The virus life cycle

The life cycle of a virus begins when it is created. A virus's life cycle has three phases. The following outline describes each stage:

Creation

Until recently, creating a virus required knowledge of a computer programming language. Today anyone with basic programming knowledge can create a virus. The myth is typically, a young board computer geek who wishes to cause widespread, random damage to computers create viruses. At least that's the media view.

Replication

Viruses typically replicate for a long period of time before they activate, allowing plenty of time to spread.

Activation

Viruses with damage routines will activate when certain conditions are met, for example, on a certain date or when the infected user performs a particular action. The "payload" of the virus is delivered. Viruses without damage routines do not activate, instead causing damage by stealing storage space. Some even have no payload. Some cause damage to the files they infect due to the fact that they are badly written code

The elimination of viruses

This also has three phases:

Discovery

This phase does not always follow activation, but typically does. When a virus is detected and isolated, it is sent to the ICSA in Washington, D.C., to be documented and distributed to antivirus software developers. Discovery normally takes place at least one year before the virus might have become a threat to the computing community.

Assimilation

At this point, antivirus software developers modify their software so that it can detect the new virus. This can take anywhere from one day to six months, depending on the developer and the virus type.

Eradication

If enough users install up-to-date virus protection software, any virus can be wiped out. So far no viruses have disappeared completely, but some have long ceased to be a major threat.

© LEV