You’ve got a Virus

Group 10

“Top Ten”

Leader: Marissa Mizer

Editor: Elissa Mittendorf

Proofreader: Stefan Neeley

Web Page Designer: Blake Mikol

Writers: Marissa Mizer, Elissa Mittendorf, Stefan Neeley, Blake Mikol,

Eric Mier, Stephanie Miller, and Bill Miller

The New Crime Wave

By: Eric Mier

In United States most giant corporations or companies use computers to store information, give consumers new information, and help advertise their products. Many of companies are actually Internet based and it can be seen as the heart of the company, examples of this are yahoo and e-bay. Colleges are now very much ran by computers as well. Computers make going to an adviser unneeded, because you can sign up for your classes on-line. Computers are running this new age, so what happens when people decide to make viruses that destroys or disrupts a school or companies business? This is the question in which the United States Government has had to figure out. What they came up with first is creating a division within the FBI called FBI's National Computer Crime Squad (CCIPS). Created in 1991, this squad works like the regular FBI would except instead of going to a crime scene, they are going to computers and watching the damage.
The next step was making actual written laws against computer virus makers and distributors. The U.S. had to try twice before actually coming up with an act that is still in use today. The laws against the virus makers vary on the cause of what they did and how
they did it.

If you are not an Authorized user you face at the minimum a Misdemeanor charge, with these charges you can face a possible 20 years in jail and up to a 250,000 dollar fine. This can be seen in the case of the United States of America vs. David Smith. David Smith is accused and admitted to being the sole creator and distributor of the “Melissa” virus that has caused over 80 million dollars in damage. He was sent to prison for 20 months and was fined five thousand dollars (United). Although successful in catching the David Smith, it is very hard to catch computer criminals, because of all of the vast technology out there. In some cases when you do catch the criminals it ends up being a young kid not even worth sending to jail. Other obstacles that have stood in the U.S.’s way is that people from countries, who don’t have computer laws, send viruses to the U.S. making it impossible for them to be prosecuted. The computer criminals are much like any other criminal and the only way to stop them is for them to stop themselves.

The Creation of a Computer Virus
By: Stephanie Moore

Many people are affected by viruses each year and never learn how they obtained them. Viruses do not appear by themselves; they are being created everyday by hackers. These programmers, or hackers, create the virus on their computer then send them to information exchange networks or toss them into the computers of their acquaintances. A virus can not sneak to your computer by itself, either it was hiding on diskettes or on a CD or you have accidentally downloaded it from a computer informational network. It is even possible that a computer hacker lives in your very own home (Howstuffworks).
          These viruses are created by everyday people. First, a person has to write the code then test it to make sure it spreads properly. After they insure it is working, they release the virus. A person also designs the virus's attack phase, what the virus will look like when it reaches your computer, and what the virus will actually do. It can be a silly message or destruction of a hard disk (Brain). So why do people do it?
         There are at least three reasons people create viruses. The first being, the same excitement that drives vandals and arsonists to destroy property is the same excitement that drives hackers to create viruses.  For some people that seems to be a thrill. If that sort of person happens to know computer programming, then he or she may funnel energy into the creation of destructive viruses (Brain). The second reason has to do with people’s obsessions with explosions.  When you were growing up in your neighborhood the kids were fascinated with fireworks. The bigger the explosion, the better it was.  Creating a virus that spreads quickly is a little like that—it creates an explosion inside a computer, and the more computers that get infected, the more "fun" the virus (Brain). The third reason probably involves bragging rights. Some people may be compelled to create one just to see if they can.  People think "Sure, I could tell someone about it, but wouldn't it be better to show them?" That sort of logic leads to many viruses (Brain).
        Of course, all of the virus creators are still missing the point; they are causing real damage to real people with their hazardous creations. Destroying everything on a person's hard disk and forcing the people inside a large company to waste thousands of hours cleaning up after a virus is extremely damaging. Even a silly message can be harmful because a person then has to waste their time getting rid of it. For this reason, the legal system is getting much harsher in punishing the people who create viruses.

