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What is a Virus?

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Have you ever had the chicken pox? This common childhood illness has another name—the varicella zoster virus. Like all viruses, varicella replicates itself, spreading though the body, and eventually appearing as itchy red blisters all over the body. But the virus doesn’t stop there; it can spread to other people through physical contact and through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It’s not a very fun illness to have.

6DViruses don’t just affect humans; there are viruses that can affect your tech devices. A tech virus is a malicious program file that can also replicate itself and infect other devices through techniques like malicious links and sketchy downloads. But unlike the chicken pox where the virus eventually appears on your skin, a virus could be wreaking havoc on your device and you might not even know it!

Computer and mobile viruses can take many different form factors, but all are usually intended to do harm to your device, steal your personal info or money or both. Some examples of viruses include a Trojan Horse, which masquerades as something neutral or benevolent, but is programmed to infect the hard drive or even crash it. Spyware is a virus that observes your activities like logging into your bank account, collects this data (e.g., password, answer to secret question, username) and sends it to the hacker. And a worm, like other viruses, can corrupt files, steal sensitive information, or modify system settings to make your machine more vulnerable, but it’s different in that it can replicate and send copies of itself to other computers in a network without any human interaction.

There are several clues that could mean that your device has a virus. For example, if you notice your device is suddenly running at a snail’s pace. Another example is programs or apps opening and closing on their own. Or a major sign would be if you receive an email from a friend responding to a mass email you supposedly sent promoting some great deal on a pharmaceutical (that you never actually sent).

Just like there are things you can do to prevent the chicken pox, like wash your hands and stay away from infected people, there are ways to prevent a virus from getting on your device.

  • Be wary. Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know.
  • Think before you click. Don’t click blindly. Check the link URL to make sure you are being directed to a legitimate site.
  • Keep your OS and browser updated. Make sure that you install the latest updates for your operating system and browser as well as any hardware updates that are available for your device as these often close up security holes.
  • Install security software. Use comprehensive security software that protects all your devices, like McAfee LiveSafe™.

Here’s to keeping all your devices nice and healthy!

Robert Siciliano is an Online Safety Expert to Intel Security. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! Disclosures.

Twitter Crime on the Rise

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Twitter is now beginning to see a substantial rise in active users. A recent report found that the percentage of Twitter users who have tweeted ten or more times, have more than ten followers, and follow more than ten people rose from 21% to 29% in the first half of 2010.

Spammers, scammers, and thieves are paying attention.

In the physical world, when communities become larger and more densely populated, crime rises. This also applies to online communities, like Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter’s “direct messages” and “mention” functions are laden with spam, often prompting users to click various links. Why anyone would want me to “Take a Good Look at Hypnotherapy” is beyond me, but someone must be buying because the spam keeps coming.

Common Twitter scams include:

Hijacked Accounts: Numerous Twitter (and Facebook) accounts, including those of President Obama, Britney Spears, Fox News and others have been taken over and used to ridicule, harass, or commit fraud.

Social Media Identity Theft: Hundreds of imposter accounts are set up every day. Sarah Palin, St. Louis Cardinals Coach Tony LaRussa, Kanye West, The Huffington Post, and many others have been impersonated by fake Twitter accounts opened in their names.

Worms: Twitter is sometimes plagued by worms, which spread messages encouraging users to click malicious links. When one user clicks, his account is infected and used to further spread the message. Soon his followers and then their followers are all infected.

DOS Attack: A denial-of-service attack left Twitter dark for more than three hours. The attack seems to have been coordinated by Russian hackers targeting a blogger in the Eastern European country of Georgia.

Botnet Controller: One Twitter account produced links pointed to commands to download code that would make users’ computers part of a botnet.

Phishing: Hacked Twitter accounts are used to send phishing messages, which instruct users to click links that point to spoofed sites, where users will be prompted to enter login credentials, putting themselves at risk of identity theft.

Twitter Porn: Please, “Misty Buttons,” stop sending me invites to chat or to check out your pictures.

Twitter Spam: The use of shortened URLs has made Twitter’s 140 character limit the perfect launch pad for spam, shilling diet pills, Viagra and whatever else you don’t need.

To prevent social media identity theft, take ownership of your name or personal brand on Twitter. Protecting yourself from other scams requires some savvy and an unwillingness to click mysterious links. In other cases, you’ll need to keep your web browser and operating system updated in order to remain safe. Make sure to keep your antivirus software updated with the latest definitions, as well.

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor to Just Ask Gemalto, discusses hacking wireless networks on Fox Boston. (Disclosures)