Hi, this is homcorn from ITLover0. Today’s post is going to be about ‘what are Computer Virus, Worms, and Trojan horses’. Since these malwares (I will explain what a malware is later on) are being a big issue around the world, many people are wondering what exactly are they and what do those programs do. Well all of them give you and your PC an issue. Just think that your PC is currently sick because of a man-made virus. Anyway, let’s look at the specific details of them.
What are Malwares
Before we go on to ‘what are ‘what are Computer Virus, Worms, and Trojan horses’ , we have to know what a malware. Like its name, it is going to harm you(your PC). Malwares that your computer is harmed by external factors, mostly intentional. The reason why it is called malware is because it is malicious software shortened. Anyway, they usually try to make your PC malfunction and just make it unable to use or make it malfunction and ask you money(bitcoin) in order to fix it (it doesn’t work so don’t give them money.)
There are 3 types among these malware. First, a computer virus. Second, a worm (yea it is named after the worn you know). Third, trojan horses. You might heard of some of them because some are named after a thing or event in real life. Anyway, they all have different types of ways to harm people’s PC and lifestyle and as a IT lover, it really horrifies me. That said, let’s look at each of them.
Computer Viruses
First is the computer viruses. We all know what viruses are. They are super infectious and harmful to human beings and sometimes even kill them. Computer viruses are similar to normal viruses. They spread, they infect, and they harm. They don’t to physical damage to humans but they do damage to computers which is used everyday.
Most of the time, they start causing damage when a typical type of action is made. But before they do that, they spread through your PC and your internet. It starts to spread all over your computer and hides so that you don’t notice. Then, it starts to duplicate itself within the PC. As I said, it activates when you do a certain action. For example, when you turn off your computer for the 5th time. Then, each of the virus starts inserting its code to programs that it finds. This codes in your files makes it so that you can’t access those files. It also makes your system files unable to use which would make you unable to access your OS which means you simply cannot use your computer anymore.
If you find the virus before this happens, then you can download vaccines to stop it from starting to attack. But if your PC is dead already, then you have no hope. There aren’t much of a real “computer virus” nowadays because they don’t really give the developer a benefit unless it is made just to annoy your friend or a single opponent. In most cases, they were used to gain money but it is better to use programs like trojan horses if the intention is to gain money.
Worms
Second is the worms. Yes, it is named by the animal(its an animal not an insect or other kind) worm that we see when walk by the streets. Anyway, they are named worm because they dig through your internet like worms digging through soil. While real life worms make the soil rich, worms cause traffics and only gives negative effects.
Unlike computer viruses, they have the ability to go through the internet and infect other computers. This means that multiple of your devices can be infected by it. When the worm was first developed, all it did was duplicating thousands of itself and making the computer slower by using up its capacity. But nowadays, they also disable the network by using its duplication and also inject malicious codes to files to encrypt it so you can’t access it (they usually don’t encrypt it because if then it is classified computer viruses).
This infection mostly happens when you use a PC with weak security. Most PCs get infected by e-mails, shared folders, network ports, and external USB, hard-drive, and SSDs. Unlike computer viruses, it can be operated by itself which means that it doesn’t have to have a certain condition or an external cause in order to operate. To describe it in simple words, it is an online worm that makes babies of itself and fills up space so that your PC gets slower and eventually won’t work.
Trojan Horse story
Last is the trojan horses. Among the three, trojan horses are my favorite. They are so much like the real trojan horses the Greek used to win the war. In case you don’t know what happened, the Greeks and the Trojans were in war and Odysseus made a plan to fake their loss and present the Trojans a huge wooden horse. In there would be hundreds of Greek warriors who would attack the Troy from inside when they accept the gift and celebrate. This actually succeeded and the Greeks won the war.
Trojan Horse Virus
Like the story, a trojan horse in terms of malware attack computers by hiding into programs or files that you download from the internet. They rarely come from official sites or other legal or trustworthy sites that a lot of people use. Most of them come from illegal or unauthorized downloads. They hide in when you download those files then activate when a certain action is caused. It usually encrypts your files and makes you unable to access it. If a specific action is made, the trojan horse activates and starts to encrypt your files.
Then, it shows a screen that kindly tells you that your files have been encrypted and in order to recover it, you have to pay bit-coin to a billing address. If you don’t pay it, then your files are going to get destroyed. The problem is that trojan horse developers are not able to identify which computer owner has sent the money. This means your files are unlikely to be unencrypted even though you pay the money. Let’s take the Wannacry (WanaCrypt0r 2.0) for example. Wannacry is a trojan horse that has been spread over 99 countries and infected 1million and 20 thousand computers over the world. It required you to send bit-coin to an account in bit-coin.
Solution for Trojan Horses
Like I said, it doesn’t work so people lost their files. The reason why the developer was not caught is because they used bit-coin as their money method. If it weren’t cryptocurrency, then the police would have tracked the developer down. The reason why bit-coin was so useful for the developer is because bit-coin provides anonymity to the provider and the buyer. The government should change the law so even when trading cryptocurrency, the trade cannot be anonymous and both sides should provide their real name. Anyway, this is what a trojan horse is and how it works and some example.
That is the end of ‘What are Computer Virus, Worms, and Trojan horses’. Nowadays, experts are finding solutions for these types of ransomwares to stop private and individual computers from being hacked and being unable to use. I also hope that every ransomware developers would be caught and the ransomware attacks would fade away. There might be some false information(mostly not but just in case) so if there is a mistake, then please tell me in the comment section. Thank you for reading our post and I will see you next time. Bye!
Malware blocker: https://www.malwarebytes.com/malware
How computers work(Korean): https://itlover0.tistory.com/19
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