LANGUAGE WORK Cause and effect

PROTECTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Computer Viruses

Another critical security challenge is presented by computer viruses, hidden programs that can work their way into computer systems and erase or corrupt data and programs. Rather than directly tampering with a company’s data or computers, computer hackers may create viruses to infect computers at random. Computer viruses are programs that secretly attach themselves to other programs or files and change them or destroy data. Viruses can be programmed to become active immediately or to remain dormant for a period of time, after which the infections suddenly activate themselves and cause problems.

A virus can reproduce by copying itself onto other programs stored in the same drive. It spreads as users install infected software on their systems or exchange files with others, usually by exchanging e-mail, accessing electronic bulletin boards, trading disks, or downloading programs or data from unknown sources on the Internet. With widespread data sharing in networks, including intranets and the Internet, viruses can do more damage today than ever before. For example, computer at National City Corporation, a mortgage lending firm, recently contracted a virus that shut down 3,000 of the company’s servers and more than 8,000 workstations. According to Computer Economics, a company that assesses the financial impact of security threats and incidents, viruses cost organizations billions of dollars each year. The so-called “Love Bug” virus alone caused an estimated $9 billion in damage. Computer viruses behave much like human viruses by invisibly attaching themselves to any computer data or programs that come into contact with them. Some viruses, as with hacking incidents, result from pranks that get out of hand. But many involve outright vandalism or crime.

As viruses become more complex, the technology to fight them must increase in sophistication as well. The simplest way to protect against computer viruses is to install one of the many available antivirus software programs, such as Norton Anti-Virus and McAfee Virus Scan. These programs continuously monitor systems for viruses and automatically eliminate any they spot. Users should regularly update them by going online to download the latest virus definitions. There is no way to entirely stop the spread of computer viruses, because new ones are created all the time. However, a number of excellent “vaccine” programs exist that search for and destroy viruses and prevent new ones from infecting your computer system.

But management must begin to emphasize security at a deeper level: in software design, corporate servers, Web gateways, and Internet service providers. Because around 80 percent of the world’s PCs run on Microsoft operating systems, a single virus can spread quickly among them. Individual computer users should carefully choose the files they load onto their systems regularly, make sure their antivirus software is up-to-date, and install software only from known sources. They should also be very careful when opening attachments to e-mails, since this is the way many viruses are spread. Both the Love Bug and more recent Klez viruses were both spread through attachments to e-mails.

The examples of antivirus software programs available nowadays:

Trend Micro Titanium; Norton 360 version 6.0; Panda Antivirus Pro 2012; Eset NOD 32 Antivirus 5; Avira Antivir Premium; Zone Alarm Extreme Security; Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus 2012; Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2012; BullGuard Antivirus 12; G Data AntiVirus 2012;

9 Best Free Antivirus Programs;

Avast! Free Antivirus; Microsoft Security Essetials; Comodo Antivirus; Avira AntiVir Personal; Panda Cloud Antivirus; Immunet Protect FREE; Digital-defender Antivirus; PC Tools AntiVirus Free.

Vocabulary Notes

security challenge - проблема безопасности

hidden (programs) - скрытый; скрытые программы

to work the way - проникать, прокладывать дорогу

to erase or corrupt data - стереть или повредить данные

to tamper - портить, вмешиваться

directly - непосредственно, напрямую

at random - наугад, наобум, беспорядочно

to attach - прикреплять, присоединять

to remain dormant - оставаться бездействующим

to reproduce - воспроизводить, размножать

onto - на

to spread - распространяться

electronic bulletin board - электронная доска объявлений

to download (programs) - скачать (программы)

damage - повреждение, порча, вред

a mortgage lending firm - фирма ипотечного кредитования

to contract a virus - приобретать, подхватывать вирус

to shut down servers - выключить, закрыть серверы

workstation - рабочая станция сети

Computer Economics - компания «Экономический анализ компьютерных систем»

to assess - оценивать, определять

the financial impact - финансовые последствия

incident - инцидент, происшествие

Love Bug virus - вирус «Ошибка любви» либо «Жук любви»

Invisibly - невидимо, незаметно

pranks - шалости, хулиганство

to get out of hand - выходить из под контроля

outright vandalism - прямой вандализм

sophistication - изощрённость, утончённость; опыт

available - доступный, имеющийся в наличии

to eliminate - устранять, удалять

to spot - определять, опознавать, обнаруживать

to update - обновлять

to download the latest virus definitions - загружать последние (самые новые) вирусные

дефиниции

vaccine programs - вакцинные программы

to prevent - предотвращать; предохранять; препятствовать; мешать

to infect - инфицировать, заражать

to emphasize security at a deeper level - придавать особое значение защите на более

глубоком уровне

software design - разработки программного обеспечения

WEB gateways - WEB – шлюзы

to run on - работать на

to load - загрузить

up-to-date - новейший, современный; соответствующий современным требованиям

attachment - приложение; присоединённое сообщение

EXERCISES

1.Translate these expressions into English:

1. скрытые (невидимые) программы 2. стирать или повреждать данные 3. создавать вирусы, чтобы инфицировать компьютеры 4. активизироваться немедленно 5. оставаться бездействующими на период времени 6. вызывать проблемы 7.репродуцироваться, копируя себя самого 8. инстолировать инфицированную программу 9. скачивать программы из неизвестных источников по Интернету 10. широко распространённый обмен данными в сетях 11. приносить вред (повреждение) 12. оценивать финансовое воздействие (последствия) угроз безопасности 13. прямой вандализм 14. возрастать в утончённости 15. защищаться против компьютерных вирусов 16. доступные (имеющиеся) антивирусные программы 17. проводить мониторинг систем на наличие вирусов 18. регулярно обновлять программы 19. провайдеры услуг Интернета 21. работать на операционных системах Майкрософт 22.

