Viruses Malicious Software Security

Viruses Malicious Software Security

Computer Viruses are malicious programs designed to self-replicate and spread to other systems. Their function can range anywhere from displaying a message on a certain date, to permitting others to control your computer, to erasing files or formatting your hard drive. Trojan Horses are similar, except that a trojan horse is defined as any malicious program disguised as a harmless one. (Which means that all Computer Viruses are also trojan horses, but not all trojan horses are viruses) The best protection against either viruses or trojan horses is to be very careful not to run any untrusted files, and to run an up to date virus scanner regularly.

Top: Computers: Security: Malicious Software: Viruses

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Top/Computers/Security/Malicious Software/Reference

Computer Virus Myths - The canonical reference for computer virus myths, hoaxes, and urban legends.
Personal Home Page - Harrold, Robert - Massive collection of antivirus links and news.
Virus Hoax - A website dedicated to providing valuable information about internet and computer security, and a central location for finding out about current threats.
EICAR test file - Provides a standardized test file for signature based virus detection software. This file can be used to verify the correct operation of antivirus software without unnecessary exposure to viruses.
RAV Virus Encyclopedia - Virus Encyclopedia provided by RAV - Reliable AntiVirus.
Sophos Virus Analyses - This Sophos database holds the latest virus names and descriptions.
Personal Home Page - Gordon, Sarah - Various papers on computer viruses, computer security, and ethics.
AskMen.com - How To: Keep Your Computer Virus-Free - Article with basic advice on virus prevention, and a primer on computer virus terminology.
Fire Antivirus Kit - Virus Information Library - Provides detailed information on viruses
Computer Associates Virus Information Center - Virus information from makers of eTrust Antivirus (formerly known as InoculateIT).
Symantec AntiVirus Research Center - Virus Encyclopedia site maintained by Symantec, makers of the popular Norton AntiVirus product.
Windows Startup Tasks - Massive listing of tasks that may be running on a Windows system at startup, including tasks which may be created by viruses, worms, spyware, and trojans
BusinessWeek Online - Mydoom's Most Damning Dynamic - Points out that Mydoom was so damaging only because so many individual net users were so unprotected despite education efforts that apparently do not have any significant effect on user behavior.
European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research (EICAR) - Combines universities, industry, media, technical, security, and legal experts from civil and military government and law enforcement as well as privacy protection organizations whose objectives are to unite non-commercial efforts against writing and prol
Softpanorama University Skeptical Antivirus page - A skeptical look at anti-virus protection.
Doug Muth's Anti-Virus Help Page - Independent site with FAQs, papers, and other antivirus resources.
Personal Home Page - Szor, Peter - Research papers on computer viruses written by Peter Szor. The site covers Windows viruses and worms and the development of polymorphic and metamorphic viruses.
Secunia - Virus Information - Collects virus information from multiple anti-virus vendors, and the collected information is grouped and indexed. When certain conditions are met virus alerts are generated and can be emailed.
How Stuff Works: Computer Virus - Multipart tutorial describes how computer viruses work.
IBM's Antivirus Research - News and information about virus prevention, the latest in IBM's research, virus alerts, and lists of the latest hoaxes and hype.
Burton Systems Software - Virus Avoidance Advice - Advice for avoiding and recovering from computer virus infections, mostly for users of Microsoft Windows. Includes links to many free tools and other resources.
McAfee Virus Information - Virus alerts, mailing list, and searchable descriptions of common viruses.
Solo Antivirus - Virus encyclopedia - Contains details about latest virus alerts and wide spread virus information.
Virus or Hoax? - Created to provide basic information about viruses. Links to major anti-virus companies, public services, software downloads, and updates.
The WildList Organization International - Organization which maintains a list of computer viruses which are still found "in the wild".
davebauer.net - Avoiding Viruses - Information to help computer users learn how to protect computers from viruses and hackers.
OpenAntiVirus Project - Project aimed at developing open source antivirus software comparable to current commercial offerings.
Panda Software Virus Laboratory - Up to date and in-depth descriptions of the most common viruses by Panda Software, makers of Panda Antivirus Platinum.
Computer Associates Virus Encyclopedia - Computer Associates alphabetical virus database. Searchable with clear descriptions of common viruses.
Personal Home page - Ferrie, Peter - Various research papers on computer viruses
comp.virus Newsgroup FAQs - FAQs from the comp.virus newsgroup
Computer Viruses In Unix Networks - Paper which examines in detail the problem of computer viruses as they relate to Unix and Unix-like systems.
Virus Bulletin - News and technical articles on developments on viruses and anti-virus products.
F-Secure Virus Information Centre - A searchable database of virus descriptions, from the provider of F-Secure range of anti-virus software.
VirusList.com - Permanently replenishing information about new viruses. Mechanisms of breeding and operation, detailed analysis of algorithms of viruses. Methods to guard against computer viruses.
Examples of Malicious Computer Programs - Long essay that describes harm done by major computer viruses or worms, and discusses the nonexistent or lenient punishment for the authors or distributors of these malicious programs.
Trend Virus Encyclopedia - Trend Micro issues regular advisories regarding new viruses, including a guide to avoiding them in the first place. Site covers risk factor of the newest viruses. lists top ten virus and offers a security alert archive.
Team Anti-Virus - An organization for independent anti-virus researchers to facilitate communication, collaboration, and public education. Publishes and links to many papers written by independent researchers.

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The Art Of Noh - A weblog on computer security, viruses, worms, trojans and other types of malicious software by Costin G. Raiu. [RSS]

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