In our fast moving world of information technology, computers have become
a way of life and it would be foolish to turn a blind eye to this fact.
Since the last few years, the PC (Personal Computer) range of machines
have reached and even surpassed the power of minicomputers and have made
inroads in the business world. Large corporations employing mainframes
and minicomputers also have a large base of PCs installed. The main thrust
of Pcs has been to bring the power of the computer to the desk of the
end user - in his office and at home.
Computer viruses threaten to snatch this power and control away, and
replace it with fear and uncertainty. Why would anyone want to take such
a gigantic step backwards? While it is not our aim to analyze the minds
of the depraved who gloat in the discomfort of others, you will be shocked
to know that a majority of the Indian viruses are the handiwork of fertile brains of premier educational
institutes in India. As if this were not enough, there are people who
are selling 30 known viruses, and certain computer classes are teaching
students how to write Trojans! It amazes us to what level people will
sink to make a fast buck.
With the emergence of various viruses, it has become common practice
and a convenient excuse to attribute the slightest bit of malfunctioning
or data loss to viruses. Data can and does get lost in computers, ranging
from a PC to a CRAY, for a vast number of reasons. Power surges,
mechanical/electronic failures, or even operator errors can lead to data loss.
Hence, jumping to unwarranted conclusions and blaming viruses for all
occurrences of data loss is simply trying to shrug away the problem.
There is no need to get paranoid. Viruses have been there and will continue
to be there as long as perverse minds are at their destructive best.
The important thing we have to consider is how to protect ourselves and
safeguard our computers from such infiltrations.
The virus which has attacked your machine may turn out to be a "joke"
(harmless virus) or a lethal one. Still, the mere fact that an alien
force has succeeded in penetrating your system is scary and humiliating.
Besides, what is the guarantee that the next viral attack will not be
damaging?
So, what are we to do? Do we just take things lying down? While it would
be difficult to track down the culprits, the least we can do is protect
ourselves from such attacks - and that is where this book comes in.
We have ourselves been victims to viral attacks. And, time and again,
we have watched it happen to hundreds of other innocent computer users.
We could not shrug off the feeling of helplessness and despair. And,
thus, the concept of writing this book was born. Considering the complexity
of the subject, we have tried to keep the language as lucid as possible.
We hope that we have succeeded in making this book as "reader-friendly"
as possible.
The Book
The second part covers the different types of viruses with their
characteristics and other details on all known viruses.
The third part contains reviews of several international as well
as Indian products tested by us. At this point we would like to mention
the sad fact that the response we received from abroad was much more
encouraging than that from our own countrymen. Despite several requests,
very few came forward to let us test their software.
The last part covers protection and recovery measures. The book ends
with a chapter on backups - an important safeguard against data loss
arising from a viral attack or hardware and software problems.
Scattered throughout the book, you will find some "virus infected" nursery
rhymes. Is nothing safe from the virus epidemic?
When a volatile topic, such as viruses, is being tackled, there has to
be a wide spectrum of inputs to make the work meaningful and up-to-date.
There are so many people to thank, that the list would probably make
up a book on its own.
Extracts
Disk
Poems
Graphics
Materials
The information that we have tried to supply in this book is aimed at
dispelling all such fears and the mass hysteria that has gripped the
computer world. If we succeed, it will be one more victory in the war
against those low-level life-forms who gain sadistic pleasure in destroying
the work of others.
The book is divided into four parts. The first deals with a general
introduction to viruses and its relation to the working of DOS. It ends with a
chapter on the symptoms of a viral attack.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
"The Origins Of Computer Viruses" (Chapter 1) and parts of the DOS chapters
are extracts from two workshops held by Microcomputer Users' Club, conducted
by Neville Bulsara and us.
We are grateful to Mr.John McAfee and Mr.John DeHaven for allowing us
to include their popular products, VirScan and VC 3.2 respectively. We
also thank Neville Bulsara and Jhankar Shah for their software.
The delightful rhymes are by Peter Theobald, totally his idea!
Akhil Shahani, Shipra Nagwekar (Graphic Vision) and Rohinton Malloo (Adverts),
for providing the artistic touch to the cover and graphics.
We would specially like to acknowledge with deep gratitude the materials
of the following writers/newsletters which has helped us in our efforts
to make this book as informative as possible.
Not to forget
We also extend our heartfelt thanks to: Alan Dawson War On Virus BBS, Thailand. Connectivity Newsletter of the IBM PC Users Group, UK. Dr.Alan Solomon S&S International, United Kingdom Jim Goodwin Homebase BBS, USA John DeHaven Bangkok Security Associates, Thailand. John McAfee McAfee Associates, USA Neville Bulsara Microcomputer Users' Club, Bombay, India. Patricia Hoffman Excalibur! BBS, USA PC Update Newsletter of PC Users Club, Australia. Wanda Sloan Bangkok Post and Post Database, Thailand. Woody Khoman Bangkok Users Group (BUG), Thailand.
Our very special thanks to Swarup and the other members of the Javeri
family for their moral support and for putting up with us throughout
all the stages of this book.