Computer viruses - A metamorphosis

From 1983, when Fred Cohen coined the term 'computer virus' - referring to program code that can explicitly copy itself, and by doing so has the ability to affect other programs by modifying them or their environment - a paradigm shift has happened in its evolution.

Quite like the incredible metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly - and without any redeeming qualities - viruses of yore have turned into malware, broadly defined as software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system.

It now includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, rootkits, dishonest adware, and other malicious and unwanted software.

The defining factor - in determining the future of viruses was of course the advent and rapid expansion of the Internet.

In their early days and even into the mid-90s, malicious programs were primarily a form of vandalism or prank. Today, however, the vast majority of malware is created with a financial or profit motive. Malware can invade through email, downloads, instant messages, web pages, among others, it can erase your files, damage your hard drive, steal valuable personal information and destroy the information you value most: photos, music,

documents, and more.

Here's a look at some of the more virulent kinds of malware that we are likely to encounter in the days to come: A Trojan is a malicious program that typically installs itself on a computer hard drive and takes control of the system and/or steals personal details like credit card information stored therein.

A lot of cybercriminals are now using free blog publishing software from Google and Microsoft to set up blogs and Web 2.0 sites, which have RSS feeds, to communicate with other Trojan-infected machines.

In order to stay ahead of anti-virus software, malicious code writers are also starting to turn to encryption.

A disturbing development in the recent past has been the use of popular websites to spread malicious code, in the form of installed malware hidden inside advertisements hosted there.

Widgets are very popular portable chunks of code that are used to create calendars, clocks and maps for personalising websites, and are increasingly being used to proliferate malware.

In order to coordinate the activity of many infected computers, attackers have been using botnets, which are a collection of software robots, or bots, which run autonomously and automatically.

All said and done, this year too, malware will morph in ever-more destructive and devious ways so the onus is on security experts to stay one step ahead.