Virus looks like antivirus program

They're far from the most common threat today, but the name stuck. It's a bit like calling every disease a cold. They both refer to software designed to detect, protect against, and remove malicious software. It needs to be initiated by an unsuspecting user. Triggering a virus can be as simple as opening a malicious email attachment malspam , launching an infected program, or viewing an ad on a malicious site adware.

Once that happens, the virus tries to spread to other systems on the computer's network or in the user's list of contacts. It must be self-replicating. If the software doesn't self-replicate, it's not a virus. This process of self-replication can happen by modifying or completely replacing other files on the user's system. Either way, the resulting file must show the same behavior as the original virus. Computer viruses have been around for decades. Early viruses occurred on pre-personal computer platforms in the s.

However, the history of modern viruses begins with a program called Elk Cloner , which started infecting Apple II systems in Disseminated via infected floppy disks, the virus itself was harmless, but it spread to all disks attached to a system. It spread so quickly that most cybersecurity experts consider it the first large-scale computer virus outbreak in history. Early viruses like Elk Cloner were mostly designed as pranks. Their creators were in it for notoriety and bragging rights. However, by the early s, adolescent mischief had evolved into harmful intent.

PC users experienced an onslaught of viruses designed to destroy data, slow down system resources, and log keystrokes also known as a keylogger. The need for countermeasures led to the development of the first antivirus software programs. Early online antiviruses were exclusively reactive. They could only detect infections after they took place. Moreover, the first antivirus programs identified viruses by the relatively primitive technique of looking for their signature characteristics.

However, if the attacker changed the file name, the computer antivirus might not be as effective. While early antivirus software could also recognize specific digital fingerprints or patterns, such as code sequences in network traffic or known harmful instruction sequences, they were always playing catch up. Early antiviruses using signature-based strategies could easily detect known viruses, but they were unable to detect new attacks. Instead, a new virus had to be isolated and analyzed to determine its signature, and subsequently added to the list of known viruses.

Those using antiviruses online had to regularly download an ever-growing database file consisting of hundreds of thousands of signatures. Even so, new viruses that got out ahead of database updates left a significant percentage of devices unprotected. The result was a constant race to keep up with the evolving landscape of threats as new viruses were created and released into the wild.

PC viruses today are more of a legacy threat than an ongoing risk to computer users. They've been around for decades and have not substantially changed. So, if computer viruses aren't really a thing anymore, why do people still call their threat protection software an antivirus program, and why do you need an antivirus for computers in the first place?

It boils down to entrenched name recognition. Viruses made sensational headlines in the 90s, and security companies began using antivirus as shorthand for cyberthreats in general. Thus, the term antivirus was born. Decades later, many security firms still use this term for marketing their products. It's become a vicious cycle. Consumers assume viruses are synonymous with cyberthreats, so companies call their cybersecurity products antivirus software, which leads consumers to think viruses are still the problem.

But here's the thing. While virus and antivirus are not exactly anachronisms, modern cyberthreats are often much worse than their viral predecessors. They hide deeper in our computer systems and are more adept at evading detection.

The quaint viruses of yesterday have given rise to an entire rogue's gallery of advanced threats like spyware, rootkits, Trojans, exploits, and ransomware, to name a few. As these new attack categories emerged and evolved beyond early viruses, companies making antivirus for computers continued their mission against these new threats.

However, these companies were unsure of how to categorize themselves. Should they continue to market their products as antivirus software at the risk of sounding reductive? Should they use another "anti-threat" term for marketing themselves like "anti-spyware," for example? Or was it better to take an all-inclusive approach and combine everything in a single product line that addressed all threats?

The answers to these questions depend on the company. At Malwarebytes, cybersecurity is our highest-level catchall category. It makes sense to combine our anti-threat effort into a single term that covers more than just viruses. Viruses are just one kind of malware. There are other forms of malware that are more common these days. Here are just a few:. Adware is unwanted software designed to throw advertisements up on your screen, often within a web browser, but sometimes within mobile apps as well.

Typically, adware disguises itself as legitimate or piggybacks on another program to trick you into installing it on your PC, tablet, or mobile device. Spyware is malware that secretly observes the computer user's activities, including browsing activity, downloads, payment information, and login credentials, and then reports this information to the software's author. Spyware isn't just for cybercriminals. Legitimate companies sometimes use spyware to track employees.

