10 Characteristics of Computer Viruses | Total Security

What Are Computer Viruses?

Computer viruses are programs or software designed to carry out actions on our computers without our authorization, with the aim of stealing important personal information such as security codes, access data, and passwords, or even remotely managing computers without our permission. let us warn. Some viruses are intended for the dissemination of invasive and unauthorized advertising by the user.

In past decades, most computer viruses were transferred from computer to computer via infected floppy disks. But nowadays, with the growth of the Internet, most of these malicious programs spread through the network in various ways: downloading infected files, browsing insecure sites, or also by email, among other ways.

Viruses cannot be activated by themselves, that is, they will depend on an executable file that loads them into memory, establishing a relationship between the virus and the program to which it will be associated. For example, when the program is run by the user, the virus or malicious software will be loaded into memory by the operating system, thus carrying out its contaminating and infectious work.

Characteristics of Computer Viruses :

Polymorphic

Some computer viruses can take many forms. Certain varieties are characterized by their ability to transform their code, and precisely because they are polymorphic (also called mutants) they are much more difficult to detect and eliminate.

Residents and Non-residents

Computer viruses can be resident or non-resident in the computer's memory, that is, they may or may not remain permanently in the computer's memory. Non-resident viruses are characterized in that the virus code runs only when a given file is opened.

Stealth Virus

Stealth or stealth viruses attach themselves to certain files on your computer, to attack and quickly spread throughout your computer. They have a great ability to camouflage themselves and not be discovered.

Integrated Work

Certain viruses can attract others, making their activity more lethal. They will even help each other hide and assist each other when contaminating a specific unit of the device.

Silent Activity

Certain computer viruses can hide the changes they make inside the computer, that is, the system will not show signs of virus infiltration. This feature can make detection even more difficult.

Format Resistance

In a few cases, computer viruses can remain on the system even though the hard drive has been formatted. This type of virus is characterized by having the ability to infect very specific portions of the computer, either in the CMOS or harbored in the MBR (main boot record).

Chameleon Virus

Chameleons are a variety similar to Trojans. They pretend to be commercial programs that the user usually trusts, but the reality is that their objective and function is to cause some type of damage to the computer

Retrovirus

Retro-viruses, also known as virus-antivirus, use as an attack technique for the cancellation of antivirus programs that are running on the computer. Consequently, the computer is left defenseless and exposed to other attacks.

Mutability

Some computer viruses modify their own code to evade the action of antivirus, creating alterations of themselves in each copy.

How to Combat Them?

Some of the tasks that we can perform to combat computer viruses are: make regular backup copies, defragment the hard disk periodically, try to use original software, use the anti-virus options of the computer's BIOS, keep the total security programs updated, and, finally, have a list with the equipment configuration, including the parameters of all cards, disks and other devices.