Virusology...

[Zangetsu]

Hello all,

I have some Questions regarding this viruses/worms/Trojan etc

Q1: If a .exe infecting virus enters ur system then it will affect all .exe files except
those which r Read Only ? Is this True.

[ThinkFree]

^^It would depend on the virus.

[Zangetsu]

Ok...

Q 2: Is true that the antivirus companies make some viruses to make money?

[ThinkFree]

^^Maybe.

[skippednote]

No offence but y are u askin such question man

[zyberboy]

Originally Posted by KaranTh85

Ok...

Q 2: Is true that the antivirus companies make some viruses to make money?

No

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by Captain Neo

No offence but y are u askin such question man

Simple...
To know about them...

Prevention is Better then Cure...

Q3: Which has high level of threat...virus/worm/malware/trojan/spyware/any other type u know ?

[ThinkFree]

Prevention better than cure?
Switch to Linux as soon as possible

Ans.3 It would depend on what each one of them is intended to do.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by ThinkFree

Ans.3 It would depend on what each one of them is intended to do.

I think those viruses which usually multiply itself or make clone copies of itself rapidly
have higher threat level...

[Cool Joe]

all types of malicious code do damage, whether small or big. but yes, those which reproduce are quite dangerous. as for antivirus companies makin viruses- NO. they wouldnt stoop so low as to do so.

[dheeraj_kumar]

Putting it bluntly, rootkits **** up the comp like anything. Google for more info.

[Zangetsu]

I think those viruses which damage or alter the system files r deadly too

[rhitwick]

Ans to Q3:-
Virus: Changes system files, corrupts them. Reformat and scan wid a good antivirus will solve. A regular backup habit will be helpful if u r virus-struck.

Worm: Copies itself every second in a large extent, gobbles ur memory, system resources, slows down ur PC, its a real pain in d a$$. I hate worms.

Trojans: It can be very much dangerous, the main motto to create a trojan is to control the victim's PC, u can do anything with the affected one, format hdd, delete data, play songs, browse, d/l etc. Beware of it always.

Spyware: as the name says............spys on ur system. sends ur sys. config, history, any system vulnerabilities, confidential data.

Malware: Same as virus but not exactly............can be dangerous depending upon its intention.

Adware: If infected ...........u'll c that ur browser if redirecting with some 'faltu' sites, lots and lots of pop-ups opening, slowing down, irrational behavior of ur browser. Not dat dangerous, but annoying.

And Rootkit: As said earlier, its dangerous.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by rhitwick

Ans to Q3:-
Virus: Changes system files, corrupts them. Reformat and scan wid a good antivirus will solve. A regular backup habit will be helpful if u r virus-struck.

Worm: Copies itself every second in a large extent, gobbles ur memory, system resources, slows down ur PC, its a real pain in d a$$. I hate worms.

Trojans: It can be very much dangerous, the main motto to create a trojan is to control the victim's PC, u can do anything with the affected one, format hdd, delete data, play songs, browse, d/l etc. Beware of it always.

Spyware: as the name says............spys on ur system. sends ur sys. config, history, any system vulnerabilities, confidential data.

Malware: Same as virus but not exactly............can be dangerous depending upon its intention.

Adware: If infected ...........u'll c that ur browser if redirecting with some 'faltu' sites, lots and lots of pop-ups opening, slowing down, irrational behavior of ur browser. Not dat dangerous, but annoying.

And Rootkit: As said earlier, its dangerous.

nice info

[alicemcline]

programically we can manipulate attributes of files implies viruses can affect readonly files..

and fact says.. all modern viruses affect all files inclusive of readonly files..

various small coorporations make viruses to make money..

highest level of threat is considered for: worms and trojans..


following explains this threat level..

Trojans: Trojans are backdoor server/clients.. These once loaded gives complete control of server to clients implies complete compromization of server/workstation.. Most hackers after hacking into any system upload these into system to permit them later access into system.. These can include various features like keylogging, camera control, etc.. Duplication is manual in most cases.. For Eq: Subseven..

