Data Security - Is Your Data Safe?

Purposes for Viruses

A computer virus is created, just like all the other malicious code types, by computer programmers for many different purposes. They employ these attacks as harassment of computer users, to prove their abilities to others or themselves, and in many cases to either cause damage to the owners of the computer or to steal information. There are several reasons for stealing information. Some types of malicious code monitor user behavior and use it for statistical or other targeting purposes in commercial dealings. More often than not, viruses are designed to steal files and/or transaction information for the purposes of direct financial gain. Finally, viruses are used to steal trade secrets, government secrets, and defense industry secrets.

Types of Viruses, Malware, and Other Malicious Code

We need to evaluate the different categories of malicious code in order to understand how computers get infected and/or how a data security breach can occur. This information can assist users in preventing different types of computer and network intrusion threats.

• Viruses - Packages of code designed to attach themselves to executable files or documents
• Worms - Types of viruses that seek to replicate themselves across the network on multiples computers
• Trojans - Types of viruses that represent themselves as one type of benign program, but in reality does damage once it is executed
• Attack Scripts - These programs attack vulnerabilities of Internet browsers and other programs and are very easily spread as infections through the Internet websites Java Attack Applets - These malicious programs also attack users through vulnerabilities of web browsers and Java plug-ins
• Active X Control - These are program parts that enable malicious code or viruses to control applications and even Operating Systems

Source of Viruses - Where Do They Come From?

With these intentions in mind, the users have to understand where these viruses and malware packages of code come from. There are several methods of virus distribution that home users and office administrators have to be mindful.

• Internet Web Browser - Code inside web pages can use browser vulnerabilities such as Active X vulnerability or Java Script vulnerability to infect the local computer and even spread through the network thereafter. Users also can download executable files and documents that are infected via the browser
• Email Attachment - attachments to email can also be downloaded by the user and once executed can allow the Viruses, Worms, Trojans, and Attack Scripts to replicate and damage
• Portable Disks and USBs - Malicious code can easily spread through a disk or USB stick that is infected. Once inserted into a new machine, the Virus will seek to replicate onto a new host and can spread through the network from there, in the case of a Worm or steal data in the case of an Attack Script.
• Network Bots - These programs are really scans that run and test computer networks’ Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and different ports such as TCP and UDP to probe for either open ports or receiving programs with vulnerabilities. Once a fault is detected, the bots allow either a hacker to penetrate the network or in most cases to release a Virus or an Attack Script that could do damage or steal data.

Safeguarding Your Data

Now that it is clear what types of malicious code are a potential threat to a give computer system and its data, we can make suggestions on some best practices in data security for home users to select from.

• Hardware Firewall - this type of protection is usually provided by a router and can filter Internet traffic for intrusions and port control. A more advanced form of blocking out intrusions is Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) which monitors every packet of data that goes through the firewall and inspects its nature, sources, and other characteristics.
• Software Firewall - in addition to hardware firewalls, software firewalls are useful because they have more specific data about the particular applications on the machine and can further identify threats that get by a hardware firewall. Software firewalls can match the actions of the program on the PC with the data that is coming into the PC.
• Updated Anti-Virus Software - Having an anti-virus software that is not updated regularly greatly reduces its effectiveness. As malicious code evolves on a daily basis, it important to have the most recent images of current viruses to help the Anti-virus program match the threat to the profile inside its database.
• Browsing Precautions - Users can set their browsers’ setting to high security in order to minimize the potential of encountering Active X Control scripts and Java Malicious Scripts. Further, it is on the use to avoid suspect and illegitimate looking sites.

What do I do If I Have a Virus?

Because computer viruses are changed so often it is usually the case that users still end-up with infected computers despite their precautions. If the regular anti-virus scans did not help, then it is time for expert intervention. Because viruses are programmed to be unique, they behave differently and attack different components of each machine’s Operating System, Applications, and Hardware. To permanently remove such threats, intelligent IT experts need to remotely look at each infected machine and use their knowledge and training to address every aspect of the virus attack.

There are many self-help tool that are either free or sold, however, our experience with such tools is that they really help in a small percentage of cases. This is because computer viruses adopt and change all the time. It takes a human expert to counteract a malicious code that was created by a human expert.

CPUHeroes specialize in this type of remote cleaning service. We do not sell programs, or give you advise, we simply remotely work on home users’ machines until they are virus free.

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