The Basics of the Computer Virus
Computer viruses are still extremely rare thus, most computer users have never experienced a computer virus attack. Combination of ignorance, inexperience and fear-provoking reports of danger is the perfect formula for mass hysteria.

Most problems people have with computers are simply their own fault. When a disaster happens, it is human nature to want to find someone or something else to blame, rather than admitting it is your own fault. Viruses have proven to be an excellent scapegoat for all kinds of problems.

People who have attacked computers and their data have invented several different kinds of programs. Since one must obviously conceal the destructive nature of a program to dupe somebody into executing it, deceptive tricks are an absolute must in this game. The first and oldest trick is the “trojan horse.” The trojan horse may appear to be a useful program, but it is in fact destructive. It entices you to execute it because it promises to be a worthwhile program for your computer—new and better ways to make your machine more effective but when you execute the program, surprise! Secondly, destructive code can be hidden as a “logic bomb” inside of an otherwise useful program. You use the program on a regular basis, and it works well. Yet, when a certain event occurs, such as a certain date on the system clock, the logic bomb “explodes” and does damage. These programs are designed specifically to destroy computer data, and are usually deployed by their author or a willing associate on the computer system that will be the object of the attack.

The risk may be quite small, especially if the perpetrator normally has access to files on the system, but his risk is never zero. With such considerable risks involved, there is a powerful incentive to develop cunning deployment mechanisms for getting destructive code onto a computer system. Untraceable deployment is a key to avoiding being put on trial for treason, espionage, or vandalism. Among the most sophisticated of computer programmers, the computer virus is the vehicle of choice for deploying destructive code. That is why viruses are almost synonymous with wanton destruction.

However, we must realize that computer viruses are not inherently destructive. The essential feature of a computer program that causes it to be classified as a virus is not its ability to destroy data, but its ability to gain control of the computer and make a fully functional copy of itself. It can reproduce. When it is executed, it makes one or more copies of itself. Those copies may later be executed, to create still more copies, ad infinitum. Not all computer programs that are destructive are classified as viruses because they do not all reproduce, and not all viruses are destructive because reproduction is not destructive. However, all viruses do reproduce.

The computer virus has the same two goals as a living organism: to survive and to reproduce. Before the advent of personal computers, the electronic domain in which a computer virus might “live” was extremely limited. Computers were rare, and they had many different kinds of CPU’s and operating systems. The age of the mass-produced computer opened up a whole new realm for viruses, though. Millions of machines all around the world, all with the same basic architecture and operating system make it possible for a computer virus to escape and begin a life of its own. It can hop from machine to machine, accomplishing the goals programmed into it, with no one to control it and few who can stop it. And so the virus became a viable form of electronic life in the 1980’s.

One could write a program which simply copied itself to another file. The problem with such concoctions is viability. Their continued existence is completely dependent on the man at the console. A more sophisticated version of such a program might rely on deceiving that man at the console to propagate itself. This program is known as a worm. The computer virus overcomes the roadblock of operator control by hiding itself in other programs. Thus it gains access to the CPU simply because people run programs that it happens to have attached itself to without their knowledge. The ability to attach itself to other programs is what makes the virus a viable electronic life form. The fact that a computer virus attaches itself to other programs earned it the name “virus.”

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