Virus Explanations

This month, our guest writer, Paul, explains a topic that makes many of us cringe in fear. In fact, after reading about all of the possible dangers, I’m almost afraid to use my computer anymore. But I wouldn’t stop driving because I might have an accident or have my car stolen. Instead, I take precautions to stay safe. Maybe next month Paul could help us with ways to do that online.

What the Heck’s A Virus, Anyway?

Have you been somewhat confused about the various computer security terms being used nowadays on blogs and on the media? Well, join the club! Unless you’re in the computer business or a computer security person, you probably have a lot of company…few people understand the terms. So, in this article I’d like to give you some definitions of basic computer security terms…hopefully in plain, non-techie language. Here goes:

Malware – short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The term “computer virus” is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.

Virus – is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer, usually with some undesirable event. A virus can spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to another computer; for instance because an infected computer sent it as an email over the Internet, or the owner carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

Spyware – is a type of malware that is installed on computers and collects little bits of information at a time about users, without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user’s personal computer. Spyware programs can collect various types of personal information, such as Internet surfing habits and sites that have been visited, but can also interfere with user control of the computer in other ways, such as installing additional software and sending you to malicious websites. Spyware is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, and/or loss of Internet or functionality of other programs.

Phishing - is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one.

A Trojan horse, or Trojan – is malware that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install but instead facilitates unauthorized access of the user’s computer system. “It is a harmful piece of software that looks legitimate. Users are typically tricked into loading and running it on their systems”, as Cisco describes. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology. Trojan horses may allow a hacker remote access to a target computer system. Once a Trojan horse has been installed on a target (your) computer system, a hacker may have access to the computer remotely and perform various operations.

I hope these terms help you in understanding the security issues that are part of using the Internet at this time. Try them out on your family and friends…they’ll be impressed with your knowledge. If you’d like more of this type of information in my future articles; let Carol know through your comments.  – © Paul Lubic, Jr.

Paul E. Lubic, Jr. is our monthly guest writer and is a seasoned IT professional who has held positions such as Computer Programmer, IT Security Manager and Chief Information Officer.   Paul’s HomeComputing Blog discusses the various aspects of home computing.

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