Types of computer viruses What are they and how to protect ourselves from them? 2022 list

when we take over the best information about types of computer viruses that exist, that no one should doubt are always a latent threat to our equipment, we will be able to protect each of the devices we use in the best way.

Companies and corporations at different levels can attest to this, which sometimes have a department dedicated to face the threat to suffer an attack of any malware. But this is not the case for most users, who can also be victims of an attack that would cause data loss, and sometimes even total damage to their equipment.

In this sense, in our desire to be proactive and spread the greatest amount of information on the subject, we have decided to make this content available to you, in the certainty that it will shed light on the full understanding of something so delicate.

What is a computer virus and what are the risks of having one on our computer?

We are talking about software developed in order to negatively affect the normal functioning of the operating system of any computing device. Sometimes it can come as a piece of code that is hosted in some file, designed with the same malicious purpose as a complete program of the same malware.

As you well know, there are different types and classes of malware, but when we talk about computer viruses we must make it clear that The term is closely related to its ability to self-replicatethus gaining the ability to spread from one computer to another like any virus would in humans.

One of these malicious programs can reach your device in different ways, such as email, audio or video files, photos and any other attachments that we share on social networks, insert infected USBs. It can remain dormant until some circumstance causes the program to activate, infecting everything connected to the same computer network.

Although sometimes computer viruses do not go beyond causing some inconvenience, which makes them somewhat harmless, other times have catastrophic effects and devastating for the victims’ teams. Among these last risks we can mention the following:

• Theft of passwords and other data
• Redirect spam to your email contacts
• Provoke keystrokes
• Significantly lower computer performance
• Partially or totally damage one or more files
• Take control of your team

These are all things that can happen to your device once you install an infected program on it, which often happens without you even realizing it. Once that happens, the malicious software it stays in the RAM memory regardless of the fact that you have not done the complete download.

List of major known viruses in modern computing

Below you will see a list of the main computer viruses, that have become real challenges for security experts in the area in recent times:

trojan

It is one of the most feared computer viruses, due to its ability to camouflage itself and try to enter the user’s system. It is often presented in the guise of legitimate software. Once it is installed and activated on your system, it allows cybercriminals to carry out malicious actions against all types of data, stealing, deleting or changing the same.

worms

It is the classic way of referring to computer viruses, and its description corresponds to the one we have given you in the previous chapter. However, we will take the opportunity to indicate that they are also capable of exploit mistakes in your favor in the computer network settings.

Likewise, they have the ability to use various methods to spread, as is the case of knowing exploit security loopholes in the operating system and some applications.

joke

Although it is not actually a computer virus in the malicious sense of the term, this type of program is capable of cause some inconvenience users by playing some seemingly harmless pranks on them. But harmless or not, we can never be sure of the reaction of someone who suddenly sees their computer start to shake for no apparent reasonor move the cursor on its own every few seconds.

Time bomb

Also known as Logic Bomb, it is a virus that has been programmed by its developer to activate at a certain time. Although it is not capable of spreading by its own means, there is evidence of how harmful it is by causing partial or total loss of the security systems in the devices, as well as a notable drop in their performance.

recycler

This malware is more common today than many of us would like, all aggravated by its great ability to go unnoticed when it is received on computers. Among its most unwanted effects highlights the fact of infecting us even more every time we try to enter a folder.

Given the great frequency with which we use accessories that depend on a USB connectionWhether they are called flash drives, portable hard drives, smartphones or camera cards, we run the risk of infecting our devices with this dangerous computer virus.

List of computer viruses according to their main characteristics

In the same way, or to put it another way, with the same speed with which ever greater innovations appear in the field of Information Technology, cybercrime also manages to create increasingly sophisticated malicious developments. So that you know some of them, we have prepared a list in which we describe the main characteristics and malicious capabilities of each one:

residents

They are those that can hide in the RAM of a computer and are able to reinstall each time you turn on or restart your computer. This is how they have become a great threat to programs and files, since they always find a way to affect them in some way. parts or whole of the operating system.

polymorphic

It is a variety of malware designed to avoid detection by antivirus software. To achieve this, pirates have created a program capable of automatically making copies of itself with different encryption methods. With this technique, which is based on a chain system, they manage to make it difficult to detect by lowering the effectiveness of the tools against malicious software of this particular type.

zombie

They are malicious programs that allow hackers control your terminal remotely. They do it with the intention of creating a swarm of computers in a ‘zombie state’, the which they use to flood any site chosen as a target of spam with spam. computer attacks. Your device will be affected in various ways, such as when the fan starts to run at full speed even when the computer is not turned on, emails in the outbox that you did not send, and a drop in computer performance, among others.

keylogger

Hackers use this type of virus called keylogger with the intention of registering each keystroke of infected devices. In this way they can get hold of sensitive user information, especially passwords and bank account data.

Because they are designed to stay hidden, millions of users who have been infected with this virus barely notice it. But if you see that on your screen things are not reflected as you have been writing themor delays in the cursor clicks, it is most likely that your computer has fallen victim to this type of virus.