Worms: These are viruses that make use of system vulnerabilities to reach everywhere.. Worms if strong can prove to be very devastating for whole internet.. Duplication is automatic and extremely fast.. For Eq: w0rm has been held responsible for huge losses..

Spyware: Spywares are considered moderate level of threat for these time to time report internet activity (websites), keyboard activity (keyslogged), etc.. But, in few cases these have been found responsible for installing trojans i.e., backdoor servers into systems that increases threat level of these.. For Eq: Cool Web Search [CWS and variants]..

Malware: Malwares implies Misc software.. these includes port scanners, security tools, etc.. these also include spywares, worms, etc.. For Eq: Angry IP Scanner..

Trojan Horses: (oldest type of viruses) These on execution can cause damage to data.. These are mostly targetted and have certain objectives like destroying/formatting hdd, fdd, etc.. These in various cases have also been found to have duplicated itself..

Boot Sector Viruses: (old type of viruses) These viruses grew very rapidly once but, atm rarely we find these.. Duplication spontaneous w.r.t. disk insertion into infected system.. For Eq: Stone virus..

Rootkit: Rootkits are dangerous but, often trojan i.e., backdoor type.. These are targetted at escalation of root/admin priv..

[jal_desai]

did u guys noticed... he is putting a Laughing emoticon in his every post... i mean its awkward to see tht green grinning icon when we are havin a hot discussion on viruses and trojans..

Originally Posted by alicemcline

programically we can manipulate attributes of files implies viruses can affect readonly files..

and fact says.. all modern viruses affect all files inclusive of readonly files..

various small coorporations make viruses to make money..

highest level of threat is considered for: worms and trojans..


following explains this threat level..

Trojans: Trojans are backdoor server/clients.. These once loaded gives complete control of server to clients implies complete compromization of server/workstation.. Most hackers after hacking into any system upload these into system to permit them later access into system.. These can include various features like keylogging, camera control, etc.. Duplication is manual in most cases.. For Eq: Subseven..

Worms: These are viruses that make use of system vulnerabilities to reach everywhere.. Worms if strong can prove to be very devastating for whole internet.. Duplication is automatic and extremely fast.. For Eq: w0rm has been held responsible for huge losses..

Spyware: Spywares are considered moderate level of threat for these time to time report internet activity (websites), keyboard activity (keyslogged), etc.. But, in few cases these have been found responsible for installing trojans i.e., backdoor servers into systems that increases threat level of these.. For Eq: Cool Web Search [CWS and variants]..

Malware: Malwares implies Misc software.. these includes port scanners, security tools, etc.. these also include spywares, worms, etc.. For Eq: Angry IP Scanner..

Trojan Horses: (oldest type of viruses) These on execution can cause damage to data.. These are mostly targetted and have certain objectives like destroying/formatting hdd, fdd, etc.. These in various cases have also been found to have duplicated itself..

Boot Sector Viruses: (old type of viruses) These viruses grew very rapidly once but, atm rarely we find these.. Duplication spontaneous w.r.t. disk insertion into infected system.. For Eq: Stone virus..

Rootkit: Rootkits are dangerous but, often trojan i.e., backdoor type.. These are targetted at escalation of root/admin priv..

+1 ...

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by jal_desai

did u guys noticed... he is putting a Laughing emoticon in his every post..

bcoz i like green icons ....what 2 say...

well worms/trojans r also dangerous....& i dont know abt rootkits how they affect system

Q. Which type of viruses hide them in process....i.e they r invisible in task manager ?

[romeo_8693]

well its not entirely false that anti virus companies dont make viruses.Im mean if there are no new viruses whol'll buy an updated anti virus??

