Computer Security and Viruses

Computer Security:
Computer security also known as cyber security is the protection of
information systems from theft or damage to the hardware,
the software and to the information on them, as well as from
disruption of the services they provide.
Security is based on the following issues:

Privacy: The ability to keep things private/confidential.

Trust: we trust data from an individual or a host.
Authenticity: Are security credentials in order.
Integrity: Has the system been compromised/altered already.

Why do I need to learn about Computer Security ?

Good Security Standards follow the "90 / 10" Rule:

10% of security safeguards are technical.

90% of security safeguards rely on the computer user ("YOU") to
adhere to good computing practices
We need both parts for effective security.

Example: The lock on the door is the 10%. You remembering to lock
the lock, checking to see if the door is closed, ensuring others do not
prop the door open, keeping control of the keys, etc. is the 90%.
Threats classified into one of the categories below:

Back doors : A back door in a computer system, a cryptosystem

is any secret method of bypassing normal authentication or
security controls. They may exist for a number of reasons,
including by original design or from poor configuration.
Denial-of-service attack : It designed to make a machine or
network resource unavailable to its intended users.
Direct-access attacks : An unauthorized user gaining physical
access to a computer is most likely able to directly download
data from it.
Eavesdropping: It is the act of surreptitiously listening to a
private conversation, typically between hosts on a network.
Spoofing : Spoofing of user identity describes a situation in
which one person or program successfully masquerades as
another by falsifying data.

Tampering: It describes a malicious modification of products.

So-called "Evil Maid" attacks and security services planting of
surveillance capability into routers.
Phishing: It is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such
as usernames, passwords and credit card details directly from
users.

Good computing practices and tips that apply to most people who
use a computer.

Use passwords that can't be easily guessed and protect your

passwords.
Minimize storage of sensitive information.
Beware of scams.
Protect information when using the Internet and email.
Make sure your computer is protected with anti-virus and all
necessary security "patches" and updates.
Secure laptop computers and mobile devices at all
times: Lock them up or carry them with you.
Shut down, lock, log off, or put your computer and other devices
to sleep before leaving them unattended and make sure they
require a secure password to start up or wake-up.
Don't install or download unknown or unsolicited programs/apps.
Secure your area before leaving it unattended.
Make backup copies of files or data you are not willing to lose.

Computer Viruses:
A virus is a parasitic program that infects another legitimate program,
which is sometimes called the host. To infect the host program, the
virus modifies the host so that it contains a copy of the virus.

Boot sector viruses: A boot sector virus infects the boot record
of a hard disk. The virus allows the actual boot sector data to be
read as through a normal start-up were occurring.
Cluster viruses: If any program is run from the infected disk, the
program causes the virus also to run . This technique creates the
illusion that the virus has infected every program on the disk.
Worms: A worm is a program whose purpose is to duplicate
itself.
Bombs: This type of virus hides on the users disk and waits for
a specific event to occur before running.
Trojan Horses: A Trojan Horses is a malicious program that
appears to be friendly. Because Trojan Horses do not make
duplicates of themselves on the victims disk. They are not
technically viruses.

Stealth Viruses: These viruses take up residence in the computers memory, making
them hard to detect.
Micro Viruses: A macro virus is designed to infect a specific type of document file,
such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel files. These types of documents can
include macros, which are small programs that execute commands.

The following are some well-known viruses.

CodeRed : It is a worm that infects a computer running Microsoft IIS server. This
virus launched DOS attack on White Houses website. It allows the hacker to access
the infected computer remotely.
Nimba : It is a worm that spreads itself using different methods. IT damages computer
in different ways. It modified files, alters security settings and degrade s performance.
SirCam : It is distributed as an email attachment. It may delete files, degrade
performance and send the files to anyone.
Melisa : It is a virus that is distributed as an email attachment. IT disables different
safeguards in MS Word. It sends itself to 50 people if Microsoft Outlook is installed..
Ripper :It corrupts data from the hard disk.
MDMA :It is transferred from one MS Word file to other if both files are in memory.
Concept :It is also transferred as an email attachment. It saves the file in template
directory instead of its original location.
One_Half :It encrypts hard disk so only the virus may read the data. It displays
One_Half on the screen when the encryption is half completed.

A computer system can be protected from virus by fol lowing precautions:

The latest and updated version of Anti-Virus and firewall should be installed on the
computer.
The Anti-Virus software must be upgraded regularly.
USB drives should be scanned for viruses, and should not be used on infected
computers.
Junk or unknown emails should not be opened and must be deleted straight away.
Unauthorized or pirated software should not be installed on the computer.
An important way of protection against virus is the use of back up of data. The
backup is used if the virus deletes data or modifies it. So back -up your data on
regular basis.

Freeware and shareware software from the internet normally

contain viruses. It is important to check the software before
using them.
Your best protection is your common sense. Never click on
suspicious links, never download songs, videos or files from
suspicious websites. Never share your personal data with
people you dont know over the internet.

Computer Fundamental
Computer: A computer is a truly amazing machine that performs a
specified sequence of operations as per the set of instructions
(known as programs) given on a set of data (input) to generate
desired information (output).
A complete computer system consists of four parts:

Hardware: Hardware represents the physical and tangible

components of the computer.
Software: Software is a set of electronic instructions consisting
of complex codes (Programs) that make the computer perform
tasks.
User: The computer operators are known as users.
Data: Consists of raw facts, which the computer stores and
reads in the form of numbers.

The following features characterize this electronic machine:

Speed
Accuracy
Storage and Retrieval
Repeated Processing Capabilities
Reliability
Flexibility
Low cost

These three steps constitute the data processing cycle.