A keylogger , spyware's less sophisticated cousin, is malware that records all the user's keystrokes on the keyboard. This malware typically stores the gathered information and sends it to the attacker seeking sensitive information like usernames, passwords, or credit card details.

A computer virus is malware that attaches to another program and, when triggered, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and infecting them with its own bits of code. Worms are a type of malware similar to viruses in that they spread, but they don't require user interaction to be triggered.

A Trojan , or Trojan Horse, is more of a delivery method for infections than an infection. The Trojan presents itself as something useful to trick users into opening it. Trojan attacks can carry just about any form of malware, including viruses, spyware, and ransomware.

It infects other bootable media like floppy disks. These are also known as memory viruses as they do not infect the file systems. Macro Virus: Unlike most viruses which are written in a low-level language like C or assembly language , these are written in a high-level language like Visual Basic.

These viruses are triggered when a program capable of executing a macro is run. For example, the macro viruses can be contained in spreadsheet files.

Source code Virus: It looks for source code and modifies it to include virus and to help spread it. Polymorphic Virus: A virus signature is a pattern that can identify a virus a series of bytes that make up virus code. So in order to avoid detection by antivirus a polymorphic virus changes each time it is installed. The functionality of the virus remains the same but its signature is changed. Encrypted Virus: In order to avoid detection by antivirus, this type of virus exists in encrypted form.

It carries a decryption algorithm along with it. So the virus first decrypts and then executes. Stealth Virus: It is a very tricky virus as it changes the code that can be used to detect it.

Hence, the detection of viruses becomes very difficult. For example, it can change the read system call such that whenever the user asks to read a code modified by a virus, the original form of code is shown rather than infected code. Tunneling Virus: This virus attempts to bypass detection by antivirus scanner by installing itself in the interrupt handler chain. Interception programs, which remain in the background of an operating system and catch viruses, become disabled during the course of a tunneling virus.

Similar viruses install themselves in device drivers. Multipartite Virus: This type of virus is able to infect multiple parts of a system including the boot sector, memory, and files. This makes it difficult to detect and contain. Armored Virus: An armored virus is coded to make it difficult for antivirus to unravel and understand.

The malware will reside undetected until the user takes a certain action, such as visiting a certain website or banking app. Depending on the type of Trojan and how it was created, the malware may delete itself, return to being dormant, or remain active on the device. Trojans can also attack and infect smartphones and tablets using a strand of mobile malware.

This could occur through the attacker redirecting traffic to a device connected to a Wi-Fi network and then using it to launch cyberattacks. There are many types of Trojan horse viruses that cyber criminals use to carry out different actions and different attack methods. The most common types of Trojan used include:. A Trojan horse virus can often remain on a device for months without the user knowing their computer has been infected.

However, telltale signs of the presence of a Trojan include computer settings suddenly changing, a loss in computer performance, or unusual activity taking place.

The best way to recognize a Trojan is to search a device using a Trojan scanner or malware-removal software. Trojan attacks have been responsible for causing major damage by infecting computers and stealing user data. Well-known examples of Trojans include:. The Fortinet antivirus services. In the span of a minute, FortiGuard eliminates, on average, 95, malware programs. FortiGuard does this by incorporating knowledge of the different types of viruses within the global threat landscape.

Countermeasures are engineered to neutralize each type of threat, and then they are automatically enacted by FortiGuard, thereby protecting the networks under the FortiGuard umbrella. Skip to content Skip to navigation Skip to footer. What Is a Trojan Horse Virus? History of the Trojan Horse. The Trojan horse gave them the access they had been wanting for a decade.

A Trojan virus, similarly, can be a good way to get behind an otherwise tight set of defenses. The Trojan horse appeared to be a legitimate gift. In a similar vein, a Trojan virus looks like legitimate software. How Do Trojans Work? Most Common Types of Trojan Malware. The most common types of Trojan used include: Backdoor Trojan : A backdoor Trojan enables an attacker to gain remote access to a computer and take control of it using a backdoor. This enables the malicious actor to do whatever they want on the device, such as deleting files, rebooting the computer, stealing data, or uploading malware.

A backdoor Trojan is frequently used to create a botnet through a network of zombie computers.