быть уверенным, что антивирусная программа современна (не устарела) 23. быть очень осторожным, открывая приложения к электронной почте 24. распространяться через приложения к e-mail.

2.Study this diagram which explains how one type of virus operates. Try to answer these questions:

What is the function of the Jump instruction?
What are the main parts of the virus code?
What is the last act of the virus?

How a virus infects a program

3.Read the text very attentively

THE ANATOMY OF VIRUS

A biological virus is a very small, simple organism that infects living cells, known as the host, by attaching itself to them and using them to reproduce itself. This often causes harm to the host cells.

Similarly, a computer virus is a very small program routine (подпрограмма) that infects the computer system and uses its resources to reproduce itself. It often does this by patching (ставить заплаты) the operating system to enable it to detect program files, such as COM (коммуникационный порт) or EXE files (исполняемые файлы). It then copies itself into those files. This sometimes causes harm to the host computer system.

When the user runs an infected program, it is loaded into memory carrying the virus. The virus uses a common programming technique to stay resident in memory. It can then use a reproduction routine to infect other programs. This process continues until the computer is switched off.

The virus may also contain a payload (the part of a virus that carries out the threat such as displaying a slogan on the screen) that remains dormant until a trigger event (какое-нибудь возбуждающее движение) activates it, such as the user pressing a particular key. The payload can have a variety of forms. It might do something relatively harmless such as displaying the message on the monitor screen or it might do something more destructive such as deleting files on the hard disk.

When it infects a file, the virus replaces the first instruction in the host program with a command that changes the normal execution sequence. This type of command is known as a JUMP command and causes the virus instructions to be executed before the host program. This virus then returns control to the host program which then continues with its normal sequence of instructions and is executed in the normal way.

To be a virus, a program only needs to have a reproduction routine that enables it to infect other programs. Viruses can, however, have four main parts. A misdirection (неправильное

указание направления) routine, that enables it to hide itself; a reproduction routine that allows it to copy itself to other programs; a trigger that causes the payload to be activated at a particular time or when a particular event takes place; and a payload that may be a fairly harmless joke or may be very destructive. A program that has a payload but does not have a reproduction routine is known as Trojan.

4. Now try to find the answers to these questions:

1. How are computer viruses like biological viruses?

2. What is the effect of a virus patching the operating system?

3. Why are some viruses designed to be loaded into memory?

4. What examples of payload does the writer provide?

5. What kind of programs do viruses often attach to?

6. Match each virus routine to its function.

Routine	Function
1. misdirection 2. reproduction 3. trigger 4. payload	a does the damage b attaches a copy of itself to another program с hides the presence of the code d decides when and how to activate the payload

7. How does a Trojan differ from a virus?

LANGUAGE WORK Cause and effect

What is the relationship between these actions? 1. A date or event occurs. 2. The trigger routine runs. 3. The hard disk is wiped. These events form part of a cause and effect chain. We can describe the links between each event in a number of ways: Using cause + to V or make + V. 1. A date or event occurs which causes the trigger routine to run.

2. A date or event occurs which makes the trigger routine run. Putting the events in sequence and using a causative verb. 3. The trigger routine runs, which activates the payload routine. Using a when clause. 4. When the trigger routine runs, the payload routine activates.

6.Describe the effects of these viruses and other destructive programs.

1 logic bomb – example

a. A dismissed employee’s name is deleted from the company’s payroll.

b. A logic bomb is activated

c. All payroll records are destroyed.

2 Form (Boot sector virus) boot sector – сектор загрузки

a. A certain date occurs.

b. A trigger routine is activated.

c. Keys beep (гудят, сигналят) when pressed and floppies are corrupted (повреждены,

испорчены).

3 Beijing (Boot sector virus)

a. The operator starts up the computer for the one hundred and twenty-ninth time.

b. A trigger routine is activated.

c. the screen displays,” BLOODY! June 4, 1989

4. AntiEXE

a. The infected program is run.

b. The boot sector is corrupted.

c. The dick content is overwritten.

d. Data is lost

5. Cascade (File virus – COM files only)

a. A particular data occurs.

b. The payload is triggered.

c. Characters on a text mode screen slide down to the bottom.

6. macro virus – example (макрос-вирус)

a. An infected document is opened in the wordprocessor.

b. The virus macro is executed.

c. The virus code is attached to the default template (шаблон, образец).

d. The user saves another document.

e. The virus code attaches to the saved document.

f. The saved document is opened in the wordprocessor.

g. The virus destroys data, displays a message or plays music.

7.Some verbs beginning or ending with en have a causative meaning. Replace the words in italics in these sentences with the appropriate form of en verb from this list.

enable (давать возможность)encrypt ensure (обеспечивать,

гарантировать)

encode enhance(улучшать) brighten

Encourage enlarge widen

1. A MIDI (цифровой интерфейс музыкальных инструментов) message makes sound into code as 8-bit bytes of digital information.

2. The teacher is using a new program to give courage to children to write stories.

3. The new version of SimCity has been made better in many ways.

4. A gateway makes it possible for dissimilar networks to communicate.

5. You can convert data to secret code to make it secure.

6. Make sure the machine is disconnected before you remove the case.

7. Designers can offer good ideas for making your website brighter.

8. Electronic readers allow you to make the print size larger.