First IPhone Virus

This post in thought to be a continuation of the 'Mobile Phone Virus' entry. With the apple IPhone about the hit the market, virus coders have already been busy exploiting this new device. Surprisingly, a anti-virus software company from Russia was the first to tackle this project. They claim to have produced a proof of concept virus, "Podloso", that has a theoretical capability of spreading in the wild. Usually, such proof of concept viruses are harmless by themselves; however, once hackers get a hold of the code it is very easy to modify it for malicious purposes. This current development entrenches my predictions about future threats regarding mobile technology. Apple products have been thought to be impervious to substantial virus attacks. Time will tell if they are able to sustain such prestige.

Cell Phone Virus

It seems that viruses have the ability to infiltrate any technological devices that we become dependent on. First, computer viruses attacked computer files. Subsequently, they evolved in order to spread over the internet, via email and other exploits. Given the recent influx in sophistication and use of interactive mobile phones, it was only a matter of time until viruses would target this emerging technology. One of the first mobile phone virus was Skulls. This churlish little beast (displaying skulls on the screen) is only a glimpse into the abyss of virus infected mobile technology. As technology is becoming an increasingly integrated part of our lives, so will the threat of mobile viruses and worms. Currently, cell phone viruses spread using one of two known methods: 1.) Multimedia messages. This nifty advance in mobile technology had a great deal of potential to make "on-the-go" communication much easier. It allows to fun scripts on the phone (display a calendar with marked dates). Unfortunately, it also allows unwanted code to enter a mobile phone. One can think of a multimedia messages as a emails with an attachment. Make sure to exercise caution when receiving such a message -ie. contact the person whom you have received it from and ensure his/her cell phone is not infected. 2.) Blue tooth technology. Blue tooth has been around for quite some time now. It was first used to connect laptop computers in order to share files. Now, cell phones are equipped with the same capacity. Again, as their complexity increases so does their vulnerability. Once you mobile device is in close proximity of an infected phone, it will be besieged with connection queries that will attempt to send an infected file to your phone. When using blue tooth technology, double check that it is not activated all of the time - minimizing the risk. We can expect viruses to evolve along with the technology that they target. Mobile phones are becoming increasingly like computers. It will not be for long until cell phones will need to be shielded by mobile anti-virus software.

Who Needs Anti-Virus?

To most people, viruses are one of the more mysterious creatures that roam the Internet. Their non-transparent nature makes them increasingly frightening. It appears that we are just waiting for the next virus epidemic. The most common inquiry I receive is: how can I successfully protect myself when my anti-virus fails me. The central predicament with anti-virus software is that its nature it totally reactionary. The anti-virus software reacts only after a computer virus is discovered in the Internet or on a computer. What about the people that are infected before the anti-virus companies respond? They are out of luck. The best defense method is to minimize the threat by using commonsense. Essentially, viruses are more limited than most people think. They usually have to be actively be executed in one way or another. The user, generally, has to embark on activating the virus. Now, it is important to understand that virus writers have become very sophisticated in encouraging you to open their files. Here are some tips to ensure you will not fall for their chicanery:

1.) Do not trust email (even if it's from a familiar email address)
Email addresses can easily be spoofed. All one needs is a widely available smtp server. The best way to avoid a problem here is to be aware of discrepancies in writing patters. If you aunt Lori writes to you ' Duuuddeee! You gotta check this out! Execute this shady file~' it's safe to assume that she is not the author -it may be her email address though.

2.) Do not open executable files (if you don't know the extension, don't execute it)
Viruses can infect an array of files in order to spread. The most common are *.exe, *.com, or *.vbs (love-bug). Think about it. Who sends you executable files? If a coworker, or someone else you trust, sends you an important executable file and urges you to open it. Just contact him/her on your cell phone to ensure he/she is the real author.

