Viruses, Worms, and Bugs Oh My!

“The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards.”
– Gene Spafford

Surely this is an overstatement. The internet is a place where many users, likely including you, spend time every day, search for products and information, keep in contact with friends, and manage your workplace and email. We use it at home, at work, and even on our phones and mobile devices. Surely it isn't such a bad place to be. With the advancement of computer technology and security, and better understanding by users to identify potential threats, isn't the internet secure?

The answer is, no. Millions of computer users, perhaps including you, know this from experience. Internet users have had problems ranging from the minor, such as unwanted internet pop-up advertisements, to the crippling, such as the theft of their personal identity, including their bank account information and credit card info. But however bad you may think the situation is, it is actually much worse. As technology has progressed, so have the threats. They have become more advanced and harder to detect and delete, and their progression shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Let's take a look at a few computer threat examples.

• Spyware - Programs that monitor your computer activity and report the found information to somewhere else, potentially a hacker or company that collects information. One such example are some types of keyloggers, which store everything you type at your computer, including passwords.

• Viruses - Infect a computer, usually through the user downloading a file that they believe to be safe, only to have the virus install itself on the host computer, sometimes with the user ever knowing that they have been infected. Some Viruses can disable or destroy a computer before moving to another one, while others do nothing other than copy themselves and spread the "infection" to other computers.

• Trojans - The name comes from the "Trojan Horse" as read in mythology, in which the invading Greek army, unable to break into the guarded city of Troy, left a large wooden horse for the Trojans to find. The Trojans brought the horse inside, believing it to be a harmless trophy, when it actually held Greek soldiers inside, who later snuck out and opened the city gates for the rest of the army. A Trojan virus works in exactly the same way, appearing to be a harmless program that when downloaded, infects the computer and communicates with the internet to allow other malicious programs to enter and infect the computer.

• Worms - Perhaps one of the most dangerous computer threats, worms are like viruses, only they specialize in duplicating themselves and using the infected computer's stored information, such as an email contact list to send itself to more computers. Worms work autonomously, meaning the infection and spreading code is within the worm itself, making the rate of infection across the internet unbelievably  fast and difficult to stop.

• Bots/Botnets - A "bot" refers to a program that hides on an infected machine, allowing another user remotes control of the infected computer. Once a user has infected and gained control multiple computers, the computers are considered to be a "botnet", and can be told to perform a variety of automated tasks, such as stealing personal information, or sending cyber attacks to a certain website.

• Rootkits - These are used by "hackers", or users with knowledge on how to break into computer systems, to hide actions and allow the hacker access to a system. They modify the computer software itself, usually through either a computer's operating system's discovered vulnerability, or by discovering a user's password. They then hide the hacker's actions and subvert anti-virus protection programs from finding and fixing the created problem. 

 Viruses and other malicious threats spread across the internet quickly, if they are designed to do so. A study done by Christopher May in 2009 included mathematical models designed to represent the infection rate and spread of biological threats with people, used instead to model the spread of computer viruses [1]. The two types of infections, both biological and virtual can be thought of in the same way, only the virtual viruses can spread much more quickly, can be harder to detect, and can be used for a variety of harmful intents. Some viruses can infect hundreds of thousands of computers within weeks. One such example is the ZeuS worm, which you can read about here, along with other great information about malicious programs. Be careful though, it's a very scary read!

If you see this on the internet, don't click either button. Close the window! It is a spyware downloader!

 “Companies spend millions of dollars on firewalls, encryption and secure access devices, and it’s money wasted, because none of these measures address the weakest link in the security chain.”
– Kevin Mitnick

But what is the "weakest link" Kevin speaks of? The answer is us. Humans. In most cases, the blame for the infection of our computers and the spreading of viruses lies with us. It is up to computer users themselves to guard against possible infections and protect their computers. Here are a few tips to help you stay safe on the internet and prevent the most common ways that computers get infected.

1.  Email/Instant Messaging - By far, the most common way that computers are infected is through email, especially links included in the email. NEVER, and I say again, NEVER click any links in an email. This is the safest behavior you can perform. Only in emails that you requested be sent to you (such as a password reset email) should you trust a posted link. Many attacking hackers will make the email appear to be from a site you trust, such as a bank, Ebay, or Yahoo, etc. These pages will look identical to the real emails, and in some cases, by simply clicking the link, you have opened up your computer to downloaded threats. It is better to simply go to the site directly and access whatever information or perform whatever actions were requested or to identify the validity of the email rather than click a link.
2. Never give out personal information except in a situation where you are completely certain it is a trusted website. If you are ever asked for your bank account number, credit card information, address, social security number, or even a user name or password, make sure you know where it is going. Most websites will almost never ask you for such information unless you are making a purchase, so be careful.
3. Install Anti-virus programs on your computer. This is an easy way to safeguard your computer against threats. You can purchase many different programs that monitor your internet and computer and protect you. Although they are less reliable, although not by much in my own opinion, there are free programs as well that you can, and should use if you do not feel like paying for internet security. Such programs as Spybot: Search and Destroy and AVG. There is no reason to not have anti-virus programs on your computer. Make sure you keep them updated and scan your computer at least once every week or so. A little but of effort here will go a long way.

Should you become infected by a virus, or if you even THINK you have a virus on your computer, unplug you computer from the internet, or turn off the wireless function if you are on a wireless network. This will prevent the virus from transferring data to a hacker or other computers. With your computer unplugged, run any and all of your virus scan programs one by one to try and find and delete any threats. Delete your "cookies" and "cache" on your computer and all your temporary internet files on any browsers you have installed.

In the end, it is up to the users to make good judgment calls about what to open, what to click, and what to download in order to keep their computers and other computers secure. The consequences of not doing so can be disastrous. Read up on how to prevent computer threats and take the necessary steps to prevent it from happening to you!

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[1] http://maths.dur.ac.uk/Ug/projects/library/PR4/000463800r.pdf