Coursework Sample on the History and Development of Computer Viruses

A computer virus, commonly referred as to malware is a type of malicious software that when executed, it replicates itself, inserts its code and modifies other software. Most affected computer programs consist of data files and the boot part of the hard drive. Once infected and there is a successful replication of the malware, then the affected files are said to be infected by the computer virus. Many of the computer viruses target Microsoft windows as the virus writers are using social engineering deceptions in exploiting the security vulnerabilities to employ in infecting new hosts.

According to Tech-Faq, (2016), the motive of creating malware is financial gains, denial of service, sending political messages, sabotage, exploring cybersecurity, evolutionary algorithms and artificial life alongside self-amusement. Computer viruses are costing the world tons of dollars in the creation of firewalls and purchasing of antiviruses besides searching for new ways to uncover computer viruses alongside detecting the newly emerging viruses, (Sean, 2017). Malicious software includes ransomware, Trojan horses, adware, spyware, keyloggers, spyware, rootkits and browser helper objects.

Computer viruses date back to the time of computer existence but computer viruses knowledge origin dates to the 1980s. The birth of the internet facilitated the fast spread of the virus and infection of many computers globally. Citing Tech-Faq, (2016), the first virus that was first discussed was called Elk Cloner created by Rich Skrenta that could attach itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system. He created the virus as a joke that was to spread through the floppy disk. Once a computer is infected, it would replicate as a game that would be set off by the 50th play and, a poem would be displayed on the screen about the virus. With anti-viruses not a definite cure to all the viruses there is more that needs to be done.

Bait and Amjad Farooq created the first personal computer virus called brain'. The brother intention was to protect their work from privacy by targeting those infringing their copyrights. In the same period, another variant source code is known as Ashar Virus' may have been created but was not discussed like the Brian malware, (Tech-Faq, 2016). The viruses would spread between computing devices using removable media, but with time the internet came in as a means of fast spread like Anna Kournikova that was used during 9/11, LFM-926, Commwarrior, Storm worm, Mocmex, W32.Dozer, SCADA, SpyEye and Zeus as of 2011, (Sean, 2017). The viruses have evolved to other levels today with more advancements with people engaging in social engineering of malware for various reasons.

References

Sean, Spencer. (2017). The Timeline of Computer Viruses. Retrieved on October 4, 2017, from https://www.mapcon,com/us-en/timeline-of-computer-viruses

Tech-Faq. (2016). The history of computer viruses. Retrieved on October 4, 2017, from https://www.tech-faq.com/history-of-computer-viruses.html