3.) Keep you OS state of the art
Many are tempted to simply update their anti-virus software. This creates a false sense of security. However, disregarding other important updates may prove costly. Most viruses target exploits in browsers and the OS system. If you are using Windows, it is extremely easy to update your system. Simply browse to www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com and follow the detailed instructions.

If you follow these steps and commit to updating your software and your knowledge about current threats, your expensive anti-virus software will be reduces to the last line of defense.

Types of Computer Viruses

There are many different types of computer viruses. Over time, computer viruses have evolved in order to adapt to increasingly sophisticated anti-virus software and computer users. For each of the following virus types I will demonstrate the idea behind the concept with a small and easy to follow batch code. Don't worry there is no danger from this code. You can even run it on your computer and nothing will happen. I want this blog to encourage people to conceptually understand viruses so that it will be easier for them to take counter measures. First of all, I want to highlight that, generally, viruses do not evolve by themselves. Usually, a computer programmer will come across a new idea and will create a virus implementing it. When I say that viruses have evolved I am really talking about the people who program these malicious items.

Types of computer viruses:

Encrypted Viruses:

Perhaps the first measure virus authors took, in order to make their viruses harder to detect, was to encrypt the part of the code that the anti-virus software recognizes as a virus. Most viruses are programmed in a programming language that allows them to encrypt certain sections of the code.To illustrate this concept let's look at the following depiction:

Decryption Code
XXXXXXXXXX
XVirus CodeX
XXXXXXXXXX

The area marked with the X's would be encrypted. So if a anti virus software scans this file it will only scan the Decryption code, which will not be recognized as a virus. Lets look at this idea applied in a batch code:

set h=1
set e=2
set l=3
set o=4
set w=5
set r=6
set d=7
cls
echo %1%%2%%3%%3%%4% %5%%4%%6%3%%7%
pause

If executed, the code would prompt a message stating 'hello world'. Of course, the part that contains the message could be a virus code. A anti-virus scanner would not be able to tell the difference.

Marcro Viruses:

These viruses are a rather moder phenomenon. They use commonly used programs like Microsoft Word, or Excel and embed themselves in these files. Once a user executes, these files the virus will activate itself and run the malicious code. The pinnacle of the macro virus era was when the infamous Melissa Virus went around the world. This particular virus was embedded in a Word file and would spread very rapidly utilizing a bug in Microsoft Outlook. Unfortunately, batch is not applicable to such an idea, as the virus has to be part of the program it exploits.

Polymorphic Viruses:

These viruses have posed a great threat to internet security, given that it was practically impossible to detect them at the time. They consistently change the body of their code making detection very difficult. Even today, many viruses include poly engines - snippets of code that change the code around. The simplest manner to understand this idea is to look at the following code (modified batch code):

replace XX in code with Randomnumber
set h=XX1
set e=XX2
set l=XX3
set o=XX4
set w=XX5
set r=XX6
set d=XX7
cls
echo %XX1%%XX2%%XX3%%XX3%%XX4% %XX5%%XX4%%XX6%XX3%%XX7%
pause

We see that each time the code is executed the XX part of the code will be replaced with a random number. After it is executed once, it will search for a particular random number and replace it with another random number ect. Hence, it is very difficult to write a code that will be able to detect this type of virus. Certainty, it is possible to make the code much more complex as the one above. Here, it only severs as an example.

Stealth Viruses:

Viruses of this breed attempt to hide themselves from a virus scanner by employing known exploits in the OS or other commonly used programs. Let's for instance assume that it is know that a anti virus scanner does not check files that are located in the directory of the anti virus software. Hence, a virus could copy itself to this particular location and be undetected by the virus scanner. There is also memory stealth viruses but these viruses have been outdated and are no longer of concern.

It is safe to assume that as long as there are virus writers there will be new methods they will exploit. However, the current trend is to use multiple methods, new and old, in oder not to be detected. Once people have an idea of the main methods at use, they can better prepare themselves for a virus attack.