Sunny Jovita -2301939046
Week 4
Disclaimer: This blog is for educational purposes only.
Hackers often use programming and computer network skills. Those skills are usually used to gain access to systems. Trojans, viruses, and worms can be used to steal sensitive data, disrupt business operations, etc.
Here, I will explain more details about the ways that hackers can use trojans, viruses, and worms to attack computer system.
Trojan
A malicious program used to control a victim’s computer from a remote location. Once activated, trojans can steal our sensitive data, and gain access to our system. These actions can include deleting, blocking, modifying, copying data, and disrupting the performance of computers or computer networks.
How to protect ourselves against Trojans
We can protect our devices from Trojans by installing anti malware software, including PC, laptops, smartphones, etc. An accurate or strong anti malware such as Kaspersky anti virus will detect and prevent trojan attacks our device.
Worms
Worm viruses are a malicious and self replicating programs that can spread throughout a network without human assistance.
Worms cause damage similar to viruses, exploiting holes in security software and potentially stealing sensitive information, corrupting files and installing a back door for remote access to the system, among other issues.
Classifications and names of worms include:
– Email-Worm
– IM-Worm
– IRC-Worm
– Net-Worm
– P2P-Worm
Viruses
A virus is a computer program that attaches itself to legitimate programs and files without the user’s consent. Viruses can consume computer resources such as memory and CPU time. The attacked programs and files are said to be “infected”.
A computer virus may be used to;
– Access private data such as user id and passwords
– Display annoying messages to the user
– Corrupt data in your computer
– Log the user’s keystrokes
Conclusion
There are various ways to protect systems from Trojan, worms, and viruses.
- A policy that prohibits users from downloading unnecessary files from the Internet such as spam email attachments, games, programs that claim to speed up downloads, etc.
- Anti-virus software must be installed on all user computers.
- Regular backups of critical data must be made and stored on preferably read-only media.
- Worms exploit vulnerabilities in the operating systems. Downloading operating system updates can help reduce the infection and replication of worms.
- Worms can also be avoided by scanning, all email attachments before downloading them.
