viruses. I have spent my savings. I have even got phones not in my name with different Google accounts, but they control my phone settings, steal my data and my home wifi. I went months without a phone, because the stress caused heart problems. I had to take my kids phones because of this. A full return to factory settings on your devices could help as well, although without knowing how exactly the attacker keeps getting access to your devices this is a mere guess.

Perhaps the articles in the cybercrime and malware sections of our website could give you some further ideas. All the best of luck! This webpage was by far one of the most interesting and informative sites I have been on in a long time!!! Thanks guys for all the information and links. Happy surfing. By: Tove Marks Reading time: 7 minutes Update: What is a Computer Virus? It is usually difficult to remove and often requires the entire hard drive to be reformatted.

Overwrite Virus: A virus that infects your files and destroys them. The only way to remove it is to delete all the infected files, which results in the loss of data contained in them. Overwrite viruses most commonly spread through emails. It can then be activated when your operating system performs certain functions. Since these viruses hide in your RAM, they often go undetected by antivirus software.

File-Infecting Virus: A virus that overwrites or inserts infected code into executable files. Ransomware can be a virus. In fact, the very first ransomware was a virus more on that later. Nowadays, most ransomware comes as a result of computer worm, capable of spreading from one system to the next and across networks without user action e. Is a rootkit a virus?

Rootkits are not viruses. Is a software bug a virus? Software bugs are not viruses. A software bug refers to a flaw or mistake in the computer code that a given software program is made up of. Software bugs can cause programs to behave in ways the software manufacturer never intended. The Y2K bug famously caused programs to display the wrong date, because the programs could only manage dates through the year After the year rolled over like the odometer on an old car to While the Y2K bug was relatively harmless, some software bugs can pose a serious threat to consumers.

Cybercriminals can take advantage of bugs in order to gain unauthorized access to a system for the purposes of dropping malware, stealing private information, or opening up a backdoor. This is known as an exploit. Preventing computer viruses from infecting your computer starts with situational awareness. By staying on the lookout for phishing attacks and avoiding suspicious links and attachments, consumers can largely avoid most malware threats.

Regarding email attachments and embedded links, even if the sender is someone you know: viruses have been known to hijack Outlook contact lists on infected computers and send virus laden attachments to friends, family and coworkers, the Melissa virus being a perfect example.

A simple call or text message can save you a lot of trouble. Next, invest in good cybersecurity software. Antivirus AV refers to early forms of cybersecurity software focused on stopping computer viruses. Just viruses. Given a choice between traditional AV with limited threat detection technology and modern anti-malware with all the bells and whistles, invest in anti-malware and rest easy at night. As mentioned previously in this piece, traditional AV solutions rely on signature-based detection.

AV scans your computer and compares each and every file against a database of known viruses that functions a lot like a criminal database. Going back to our virus analogy one final time—removing a virus from your body requires a healthy immune system.

Same for your computer. A good anti-malware program is like having a healthy immune system. The free version of Malwarebytes is a good place to start if you know or suspect your computer has a virus.

Available for Windows and Mac, the free version of Malwarebytes will scan for malware infections and clean them up after the fact. Get a free premium trial of Malwarebytes for Windows or Malwarebytes for Mac to stop infections before they start.

You can also try our Android and iOS apps free to protect your smartphones and tablets. All the tactics and techniques employed by cybercriminals creating modern malware were first seen in early viruses. Things like Trojans, ransomware, and polymorphic code. These all came from early computer viruses. To understand the threat landscape of today, we need to peer back through time and look at the viruses of yesteryear. Other notable firsts—Elk Cloner was the first virus to spread via detachable storage media it wrote itself to any floppy disk inserted into the computer.

But a Scientific American article let the virus out of the lab. In the piece, author and computer scientist A. Dewdney shared the details of an exciting new computer game of his creation called Core War. In the game, computer programs vie for control of a virtual computer. The game was essentially a battle arena where computer programmers could pit their viral creations against each other.

For two dollars Dewdney would send detailed instructions for setting up your own Core War battles within the confines of a virtual computer. What would happen if a battle program was taken out of the virtual computer and placed on a real computer system?

In a follow-up article for Scientific American, Dewdney shared a letter from two Italian readers who were inspired by their experience with Core War to create a real virus on the Apple II. The brainchild of Pakistani brothers and software engineers, Basit and Amjad Farooq, Brain acted like an early form of copyright protection, stopping people from pirating their heart monitoring software.

Other than guilt tripping victims in to paying for their pirated software, Brain had no harmful effects. BHP also has the distinction of being the first stealth virus; that is, a virus that avoids detection by hiding the changes it makes to a target system and its files.