Computer Virus Inconveniences and Distributions

By: Elissa Mittendorf and Stephanie Miller

 When computer users know they have a virus, they to claim that they have done nothing but it just happened. This denial is because people send these viruses into your computer without you knowing. They are generally software programs that do the same that other programs will do for the computer. Although the effects of these viruses depend on who wrote and sent the virus. Many are to damage files and to obstruct the operation. These viruses however will not do damage to the hard drive and they will defiantly not do any physical harm to your computer.
 For example, at the beginning of the 2003 fall semester at Bowling Green State University, a computer virus took over many new users to this system. The virus, as we learned to call it the worm, inconvenience to computer users were a countdown of when your computer will completely shut off. This was not only extremely frustrating but many students would lose everything they were working on. With a simple program to install in the computer, this virus could be overridden. Because of these annoying inconveniences and obstruction of files it’s easier just to get something to protect your computer from the beginning although there seems to always be a larger virus that will overcome the firewall. How are these viruses distributed?
 

Computer viruses can be distributed in a number of ways, which is exactly what makes them such a problem. You can get a virus from attachments, downloads, a shared floppy disk, or on occasion by hacking. The most likely way you would get a virus would be through an e-mail attachment, because they are the most prevalent and easiest mode of transportation of a virus. As recently as five years ago, a virus would spread mainly just through a shared floppy disk. Now, due to the vast expansion of Internet use, just opening up your electronic mail can launch a destructive virus into your system. “With Internet usage, exploding, the average user is now twenty times more likely to contract a computer virus” (Scholastic). With so many different forms of computer viruses out there, it seems almost impossible to avoid them. “You can get an e-mail that looks like any other e-mail,” explains Alex Haddox, head of Symantec Antivirus Research Center in Santa Monica, California. “Except when you open up the e-mail itself, by the time you read it, it’s too late” (Scholastic). You’ve got a virus! Now the virus goes to work on your computer by self-replicating, or copying itself over and over again to your computers memory. Once your computer is infected with the virus it will try to complete its primary purpose, which is to spread to as many other computers as possible, as quickly as it can. Thus, the virus will be spread to mass amounts of people in practically no time at all.

The Virus Goes to Campus: Computer Viruses and the affect on Campus Networks

By: Bill Miller

Computer viruses are obviously a hassle for anyone who has the misfortune of receiving one on their computer. “A virus is a computer program created to infect other programs with copies of itself. Viruses may be benign and result only in amusement or mere annoyance, or malignant and malicious when they destroy or alter data” (Ebsco). Computer viruses mainly affect campus computer networks. These viruses cause nothing but headaches for university technical services, students and administrators.

“The wave of viruses and worms that have plagued the rest of the country, namely Sobig, Msblaster, Nachi and Welchia,” began to hit campuses as recently as August this year and did not show any mercy to Bowling Green State University (Lexis). The problem with these viruses is that they come as email attachments from other email accounts on the university network. Once the attachment is opened on an individual, that computer is attacked and then sends out emails with the virus attached to everyone in the individuals address book. These recent viruses do not directly attack a campus network; they simply clog it with too much traffic thus greatly slowing the operation of the network (FAQ). Other viruses directly attack personal computers, Macs, and whole campus networks by destroying key program or disabling the operating system entirely (Ebsco). There are measures that can be taken to protect campus networks and those computers connected to the network.

Many campuses across the United States and around the world have already begun to issue advisories to students, faculty and staff about how to “arm” themselves against viruses. Campuses have also made available on their web sites links to download anti-virus protection programs like McAfee and Norton (Keystone Online). Also, students, faculty and staff are advised to leave any suspicious or mail from unknown senders un-opened.

