Content area
Full Text
Keywords
Viruses, Computer security, Computer software
Abstract
The growth of Inter- and intranets and the sharing of software have led to a rise in the transmission of viruses, especially among the PC and MAC platforms. However, maintaining virus protection software and pattern updates for any large organization is a monumental problem, especially when the organization supports multiple platforms and operating systems. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and other National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Centers have had problems maintaining current virus protection software and pattern files, and so NASA asked the JPL Network and Computer Security (NCS) Group to lead an effort to search for a comprehensive solution. This paper puts forward a study, analysis and recommendations concerning anti-virus software solutions, problems encountered and their resolutions. One of the key issues was finding a single-- source anti-virus software solution. Selection and deployment of single-source anti-- virus software were successful. The lessons learned in the deployment of a software product site-wide may benefit other organizations facing a similar situation.
Virus background
A virus is a set of instructions, often malicious, that can spread from computer to computer by attaching itself to otherwise legitimate programs. It is a fragment of a program, and cannot run independently. It attaches itself to a program such as a spreadsheet or a word processor; when the host program is activated, the virus enters the computer's memory. There, it attaches copies of itself to other software. The contaminated programs may then infect software in any computer programs that use them.
A virus can act like a logic bomb (unauthorized instructions placed in a program that are later activated by a special event (specified condition), or date (time bomb)).
It can also be a form of a Trojan horse, which reproduces itself in other executable code; it is a self-propagating Trojan horse, composed of a mission component, a trigger component, and a self-propagating component. It is a self-replicating malicious program segment that attaches itself to an application or other executable system component and leaves no external signs of its presence.
A virus may be a normal program file or it may be instructions stored in the boot-up sequence that exists on all diskettes and the PC hard disk. When...