Several Common Ways That Viruses Spread

By: Jordi Shoman

In addition to the common methods of spreading through email
attachments, boot infections and program infectors, there are
other ways by which viruses spread to your computer. These
include:

Infection by Disk(Floppy, Zip, CD's, Tapes, etc.)

Floppy disks, though not as commonly used as in the past, are
still a very common way viruses being spread from machine to
machine. Anyone with an infected machine, using a floppy disk to
copy and save files, can also copy and transfer the virus. Any
use of that same removable disk, by any user, at any time in the
future, will most likely contaminate, or re-contaminate the any
computer it is used with. The only way to properly clean an
infected floppy disk is to perform a low-level format. The
normal Windows(tm) "format disk" is often not enough.

With CD's, all the above holds true with the exception that an
infected CD can never be cleaned. To get rid of an infected CD,
you need to put it in the trash and never use it again.

Infection from Networks

Peer-to-Peer network, Local Area Networks (LAN), a Wide Area
Network (WAN), Wireless Networks, and the Internet, are all
computer networks. They all have the same basic purpose; to
share software, and information resources between two or more
computers. As with anything else that is shared between
computers, networks let users share files, and wherever files
are shared, viruses can be shared and spread.

Most network virus/worm/Trojan activity is like what we
described earlier, although more and more examples of automatic
mass mailing attacks, system resource attacks are being found.

Recently many attacks are designed to specifically target major
corporate interests (Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, major Banks etc.)
in an attempt to disrupt their online services. Very generally
these are called DOS (denial of service) attacks. The way they
most commonly work is by secretly infecting thousands of local
user computers (like the one you are using right now), and then
at a specific time, launching a combined attack from all the
infected machines against the primary target.

As you can see, your computer can be hijacked without your
knowledge and then used in a major attack against an
unsuspecting company. However with up-to-date virus/firewall
protection, your computer will be immune to such hijacking.

Other ways by which virus spreads

Other sources of viruses have been found to be the result of
software downloads available over the Internet. Software
patches, drivers, demonstration software, from reputable
companies, generally carries little risk. However, the Internet
is also filled with "unofficial" software, pirated programs, and
low-budget software from questionable sources that may be
intentionally or unintentionally infected with viruses. Files
downloaded directly from the Internet (either through
file-sharing programs or direct download from websites), are
among the fastest growing sources of computer virus infections.

Email, with its nearly universal availability and ease of use;
chat rooms and messenger systems, not only make communication
simple and quick, also make the transmission and re-transmission
of infection simple and alarmingly fast. Creators of newer
viruses, and internet worms specifically target these systems
because they are widely used, and are often built right into the
operating system and used with default settings making them much
easier to attack and exploit.

As a point of reference, Internet Explorer, and Outlook/Outlook
express email clients are two of the applications most targeted
by Internet viruses and worms. Why? Because they are installed
on more computers around the world than any other software, and
they are installed 99% of the time with default settings (which
means virus programmers have an easy blueprint to follow).

If you use an email system or instant message system that is
installed automatically with your computer's operating system
you need to install and use current antivirus software. You also
need to learn how to turn off certain default settings that can
leave your system open to very easy attack.

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