Who Creates Viruses and Why?
By: Marissa Mizer

Contrary to popular thought, a computer virus can infect a given system without the use of an Internet connection or an external modem. This belief among the general population has created a sense of immunity for the average computer-dependent member of society. Perhaps we can associate the increased percentage of businesses that are victimized each year by a crash program of some sort to the mass amounts of technologically ignorant people; the opportunity to manipulate the system is there and is usually administered by the employees of a company.

According the David Carter and Andra Katz’s article, “Computer Crime an Emerging Challenge for Law Enforcement,” there are many reasons as to why an employee would want to create and introduce a virus into their business computer system. For one, they could be seeking revenge after their termination, using the virus as a way to strike back. Even more destructive is unleashing a crash program for the sole purpose of gaining an advantage over fellow employees; while they have to deal with the embarrassment of being victimized (an obvious image reducer), the criminal uses their personal knowledge of the virus to solve the problem that the competition could not. In a few other cases, tampering with the system in order to find its weaknesses is the prime concern of the employee. This form of computer crime is not meant by the author to cause permanent damage but, unfortunately for the company, financial loss and lower productivity inevitably ensue. Finally, covering up a theft within the company is made much simpler through the use of a computer virus. Due to the fact that viruses scramble and deplete information, losses are generally attributed to them, rather than to the theft.

Can the war be won?

By: Blake Mikol

With computer viruses spreading across the globe through e-mail, websites, and other Internet applications, people want to know what they can do to go with their daily lives. Computer viruses affect thousands of people daily, and among these thousands of people, only a handful of them know various ways to prevent viruses in more than one way. Some procedures are more affective than others, but overall viruses need to be stopped one way or another. Here is a list of the best ways to prevent computer viruses:

· Scanners: these contain types of detection and disinfections for all known viruses today. These are designed to identify a virus before one infects someone’s computer. There are numerous amounts of virus scanners available, but the main disadvantage for all of these is continuous updating of the programs in order for the latest viruses to be stopped.

· Checksummers: these programs are designed to detect change. When a virus infects an object, the object will change. This change will alert the checksummer that a virus came about. Checksummer’s can detect known and unknown viruses, but only if there has been a noticeable change in an object. The main problem with these is sometimes checksummer’s cannot prevent a virus but only inform that something got infected.

· Heuristics: these are ways to improve the efficiently of a system so that it then can discover solutions to unidentified problems. Heuristics are used to create ‘rules’ to identify viruses from non-viruses. Another strength of Heuristics is that they don’t need to be continuously updated for better programming. But one disadvantage of Heuristics is that the virus community reads Heuristics and then write new viruses that can overcome them. This is not frequent, but may occur (Information).

· Another simple procedure of virus prevention is the “Don’t take candy from strangers” method. If you receive e-mail and you do not know whom it is from, do not open it. E-mail is the most popular way of computer virus spreading, and opening unknown mail is the most common way to be infected.

· Also, it is important to keep your web browser up to date. Check regularly to see if your computer has the latest system updates or security patches. This will make your computer a tougher system to hack into (Sophos).

With more and more computer viruses spreading constantly, people need to take advantage of what is in front of them. However nothing is guaranteed that a computer will be virus-free forever, but having simple precautions and understanding anti-virus programs will make a cleaner, safer environment in the computer world.

Fixing the Mess

By: Stefan Neeley

We have heard the causes and effects of the computer virus on the modern personal computer. However, once it inevitably takes over the system what can be done to rectify the damage? It may seem like a hopeless cause but it is certainly not the case. There are a few precautions to take that can ensure that your PC is ready for such occurrences. While the methods of fixing the damage may not be numerous, the few ways are often extremely effective. Simply trying a few simple techniques can save you hundreds by avoiding professional help. Even the average computer repairman can cost you up to twenty-five dollars per hour. Why pay the ludicrous amount when you can take care of the problem?