[Cool Joe]

rootkits- hidden malicious code which cannot b seen by the user. in olden times, rootkits couldnt b detected even by AV software. but now almost all AVs can detect them. nevertheless, better install a specialised rootkit detector such as AVG anti rootkit or panda anti rootkit.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by romeo_8693

well its not entirely false that anti virus companies dont make viruses.Im mean if there are no new viruses whol'll buy an updated anti virus??

ya...valid point...

[alok4best]

Virus are threat to only those who don't know how to Format their System ...hehehehe.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by alok4best

Virus are threat to only those who don't know how to Format their System ...hehehehe.

Ya I agree...but it shud be the last option in ur hands if nothin works though...

Q. The deadly virus u have encountered in ur life so far ?

[Cool Joe]

i was infected by some worm 2 years ago. it disabled MS Office, corrupted many word and excel documents. it even disabled my norton antivirus (which i was using at that time.). i couldnt connect to the internet bcoz i didnt have internet at that time. finally, i installed a trial version of norton internet security from the digit, scanned and removed the worm. since then, i havent been infected even ONCE by any sort of malicious program. most often the virus is detected even before it does anything. i use kaspersky antivirus 7.0 now.

i also use spybot sd.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by beta testing

i was infected by some worm 2 years ago. it disabled MS Office, corrupted many word and excel documents. it even disabled my norton antivirus (which i was using at that time.). i couldnt connect to the internet bcoz i didnt have internet at that time. finally, i installed a trial version of norton internet security from the digit, scanned and removed the worm. since then, i havent been infected even ONCE by any sort of malicious program. most often the virus is detected even before it does anything. i use kaspersky antivirus 7.0 now.

i also use spybot sd.

Yup...Antivirus + AntiSpyware is a must

Q. How does a Trojan Horse affect a system ? And Is trojan horse & spyware have same purpose ?

[Cool Joe]

a trojan horse poses as something useful (antivirus or anti spyware program) but actually secretely sends user data to some other remote computer. the data can be anything like passwords, sites that the user visits, system info etc.

spyware is quite similar but it sends only info like the web pages that r visited frequently by the user. then the user is targeted with ads with relevance to the web pages visited. for e.g, if a person often visits the chelsea web site, and a spyware is on his system, he may get targeted with ads telling him to buy official chelsea fan merchandise etc. (u get the idea). even though spyware are not very dangerous, they are very annoying and use up YOUR net connection and YOUR bandwidth.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by beta testing

a trojan horse poses as something useful (antivirus or anti spyware program) but actually secretely sends user data to some other remote computer. the data can be anything like passwords, sites that the user visits, system info etc.

spyware is quite similar but it sends only info like the web pages that r visited frequently by the user. then the user is targeted with ads with relevance to the web pages visited. for e.g, if a person often visits the chelsea web site, and a spyware is on his system, he may get targeted with ads telling him to buy official chelsea fan merchandise etc. (u get the idea). even though spyware are not very dangerous, they are very annoying and use up YOUR net connection and YOUR bandwidth.

OK, then keylogger & trojanhorse are of same breed ?

[Cool Joe]

no no. keyloggers hide (are invisible). they mostly dont show up at all in the list of running processes and the add/remove programs applet. they store a logfile of all keystrokes, and may take a screenshot of the computer every few minutes.

trojans dont hide and dont record all keystrokes. they record only passwords, credit card info, websites visited etc.

[Zangetsu]

Originally Posted by beta testing

no no. keyloggers hide (are invisible). they mostly dont show up at all in the list of running processes and the add/remove programs applet. they store a logfile of all keystrokes, and may take a screenshot of the computer every few minutes.

hmm, so only antivirus can remove it. .And Trojan Horse can be seen in task
manager.

Originally Posted by beta testing

trojans dont hide and dont record all keystrokes. they record only passwords, credit card info, websites visited etc.

If they do such things then this can be done by a keylogger also.bcoz finally the ultimate info will be posted to their creators(hackers).

[Cool Joe]

torjan horses, like i said b4, pose as some useful program. so the process run by the so called useful program is shown in the task manager.