KIISQueen
01-23-2006, 03:09 PM
This month marks a somewhat dubious anniversary for PC computer users: It's the 20th anniversary of the first PC virus. First discovered in the wild in January 1986, the Brain virus inspired hordes of hackers during the 1990s and, more recently, a whole new class of online criminal.
Although the Brain virus has achieved a certain amount of notoriety as the first PC virus, its effects were not widespread because the only method by which viruses could be transmitted from one PC to another at that time was by floppy disk.
No one can pinpoint the exact time the Brain virus was created, but the most popular theory is that it was created by two engineers, named Basit and Amjad, at a software firm in Pakistan.
The virus reportedly replaced the executable code on a bootable floppy disk with the Brain code designed to infect each floppy subsequently opened on the PC.
An American computer scientist, Fred Cohen, coined the phrase "computer virus" in 1983. Cohen defined a computer virus as "a computer program that can affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a (possibly evolved) copy of itself."
In 1990, Symantec launched Norton Antivirus, one of the first antivirus programs ever developed by a major software company. The move by Symantec spawned a new industry. In 1992, some 1,300 new viruses were created, a 420 percent increase from December 1990.
Between 1990 and 1998, the computer world suffered from all kinds of new viruses, even those that could change their appearance with each new infection to thwart antivirus software. This era also saw the birth of e-mail-borne malware and Microsoft Word viruses. Currently, there are some 150,000 viruses circulating in the wild.
"In 20 years, viruses have moved from floppy disks to file viruses, to e-mail viruses, to Internet worms, to targeted Trojan-horse attacks," said Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos.
Evolving Threat
In the 1990s, viruses amounted mainly to electronic graffiti. Occasionally, the virus would cause financial harm, but only with regard to damage to computers. Today, viruses have become the bread and butter for a new breed of criminals and crime syndicates.
"Compared to 20 years ago, [viruses were] mostly research and experimental," said Rob Ayoub, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Even when there was malicious intent, it was to prove who the better hacker was and who had the best skillset. A real key was looking for tag lines in the assembler code for the different hackers or groups."
Most security analysts say that viruses written today have a much more malicious intent. Criminals can strike individuals and businesses in several ways, whether through extortion by threatening to hit a targeted company with a denial-of-service attack or through hidden malware and keyloggers that can gather personal or corporate information and lead to identity theft and a slew of other crimes.
"With so many home users connecting to the Internet, there are many potential victims out there for the criminals to feast upon," said Cluley. "The greater connectivity has brought more opportunities for malware to spread and increased the number of potential victims."
Change in Technology
According to Ayoub, the change in the nature of viruses reflects a change in the culture and the proliferation of technology in our daily lives. "The Internet changed how the viruses were distributed, but the driver for why it is more financial now is that [the computer] is so integrated in our daily lives," said Ayoub. "Fraud has been out their for years. Now, instead of bad checks, criminals acquire credit-card numbers online."
An FBI computer crime survey of 2,000 public and private organizations released last week found that, in 2005, nine out of 10 organizations experienced "computer security incidents."
Viruses topped the list of attacks with nearly 84 percent of respondents saying that they had been adversely affected, with spyware coming in second at just under 80 percent. The financial impact of attacks from viruses and worms accounted for some $12 million in losses out of total losses of $32 million.
While the Internet has developed into a prime avenue for hackers to distribute malicious software, it also has become a way for security vendors to neutralize viruses more quickly, particularly throught the automatic-update features in most antivirus software.
"When I first entered the antivirus industry, updates were sent out on a 5.25-inch floppy disk," Cluley remarked. "A lot has changed in that time."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060123/tc_nf/41130
Although the Brain virus has achieved a certain amount of notoriety as the first PC virus, its effects were not widespread because the only method by which viruses could be transmitted from one PC to another at that time was by floppy disk.
No one can pinpoint the exact time the Brain virus was created, but the most popular theory is that it was created by two engineers, named Basit and Amjad, at a software firm in Pakistan.
The virus reportedly replaced the executable code on a bootable floppy disk with the Brain code designed to infect each floppy subsequently opened on the PC.
An American computer scientist, Fred Cohen, coined the phrase "computer virus" in 1983. Cohen defined a computer virus as "a computer program that can affect other computer programs by modifying them in such a way as to include a (possibly evolved) copy of itself."
In 1990, Symantec launched Norton Antivirus, one of the first antivirus programs ever developed by a major software company. The move by Symantec spawned a new industry. In 1992, some 1,300 new viruses were created, a 420 percent increase from December 1990.
Between 1990 and 1998, the computer world suffered from all kinds of new viruses, even those that could change their appearance with each new infection to thwart antivirus software. This era also saw the birth of e-mail-borne malware and Microsoft Word viruses. Currently, there are some 150,000 viruses circulating in the wild.
"In 20 years, viruses have moved from floppy disks to file viruses, to e-mail viruses, to Internet worms, to targeted Trojan-horse attacks," said Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos.
Evolving Threat
In the 1990s, viruses amounted mainly to electronic graffiti. Occasionally, the virus would cause financial harm, but only with regard to damage to computers. Today, viruses have become the bread and butter for a new breed of criminals and crime syndicates.
"Compared to 20 years ago, [viruses were] mostly research and experimental," said Rob Ayoub, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Even when there was malicious intent, it was to prove who the better hacker was and who had the best skillset. A real key was looking for tag lines in the assembler code for the different hackers or groups."
Most security analysts say that viruses written today have a much more malicious intent. Criminals can strike individuals and businesses in several ways, whether through extortion by threatening to hit a targeted company with a denial-of-service attack or through hidden malware and keyloggers that can gather personal or corporate information and lead to identity theft and a slew of other crimes.
"With so many home users connecting to the Internet, there are many potential victims out there for the criminals to feast upon," said Cluley. "The greater connectivity has brought more opportunities for malware to spread and increased the number of potential victims."
Change in Technology
According to Ayoub, the change in the nature of viruses reflects a change in the culture and the proliferation of technology in our daily lives. "The Internet changed how the viruses were distributed, but the driver for why it is more financial now is that [the computer] is so integrated in our daily lives," said Ayoub. "Fraud has been out their for years. Now, instead of bad checks, criminals acquire credit-card numbers online."
An FBI computer crime survey of 2,000 public and private organizations released last week found that, in 2005, nine out of 10 organizations experienced "computer security incidents."
Viruses topped the list of attacks with nearly 84 percent of respondents saying that they had been adversely affected, with spyware coming in second at just under 80 percent. The financial impact of attacks from viruses and worms accounted for some $12 million in losses out of total losses of $32 million.
While the Internet has developed into a prime avenue for hackers to distribute malicious software, it also has become a way for security vendors to neutralize viruses more quickly, particularly throught the automatic-update features in most antivirus software.
"When I first entered the antivirus industry, updates were sent out on a 5.25-inch floppy disk," Cluley remarked. "A lot has changed in that time."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20060123/tc_nf/41130