First of all, the best cure is an ounce of prevention. Regularly backing up important files can insure that you are protected. A good anti-virus program, such as MacAfee or Norton’s Anti Virus will not only protect your computer from the virus, it also can quarantine any infected files. In certain cases it is even possible for the program to clean the file, nullifying the virus. A simple system scan can often be all that the computer really needed; as many programs have newly updated virus definitions. It is crucial to keep all of your definitions updated as often as possible, because not getting a virus is your best defense. As long as the virus has not struck any crucial files you can simply delete the file before the virus spreads.

With the many compact disc burners on the market one could easily save your files on a CD-RW disc. The CD-RW is a rewrite-able disc that allows you to constantly add new files to an already burnt data disc, allowing the user to keep up to 80 megabytes and constantly updates the content. Also common on the market are zip discs, which with a zip drive, you can use specifically formatted discs that carry up to 100 megabytes of information.

This allows you to back up your important documents, such as papers, photos, or even save files from certain programs. It is important, depending on the level of threat you have of virus contact, to regularly save your files. This way once a virus strikes all you need to do is reinstall the operating system. Windows is very easy to reinstall, as you only really need the operating systems install disc. Windows XP for example can delete your previously installed version and reinstall everything, so that any programs files, whether the file is viral or simply data. Using the backed up information you can simply copy your older files back on to the hard drive. One important measure however is scanning these files for the virus. You certainly do not want to place infected files right back on the computer. Most anti-virus programs have a command for doing just this.

As a last resort there always is the computer repairman. While it is a costly and often times a time consuming approach, it is also the safest bet. However, following these few simple guidelines can save you money and time without your computer.

Works Cited

Brain, Marshal.  (1998, January). How computer Viruses and Worms Work. October 28, 2003. Available Online: http://dusd.net/viruses.htm (accessed October 30, 2003)

Carter, D. and A. Katz. (1996, December). Computer Crime an Emerging
Challenge for Law Enforcement. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 1-9.

CNN.com (2001). Window’s popularity makes it easy target to hackers. January, 2001. Available online: http://www.cnn.comn/2000/TECH/computing/05/16/eindows. hackers.idg/index.html (accessed October 22, 2003)

Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS). Computer Crime Policy and Programs. July 31, 2003. Available Online: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ cybercrime/ccpolicy.html (accessed October 30, 2003)

Ebsco (2003). Flurry of Arrests Made in Cybercrime Cases. September 15, 2003. Available online: http://web6.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb+1&_ug+dbs+1+1n+en% 2Dus+sid+D9476930D4954D%2D/html (accessed October 29, 2003)

FAQ (2003). Computer Virus FAQ for New Users. October 22, 2003. Available online: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-virus/new-users/ (accessed October 22, 2003)

Howstuffworks, Inc.  (2003, February).  How Computer Viruses Work. October 28, 2003. Available Online: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm (accessed October 30, 2003)

Information Technology (2002). Virus Prevention-What you need to know. October 23, 2002. Available online: http://www.dickinson.edu/it/training/vc/general/ virusprevention.html (accessed November 5, 2003)

Kerstetter, J. and P. Magusson. (September 2003). How do virus hunters track their prey? Business Week, 32-34.

Lexis Nexis (2003). Fearing PC Havoc, Gumshoes Hunt Down a Virus. August 23, 2003. Available online: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=19acdvke kgjd3968fk490d204udo49lfe.html (accessed October 21, 2003)

Scholastic (2000). Computer Viruses (how computers get sick and how to cure them). October 19, 1998. Available online: http://www.findarticles.com/m1590/n4_v55/ 21246984/p1/article.html (accessed Sept. 27)

Sophos (2001). Computer virus prevention: a primer. February 2002. Available online: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/whitepapers/prevention.html (accessed November 5, 2003)

United States District Court (2002). Judgment in U.S. v. David Lee Smith. September 17, 2002. Available Online: http://www.rbs2.com/dls.html (accessed October 30, 2003)

Vijayan, J. (2000, May). Computing. CNN.com. Retrieved October 22,
2003, from http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing.05/16/windows. hackers.idg/index.html.