Computer viruses and crime

Computer virus is a portion of a program code that has been designed to copy itself into other such codes or computer files. It is usually created by vandals to effect a result or to destroy data and program code.

A virus consists of a set of instructions that attaches itself to other computer programs, usually in the computer's operating system, and becomes part of them. In most cases, the corrupted programs continue to perform their intended functions but surreptitiously execute the virus's instructions as well. A virus is usually designed to execute when it is loaded into a computer's memory. Upon execution, the virus instructs its host program to copy the viral code into any number of other programs and files stored in the computer. The infection can then transfer itself to files and code on other computers through magnetic disks or other memory – storage devices, computer networks, or online systems. The replicating viruses often multiply until they destroy data or make other program codes meaningless. A virus may simply cause a harmless joke or cryptic message to appear on a computer monitor each time the computer is turned on. A more damaging virus can break an extremely large computer system within a matter of minutes or hours, causing it to crash and thereby destroy valuable data.

Computer viruses are simply small programs that insert themselves into program files and boot sectors. Most are activated when you run the infected program or boot from an infected disk, and they immediately start replicating themselves by looking for new files and boot sectors to infect. Like real germs, the most successful and prevalent computer viruses do little except hide, reproduce, and wait for the opportunity to spread to other PCs.

The computer viruses we fear most – those that destroy files, format hard disks or make them unbootable or corrupt BIOS settings – are relatively rare. They usually don't spread as rapidly as lethal bugs because they do such a dandy job of disrupting their host – your hard disk, which you may have to format, wiping out the viruses in the process.

It is useful to set the write-protect tab on floppies when you're not actively writing to them, and don't leave floppies in the drive. Viruses that spread by infecting the system area of a floppy disk are the most common, and some even periodically check the floppy drive for an easy victim.

Now we can assume: computer viruses are everywhere. Here's how to keep your computer from "catching a cold," and what to do if it does.

There's no question that every computer user should have some sort of virus scanning software – programs that can help prevent your computer from contracting a virus and wipe one out if necessary.

Contracting a virus can be simple, its all a matter of introducing an infected file onto your computer system. And today, more types of files can be infected than ever before.

Since the first reported case of computer abuse in 1958, computers have been involved in most types of crimes, including theft, burglary, sabotage, espionage, kidnapping, and murder. Computer systems themselves can be the targets of attack, as when a computer virus is surreptitiously introduced into a system to alter or destroy data. Breaking into private computer systems to destroy, steal, or alter information became easier once modems were introduced in the 1960s. Most serious computer crimes, however, are committed in the banking and financial-service industries, where money, credit, and other financial assets are recorded in electronic databases and are transmitted as signals over telephone lines. Persons with access to such systems may falsify or manipulate these records for their own purposes by, for example, illegally transferring money balances to their own accounts.

So, in order to be protected from computer viruses and crime, a person should have modern antiviral software and some knowledge in protecting PC from internal and external invasion.