The virus spread through infected copies of the pirated software, jumping from the infected floppy disk to the computer hard drive when the program was booted, or loaded onto the new machine. Tired of customers pirating software from their shop, two brothers claim to have designed the virus to infect the boot sector of software thieves' floppy disks. Viruses then spread to other disk drives and machines when the infected files are received in downloads from websites, email attachments, shared drives or when carried in files on physical media, such as USB drives or-in the early days-floppy disks.Īccording to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the first computer virus, a boot sector virus called "Brain," was developed in 1986. What is a computer virus? Computer viruses are a type of malware that earned their name because of how they spread by "infecting" other files on a disk or computer. Let's look at some of the most common types of malware currently in use. Like a game of whack-a-mole, as soon as one threat is neutralized, a replacement evolves, and the next iteration emerges. Hackers continuously develop increasingly sophisticated ways to infiltrate user systems. These programs are installed without the consent of users and can cause a number of unpleasant effects, including crippling computer performance, mining your system for personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive data, erasing or encrypting data or even hijacking device operations or computer-controlled hardware. The term " malware" - an amalgamation of malicious and software - is now used to describe any malicious computer program on a computer or mobile device. Here's an overview of the major types of malware, today’s most common computer viruses and their potential impact. The first step to protecting yourself and your data is understanding what you're up against. Whether you’re on a Windows, Apple or Linux computer, a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet, you’re vulnerable to ever-evolving cyberthreats from computer viruses and other types of malware.
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