The first academic work on the theory of self-replicating computer programs was done in 1949 by John von Neumann who gave lectures at the University of Illinois about the 'Theory and Organization of Complicated Automata'. History įurther information: Timeline of computer viruses and worms and Malware research In response, an industry of antivirus software has cropped up, selling or freely distributing virus protection to users of various operating systems. Ĭomputer viruses cause billions of dollars' worth of economic damage each year. Motives for creating viruses can include seeking profit (e.g., with ransomware), desire to send a political message, personal amusement, to demonstrate that a vulnerability exists in software, for sabotage and denial of service, or simply because they wish to explore cybersecurity issues, artificial life and evolutionary algorithms. Viruses use complex anti-detection/stealth strategies to evade antivirus software. Virus writers use social engineering deceptions and exploit detailed knowledge of security vulnerabilities to initially infect systems and to spread the virus.

Therefore, it is not restricted by the host program, but can run independently and actively carry out attacks. By contrast, a computer worm does not need a host program, as it is an independent program or code chunk.

When the program runs, the written virus program is executed first, causing infection and damage.

The virus writes its own code into the host program. Ĭomputer viruses generally require a host program.

If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be 'infected' with a computer virus, a metaphor derived from biological viruses. Computer program that modifies other programs to replicate itself and spread Hex dump of the Brain virus, generally regarded as the first computer virus for the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and compatiblesĪ computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code into those programs.

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