Informative Essay on Computer Viruses

Informative Essay on Computer Viruses

The Age of Information has made communication faster with the advent of computer and internet. Human communication has been revolutionized with information including data, pictures, emails, programs etc. being sent within milliseconds from one part of the world to another. Unfortunately, technology, despite its benefits, has some strong detriments. This too includes the network of computers which can be susceptible to malicious programs without the knowledge and intent of the users of the computer system. Such an attack is called as virus attack and it is an electronic infection affecting your system, potentially destroying useful information, and even the computer itself.

A computer virus is basically a software program that transfers information from one system to another, connected by a common network. Similarly to a flu virus, it is designed to spread from host to host and has the ability to replicate itself. Just as a virus cannot reproduce without a host cell, computer viruses cannot reproduce and spread with programming, such as a file or document (Norton by Symantec).

To begin with, most often a virus is found in email attachments. By opening the attachment, the email recipient allows the virus to embed itself in the computer, via a host, i.e. file, document or program. In order for the virus to infect and wreak havoc, you need to run the infected program which causes the virus code to be executed. However, once the virus is active, it can infect other computers on the network. Common threats affecting computers are not usually viruses, rather other variations of malware, like Trojans and worms. A very important distinction to make is that unlike viruses, Trojans do not replicate themselves. Nevertheless, Trojans do contain malicious code that when triggered, can cause loss, or even theft of data.

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