3. Move to the end of the paragraph in the Types of Viruses section, press the spacebar, and then type (Pie Chart).
5. Move the insertion point to the end of the paragraph in the Types of Viruses section (following the (Pie Chart) text),
press the spacebar, and then insert a bookmark named Types.
10. Select the text (Pie Chart) that you inserted at the end of the paragraph in the Types of Viruses section and then insert
a hyperlink to the Excel file named Viruses.xlsx, located in the Unit02PA folder on your storage medium.
COMPUTER VIRUSES
One of the most familiar forms of risk to computer security is the computer virus. A computer virus is a
program written by a hacker or cracker designed to perform some kind of trick upon an unsuspecting victim.
The trick performed in some cases is mild, such as drawing an offensive image on the screen, or changing all
of the characters in a document to another language. Sometimes the trick is much more severe, such as
reformatting the hard drive and erasing all the data, or damaging the motherboard so that it cannot operate
properly.
Types of Viruses
Viruses can be categorized by their effect, which include nuisance, data-destructive, espionage, and hardwaredestructive. A nuisance virus usually does no real damage, but is rather just an inconvenience. The most
difficult part of a computer to replace is the data on the hard drive. The installed programs, the documents,
databases, and saved emails form the heart of a personal computer. A data-destructive virus is designed to
destroy this data. Some viruses are designed to create a backdoor into a system to bypass security. Called
espionage viruses, they do no damage, but rather allow a hacker or cracker to enter the system later for the
purpose of stealing data or spying on the work of the competitor. Very rarely, a virus is created that
attempts to damage the hardware of the computer system itself. Called hardware-destructive viruses, these
bits of programming can weaken or destroy chips, drives, and other components. (Pie Chart)
Methods of Virus Operation
6. Move the
insertion
Viruses can create effects that range from minor and annoying to highly destructive, and are operated and
point to the
transmitted by a variety of methods. An email virus is normally transmitted as an attachment to a message
end of the
sent over the Internet. Email viruses require the victim to click on the attachment and cause it to execute.
first
Another common form of virus transmission is by a macro, a small subprogram that allows users to
customize and automate certain functions. A macro virus is written specifically for one program, which then paragraph in
becomes infected when it opens a file with the virus stored in its macros. The boot sector of a floppy disk or the Methods
hard disk contains a variety of information, including how the disk is organized and whether it is capable of
of Virus
loading an operating system. When a disk is left in a drive and the computer reboots, the operating system
Operation
automatically reads the boot sector to learn about that disk and to attempt to start any operating system on
section and
that disk. A boot sector virus is designed to alter the boot sector of a disk, so that whenever the operating
then insert a
system reads the boot sector, the computer will automatically become infected.
bookmark
Other methods of virus infection include the Trojan horse virus, which hides inside another legitimate
named
program or data file, and the stealth virus, which is designed to hide itself from detection software.
Effects.
Polymorphic viruses alter themselves to prevent antivirus software from detecting them by examining familiar
patterns. Polymorphic viruses alter themselves randomly as they move from computer to computer, making
detection more difficult. Multipartite viruses alter their form of attack. Their name derives from their ability
to attack in several different ways. They may first infect the boot sector and then later move on to become a
Trojan horse type by infecting a disk file. These viruses are more sophisticated, and therefore more difficult
to guard against. Another type of virus is the logic bomb, which generally sits quietly dormant waiting for a
specific event or set of conditions to occur. A famous logic bomb was the widely publicized Michelangelo
virus, which infected personal computers and caused them to display a message on the artist’s birthday.
7. Move the insertion point to the end of the second paragraph in the Methods
of Virus Operation section and then insert a bookmark named Infection.
STUDENT NAME
2c. Insert the Retrospect footer and type your first and last names at the left side of the footer.
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9. Move the insertion point to the end of the first paragraph in the
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SECURITY RISKS section, press the
spacebar once, and then insert a hyperlink to the Effects bookmark
with the display text Click to display virus effects.
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SECURITY RISKS
Although hackers, crackers, and viruses garner the most attention as security risks, a company faces a variety
of other dangers to its hardware and software systems. Principally, these risks involve types of system failure,
employee theft, and the cracking of software for copying. Click to display virus effects
Systems Failure
A fundamental element in making sure that computer systems operate properly is protecting the electrical
power that runs them. Power interruptions such as blackouts and brownouts have very adverse effects on
computers. An inexpensive type of power strip called a surge protector can guard against power fluctuations
and can also serve as an extension cord and splitter. A much more vigorous power protection system is an
uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which provides a battery backup. Similar in nature to a power strip, but
much more bulky and a bit more expensive, a UPS provides not only steady spike-free power, but also keeps
computers running during a blackout.
Employee Theft
Although accurate estimates are difficult to pinpoint, businesses certainly lose millions of dollars a year in
stolen computer hardware and software. Often, in large organizations, such theft goes unnoticed or
unreported. Someone takes a hard drive or a scanner home for legitimate use, then leaves the job sometime
later, and keeps the machine. Sometimes, employees take components to add to their home PC systems or a
thief breaks into a business and hauls away computers. Such thefts cost far more than the price of the stolen
computers because they also involve the cost of replacing the lost data, the cost of the time lost while the
machines are gone, and the cost of installing new machines and training people to use them.
Cracking Software for Copying
A common goal of hackers is to crack a software protection scheme. A crack is a method of circumventing a
security scheme that prevents a user from copying a program. A common protection scheme for software is
to require that the installation CD be resident in the drive whenever the program runs. Making copies of the
CD with a burner, however, easily fools this protection scheme. Some game companies are taking the extra
step of making duplication difficult by scrambling some of the data on the original CDs, which CD burners
will automatically correct when copying. When the copied and corrected CD is used, the software checks for
the scrambled track information. If the error is not found, the software will not run.
12. Insert the DRAFT1 watermark in the document.
1. Open ComputerViruses.docx and save the document with the name U2-PA03ComputerViruses.
2. Apply the following formatting:
a. Apply the Centered style set.
b. Apply the Dividend theme.
4. If necessary, turn on the display of bookmarks. (Do this at the Word Options dialog box
with Advanced selected in the left panel.)
STUDENT NAME
8. Navigate in the document using the bookmarks.
11. Hold down the Ctrl key, click the (Pie Chart) hyperlink and then print the Excel worksheet
that displays by clicking the FILE tab, clicking the Print option, and then clicking the Print
button. Close the Excel program.
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