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Virus and Security Information

Viruses and other malicious programmes can seriously damage the health of your computer. You can however, take considerable steps to protect yourself from these attacks. Here we hope to give you an insight into what kind of problems you may face and how you can guard against them.

What threats are there?

Viruses

A virus is a computer program file capable of attaching to disks or other files and replicating itself repeatedly, typically without user knowledge or permission. Some viruses attach to files so when the infected file executes, the virus also executes. Other viruses sit in a computer's memory and infect files as the computer opens, modifies or creates the files. Some viruses display symptoms, and some viruses damage files and computer systems, but neither symptoms nor damage is essential in the definition of a virus; a non-damaging virus is still a virus.

Trojan Horse Programmes

A Trojan horse program is a malicious program that pretends to be a benign application; a Trojan horse program purposefully does something the user does not expect. Trojans are not viruses since they do not replicate, but Trojan horse programs can be just as destructive. Many people use the term to refer only to non-replicating malicious programs, thus making a distinction between Trojans and viruses.

Virus Hoaxes

Hoaxes are not viruses, but are usually deliberate or unintentional e-messages warning people about a virus or other malicious software program. Some hoaxes cause as much trouble as viruses by causing massive amounts of unnecessary e-mail. Most hoaxes contain one or more of the following characteristics: -

• Warnings about alleged new viruses and its damaging consequences
• Demands the reader forward the warning to as many people as possible
• Pseudo-technical "information" describing the virus
• Bogus comments from officials: FBI, software companies, news agencies