UNDERSTANDING MALWARE AND EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT [PART 2]:VIRUS ||SIZ EDUCATION|| CLUB75

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A quick recap of things discussed in the Part 1 of this vast lesson based on MALWARE.
We explained and examined the various types of malwares we have,namely Virus,Trojan virus,Worm,Adware,Ransome ware and Fileless ware.
You can read the part one of this lesson here for more and better understanding if you missed it by chance.

All of these malware perform different
function and are sub-divisions of malware in general.
Each of these listed malware also have their types and how they function,so for the sake of this class,we will be picking these sub-divisions of malware one by one and then exploring everything about it.

Today,we are going to be discussing and exploring everything about VIRUS as a malware.We will be looking at

•What is computer virus.
•Characteristics of computer virus.
•How virus attack and spread.
•Signs of Computer virus.
•How to pretect computer/phone from virus.
•The types of viruses we have.

So stay with me as I explore these things.

DISCUSSING VIRUS AS A TYPE OF MALWARE

WHAT IS COMPUTER VIRUS??

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I won't be dwelling much on this as I already discussed about what virus is in the part 1 of this lesson.
But nevertheless,I will just briefly reaccentuate what a computer virus is.

A computer virus is a type and subdivision of malware which operate by attaching itself to a legitimate file or document online that support macros in order for it to be able to execute it codes.Once downloaded,it begins to spread and in turn damage,steal and modify sensitive data in the system or network.
They are extremely harmful and can result to loss of file.it is majorly use by cybercrimals to carry out their atrocious activities.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRUS AS A TYPE MALWARE.

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•Virus malware require a host program or medium to spread, without a host to cling on,the virus is useless and as good as dead.

•For Effective operation,the virus need to be transimitted from one host to another for it to replicate itself and this action solely depend on the user as it does not have the ability to spread on it own.

•Virus has the ability to attach some of it own malicious code on any file or document and also replacing sensitive data and documents with a copy of itself.

This is to show that it has the ability to spread,destroy,modify and steal data once instilled in a system.

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HOW DOES IT ATTACK AND SPREAD.

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Just like I earlier above,The virus attach itself to a legitimate documents or file to be downloaded and once downloaded,it stays dormant and inactive without showing any of it signs.

Once this file or document download is opened,the virus automatically start to execute it codes in the computer or system whereby disrupting the whole function of the system,steal sensitive data, monitoring logging keystrokes, spamming one's email contact, erasing data completely or partially and other unimaginable disastrous thing you can think of.

Not only that,it also attached itself to email links,text messages,social media scam link and sometimes some shady application on the internet.

It is also imperative to note that some virus disguise and attached itself to some social sharable stuffs online like funny meme, greeting cards, picture and audios.

For the virus to spread,the action depends on the user.
Think of virus as a biological infection,it require a medium and contact to spread just like flu and all other infections.

Once a user with an infected documents or file containing the virus shares this same document with another user,the virus starts spreading and replicating itself in the new user computer and if eventually the second user who just got the Infected file shares it with another user, the virus will continue to spread.

The virus doesn't have the ability to spread or replicate on it own,it isn't design to do such so it depends on user to help it carry out the spreading operation.

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SOME SIGNS OF COMPUTER VIRUS.

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•Frequent and unusual pop up window and notification:Once your computer or phone is infected,you will surely experience this, unusual notification and window popping up on the screen which might result to you visiting unsafe and unsual website.

Experiencing frequent crash:-virus on one's system or computer will always result to computer or phone crashing all the time.
Frequent screen freezing will become the order of the day.

Slow performance of the computer:This is inevitable and one of the most common sign of virus infection on phone and computer.
Virus will cause the performance of the computer to be extremely and unusually slow.

Tons of emails being sent from your email account: Cybercrimals can use the opportunity to gain access to your email account and send multiple emails from another infected computer.

"Change of password": Definitely,Virus infection will make your computer tell you this in the end,virus is design to corrupt a computer or system with it codes and to also disrupt the network..This will definitely happen because the computer is no more under your control.

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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER/PHONE FROM VIRUS.

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•Download and make use of a trusted antivirus software, application or product from credible website as lot of this antivirus we see online are viruses in disguise.

•Keep the antivirus activated and updated always by default to secure your device and have access to recent upgrade.

•Aviod clicking pop up windows, notification and advertisement on your device as they can be dangerous and pose great risk to your device.

•Dont be too quick to open emails,make sure to scan every email attachment sent to you before opening them.

•Always scan files and documents to be downloaded or received from sharing file app.

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TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUS

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•RESIDENT VIRUS:-This is a kind of virus that Installs añd instills itself in a computer memory and then starts to infects file and documents present that run and are in the computer.
It becomes activated and execute it codes once the computer loads.

•DIRECT ACTION VIRUS:- The direct action virus is a kind of virus that stays dormant and inactive without causing any disruption in a system or network until the infected file or document is opened.

•BOOT SECTOR VIRUS This kind of virus becomes activated once a user boot or starts the system or computer.A typical way this kind of virus spread is through infected USB drive.

•WEB SCRIPTING VIRUS: This kind of viruses dwells and are always present in websites,they attached themselves to website and once you access the website,your computer get infected.

•POLYMORPHIC VIRUS:This virus is very potent and effectively distractive due to the fact that it changes it execution codes everytime to evade anti-viruses, making it hard to remove or trace.

•BROSWER HIJACKER: is a virus that hijackes your browser function and direct you to usual websites everytime you browser on your computer.

•FILE INFECTOR VIRUS: attach it malicious codes to sensitive file on a system or computer used to perform a particular function and operation in the system with the aim of disrupting the entire system.

•MULTIPARTITE VIRUS: it is a kind of virus that has no specific way of spreading.It spreads in multiple way and usually infect both the program files in a computer and even the system sector itself.

•MACRO VIRUS:this is no doubt the most popular type of virus we have,it attached itself to files online, application and even email that support macros in order to effectively execute it codes and once the file is open,it begins to spread.

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This is where I will be drawing the curtain on today's edition (part 2) of "UNDERSTANDING MALWARE AND EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT"

See you in my next continuation post on SIZ EDUCATION here in @steem-infinity-zone .

I hope you learnt something new today😊
I'm glad you did.

Thanks for reading.
Special thanks:@siz-official
@faran-nabeel.
@cryptokraze