Input -Input data is prepared in some convenient form for

processing. The form will depend on the processing machine.
For example, when electronic computers are used, the input data
could be recorded on any one of several types of input medium,
such as magnetic disks, tapes and so on.

Processing - In this step input data is changed to produce data

in a more useful form. For example, paychecks may be
calculated from the time cards, or a summary of sales for the
month may be calculated from the sales orders.
Output - The result of the proceeding processing step are
collected. The particular form of the output data depends on the
use of the data. For example, output data may be pay-checks for
employees.

Fig: The relationship between different hardware components

Language Processors:

Assembler: This language processor converts the program

written in assembly language into machine language.
Interpreter: This language processor converts a HLL(High Level
Language) program into machine language by converting and
executing it line by line.
Compiler:-It also converts the HLL program into machine
language but the conversion manner is different. It converts the
entire HLL program in one go, and reports all the errors of the
program along with the line numbers.

Software

Software represents the set of programs that govern the operation of a

computer system and make the hardware run.

This type of software is tailor-made software according to a users

requirements.
Analog computers

Analog computers always take input in form of signals.

The input data is not a number infect a physical quantity like
temp., pressure, speed, velocity.
Signals are continuous of (0 to 10 V).
Accuracy 1% Approximately.
Example: Speedometer.

Digital Computers

These computers take the input in the form of digits & alphabets
& converted it into binary format.
Digital computers are high speed, programmable electronic
devices.
Signals are two level of (0 for low/off , 1 for high/on).
Accuracy unlimited.
Examples: Computer used for the purpose of business and
education are also example of digital computers.

Hybrid Computer

The combination of features of analog and digital computer is

called Hybrid computer.
The main examples are central national defense and passenger
flight radar system.
They are also used to control robots.

Super Computer

The biggest in size.

Most Expensive

It can process trillions of instructions in seconds.

This computer is not used as a PC in a home neither by a
student in a college.
Used by Govt. for different calculations and heavy jobs.
Supercomputers are used for the heavy stuff like weather maps,
construction of atom bombs, earthquake prediction etc.

Mainframes

It can also process millions of instruction per second.

It can handle processing of many users at a time.
Less expensive than Supercomputer
It is commonly used in Hospitals, Air Reservation Companies as
it can retrieve data on huge basis.
This is normally too expensive and out of reach from a salarybased person.
It can cost up to thousands of Dollars.

Mini Computer

These computers are preferred mostly by small type of business

personals, colleges etc.
These computers are cheaper than above two.
Its an intermediary between microcomputer and mainframe.

Micro Computer/ Personal Computer

It is mostly preferred by Home Users.

Cost is less compared to above.
Small in size.
A microcomputer contains a (a central processing unit on a
microchip), in the form of read-only memory and random access
memory, and a housed in a unit that is usually called a
motherboard .

Notebook Computers

Notebook computers typically weigh less than 6 pounds and are

small enough to fit easily in a briefcase.
Principal difference between a notebook computer and a
personal computer is the display screen.
Many notebook display screens are limited to VGA resolution.

Programming Languages

There are two major types of programming languages. These are

Low Level Languages and High Level Languages.
Low Level languages are further divided in to Machine
language and Assembly language.
Low Level Languages: The term low level means closeness to the
way in which the machine has been built. Low level languages are
machine oriented and require extensive knowledge of computer
hardware and its configuration.
Machine Language : Machine Language is the only language that
is directly understood by the computer. It does not need any
translator program. We also call it machine code and it is written as
strings of 1's (one) and 0s (zero). When this sequence of codes is
fed to the computer, it recognizes the codes and converts it in
to electrical signals needed to run it.
For example, a program instruction may look like
this: 1011000111101
It is not an easy language for you to learn because of its difficult to
understand. It is efficient for the computer but very inefficient for
programmers. It is considered to the first generation language.
Advantage:

Program of machine language run very fast because no

translation program is required for the CPU.

Disadvantages

It is very difficult to program in machine language. The

programmer has to know details of hardware to write program.
The programmer has to remember a lot of codes to write a
program which results in program errors.
It is difficult to debug the program.

Assembly Language
It is the first step to improve the programming structure. You should
know that computer can handle numbers and letter. Therefore
some combination of letters can be used to substitute for number
of machine codes.
The set of symbols and letters forms the Assembly Language and a
translator program is required to translate the Assembly Language to
machine language. This translator program is called ` Assembler'. It is
considered to be a second-generation language.
Advantages:

The symbolic programming of Assembly Language is easier to

understand and saves a lot of time and effort of the programmer.
It is easier to correct errors and modify program instructions.
Assembly Language has the same efficiency of execution as the
machine level language. Because this is one-to-one translator
between assembly language program and its corresponding
machine language program.

Disadvantages:

Assembly language is machine dependent.

A program written for one computer might not run in other
computers with different hardware configuration.

High Level languages

You know that assembly language and machine level language require
deep knowledge of computer hardware where as in higher language
you have to know only the instructions in English words and logic of
the problem irrespective of the type of computer you are using.

Higher level languages are simple languages that use English

and mathematical symbols like +, -, %, / for its program
construction.
You should know that any higher level language has to be
converted to machine language for the computer to understand.
Higher level languages are problem-oriented
languages because the instructions are suitable for solving a
particular problem.

For example COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) is

mostly suitable for business oriented language where there is very
little processing and huge output.
There are mathematical oriented languages like FORTRAN (Formula
Translation) and BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction
Code) where very large processing is required.
Thus a problem oriented language designed in such a way that its
instruction may be written more like the language of the problem. For
example, businessmen use business term and scientists use scientific
terms in their respective languages.
Advantages of High Level Languages

Higher level languages have a major advantage over machine

and assembly languages that higher level languages are easy to
learn and use.

It is because that they are similar to the languages used by us in

our day to day life.