FAT

This is malicious software that acts directly on the section of the hard drive intended to store information about the location of files. There have been cases of loss of entire directories with important information for the user. And incidentally, it can affect key aspects for the normal operation of the equipment, which can sometimes be completely inoperative.

hijacker

Maliciously devised for the purpose of hijacking domains, the Hijacker virus (learn more about other types of viruses here) works by redirecting DNS servers. What they are looking for with this is to make it so that every time you want to go to a particular domain, the forwards you to an IP address that is not the one you are looking for, and therefore a different page will be loaded.

In this way, pirates get you to browse pages full of junk advertising that they control, and in which you will be an easy target to get infected with other types of malware.

ciphers

It is a family of computer viruses that are capable of encrypting and decrypting themselves. They do this with the intention of avoiding being detected by antiviruses. It has been found that when such a virus is about to go into action, it automatically decrypts itself using the password it used to encrypt itself, that is always the same.

The latter has allowed advances for its elimination, and the consequent data recovery and files by affected users.

link or directory

This malicious software owes its name to its ability to change direction where a certain file is located. This means that its first harmful action within the system is to make the virus refer you to one that hosts the malicious program instead of reaching the file you select.

Once that happens, it is impossible to work with the original file again. But the damage is not limited to damaging the first file only, since after doing it with this will go on to bind with the rest of the address directories that are on the hard drive, so the magnitude of the damage will be total.

From Boot or starting

In this case we are talking about a program designed to cause damage to the boot sector of the hard drive. This virus acts by substituting the original startup code of the computer. To achieve this, the virus writes its code instead of the device’s MBR code, thus managing to take control of the device’s boot system. Many times the damage caused by a evil bootkit with physical problems in the boot system.

direct acting

They are so named because they are not capable of hibernating within the system before activating. This means that they come into action only when entering equipment that do not have adequate protection. Of course, once they are activated they look for the files located inside within the same directory where they have fallen to attack them.

overwrite

These specialize in delete the information contained in infected files. That makes them especially fearsome. Although sometimes the damage is only partial, when trying to recover the equipment from the damage caused, what is achieved is the opposite effect. This makes it necessary to delete the file completelyWith everything it implies.

What are the main methods of protection against all computer viruses?

What you have read up to this point may cause you some degree of alarm. But, for your peace of mind, we must say that there are several methods to keep your computers well protected against all computer viruses known to date. They are methods that we all have at our fingertips to shield devices with which we regularly connect to the Internet, whether they are computers, laptops, smartphones or tablets.

Here we present them:

antivirus

These are computer applications developed in order to detect early the threats of viruses and other malware that circulate through the network. Just by knowing this, you should already have an idea of ​​how essential they are to maintaining the security and prevent damage to the software and hardware of all your computing devices.

Of course, the task of a good antivirus does not stop there, since it is also in charge of making periodic evaluations of the equipment to remove infections produced by viruses.

file filter

It is a tool designed to filter files when your device is connected to a network. Once implemented, they do not require user intervention to stay active. One of the most common ways to use the tool is configure it to work providing selective filtering in specific areas, such as in the case of emails.

Software update

It is a commonly used method for rid computers that are already infected of malware. But this time we bring it up in the sense of updating your equipment with the latest software put on the market by the technological giants. This is because, with each update, software vendors take care to equip each version with bigger and better malware prevention systems.

5 Tips to keep our devices protected from malware and malicious files

Now that you know some of the methods with which we can keep computers protected against computer viruses, all you need to do is to know what can you do yourself to collaborate in the fight against these enemies of your devices, which surely contain valuable data for you.

In this sense, we have allowed ourselves to present you with some advice that we hope you fully internalize, as ignorance is usually the gateway for viruses to enter your system:

Get an antivirus in Pro version

While free antiviruses can sometimes be enough to keep you protected, when you use the paid versions of these programs you will be helping your computers with a tool that deploys more protection options.

This means that apart from receiving automatic updates, the software will work on its own with real-time analysis, allowing eliminate the threat before the damage is done.

Be careful with the pages you visit

This is especially recommended when you receive attachments in your mail inviting you to visit pages that are totally unknown to you. Do not lose sight of the fact that this is one of the methods that cybernetic hackers use the most to make phishing.

It is also advisable to take into account all the risk that your computer runs when you visit adult pages. This is because many of them are free to access, which makes it necessary for them to generate many banners, in which criminals often hide a lot of malicious material.

Be very careful when using a flash drive

It’s without doubt that the pendrive is the most used way by pirates to deploy a direct access virus, which makes it necessary to be very aware of this information when we are forced to use one of them. Consequently, it is best to do a preliminary analysis of this accessory with the antivirus before giving download permission.

Avoid public Wi-Fi networks

As you know, using this type of Internet connection allows us to save our browsing data. However, you must bear in mind that in many cases it is fake nets put there by some hacker, to steal information from the unwary when they connect with their mobiles or laptops.

To avoid this, it is advisable to ask those responsible for the hotels or restaurants where you have to use them, to know if the WiFI network is your own.

Keep backups of all your data

no one will deny that we are always exposed to be the target of some malicious action, so it is necessary to make regular backups. By doing so, you will have a safeguard of the things that interest you, both personally and professionally, which is insurance to recover everything in the event of being the victim of an attack. To do so, you can use external storage media to keep them safe outside the computer.