Business Owners
If you are a small business owner today, you may be wondering what are the most common computer viruses, and are they a threat to my business? The fact of the matter is yes, they are very much a threat – to all businesses! But what exactly is a virus, how does it work, how do hackers get into your computer systems, and how do you protect your business from getting computer virus infections?
Malware Is All-Inclusive
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s start with the term malware. Malware is actually a shortened, all-inclusive term for any type of malicious software, which is software designed with harmful intent. There are different types of malware such as computer viruses, ransomware, computer worms, trojans, spyware, adware and more, but these are the most common forms of malware.
Ransomware Explained
Phishing Scams
Ransomware is a form of malware that uses phishing emails in scams designed to result in successful ransomware attacks. Though there are different types, typical phishing emails will be from hackers who create nearly identical ip addresses as the legitimate websites they pretend to be from, so they can be easily missed. The way it works is an email will have an urgent subject line to get your (or your employees) attention, and have a message designed to get computer users to click on a link or open email attachments in order to resolve the matter.
The Attack
Once users click on the link or open the email attachment, the ransomware locks them – and you – out of your computer system and computer files. At this point, the hacker is effectively holding these critical files, data, and personal customer information that could potentially financially damage your business, compromise customer bank accounts and steal sensitive information.
The Results
The hackers literally hold these files hostage for a demanded ransom. The ransomware attack is often successful, because there is no other solution to retrieve the data, even with the help of the authorities. Business owners don’t want it to cost them even more, or to expose the fact that they were vulnerable to the attack in the first place.
Worms Explained
How They Work
Computer worms are a common type of malware that is spread over computer networks by exploiting security vulnerabilities and inserting itself into your operating system. A worm is a standalone computer program that requires action from no one, and works by replicating itself and infecting other computers. They do not need separate host programs to execute them, therefore they are not really considered a virus.
Dangerous And Contagious
Because it doesn’t require host programs to affect your network connections and computers, a worm is an especially dangerous threat on the internet. A worm is an independent chunk of code that is especially contagious through shared files, email, malicious websites or web pages on the internet and through servers with a large number of security vulnerabilities in the network system. A worm is sometimes combined with a backdoor program called a Trojan horse, also technically not a virus.
Famous Worm Names
“Code Red” was one such combination famous for successfully targeting business system networks for the first time, causing 2.4 billion dollars in damage in 2001. Other examples of well-known worms are Mydoom, which caused an estimated 38 billion dollars in damage back in 2004, making it the highest costing piece of malware to date, and Iloveyou, disguised as a harmless loveletter, causing 15 billion dollars in damage back in the year 2000.
Computer Viruses Explained
How They Work
Technically speaking, a computer virus is also malware, which all of these fall into the category of. Computer viruses require a host program, and then the virus writes its own code into that program. When the program runs, this virus code runs first, causing damage and infection.
What They Do
Viruses are designed to harm the target device, computer or computer system through data corruption, reformatting hard disks, shutting down entire control systems, stealing precious data and files, harming computers or networks, stealing money, placing ransomware, spyware, adware or scareware on computers, and more.
If you have a computer or digital device that uses Microsoft Windows programs or apps, you are at risk of being the victim of a targeted virus or other malware attack. Since a virus can shut your entire system down or steal your files containing critical data, getting a computer virus is no joke!
Cyberthreats In General
In addition to all the malware threats and viruses listed above, there are unfortunately many more types of cybercrime on the internet these days. In fact, according to a 2021 report, there are 560,000 new pieces of malware detected every day! Every 4 seconds, a business falls prey to a ransomware attack. Currently, there are over a billion malware programs out there, and the number is climbing every second.
Interesting Cybercrime Facts
Evgeniy Bogachev is still wanted today, a Russian “black-hat” hacker who created the famous ransomware Cryptolocker. Operation Tovar is a coordinated multinational effort between law enforcement agencies around the world and companies like Microsoft that began in 2014 to shut down a botnet involved in the Bogachev case file. Today, Cryptolocker and its related entities are under control, but the creator remains at large.
Another interesting case is German Sven Jaschan, creator of the famous worm Sasser, is a black-hat turned white-hat former hacker who now works for a German security company to help catch cybercriminals like he used to be. He has also helped design state-of-the-art security software that is highly successful.
Protect Your Business
Business owners need solutions for their businesses, which is where tech companies like ours come in. Blue Oak Technology Solutions offers technical support with high quality services designed for small to medium sized businesses, that are personal and affordable. No more viruses for you to worry about, your company’s best practices should be deferring to us.
One of the things we offer is our security services, with our antivirus software and 24/7 system monitoring, we’re like your off-site IT department and more! We will help you make and store backup copies of all your systems and files, including your hard drive, so youcan keep these critical operating systems and file data safe and secure.
We keep your business from experiencing any denial of service or DoS/DDoS attacks, and offer education for employees to reduce the chances of them falling for a phishing scam. We will continuously monitor your security system and eliminate threats before they occur.
Viruses don’t stand a chance, we have the IT professionals and solutions you need for your small business. Pay by the month on a monthly plan where you can customize your services, or on a pay-as-you-go, per service, as-needed basis. Either way, with Blue Oak Technology Solutions, you get just what you need – and nothing you don’t. Also check out our post on how productivity tracking tools help managers and business owners.
