Chapter 9: Defending Against Virus Attacks

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, malware types, historical attacks, and defensive countermeasures from Chapter 9: Defending Against Virus Attacks by Chuck Easttom.

Virus

A self-replicating program that requires a host, requires human action to trigger, and usually carries out a negative function.

Worm

A special type of virus that can spread across networks and replicate itself without requiring human intervention.

Zafi Worm

A worm (specifically W32/Zafi.D) that distributes copies of its code in email file attachments and delivers email messages in several different languages.

Rombertik

A spyware program designed to steal confidential information from targets using Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome running on Windows operating systems.

Shamoon

Malware designed to overwrite and erase hard drive data with a corrupted image, report infected addresses back inside the network, and execute a logic bomb targeting the master boot record at 11:08 am.

Gameover ZeuS

A peer-to-peer botnet based on components from the earlier ZeuS trojan, created by Russian hacker Evgeniy Mikhailovich.

Mirai

Malware that infects networked Linux devices—primarily consumer electronics like IP cameras and home routers—turning them into remotely controlled bots used in large-scale network attacks.

Linux.Encoder.1

Considered the first ransomware Trojan targeting Linux computers (also known as ELF/Filecoder.A and Trojan.Linux.Ransom.A), with variants targeting Unix and Unix-like operating systems.

Kedi RAT

A remote access trojan used by cybercriminals to remotely control infected systems, exfiltrate data, and evade security detection.

Jdbgmgr Hoax

A social engineering virus hoax containing no actual malicious payload that tricks users into deleting a legitimate and important system file on their own PCs.

Ransomware

A virus or malware payload that locks down user files until a ransom payment is made, most commonly impacting unpatched systems.

WannaCry

A widespread ransomware attack that emerged in health care systems in the United Kingdom in 2017.

Macro Virus

A virus written in the application macro language used by programs such as Microsoft Word or Excel; it is application-centric, OS-independent, and able to infect any system running the application.

Boot Sector Virus

Malware that infects the computer storage sector where startup files are located, targeting the files required to load the operating system and other bootable programs.

Multipartite Virus

A fast-moving virus that simultaneously attacks both the boot sector and executable program files using a combination of boot infectors and file infectors.

Memory Resident Virus

A virus that remains in system memory after execution to run continuously, such as backdoors awaiting commands or worms continuously sending emails.

Virus Scanner

Software designed to prevent infections by matching computer files against known definitions in a .dat file or monitoring the system for suspicious virus behaviors.

Avast

An antivirus software product that features a graphical user interface (GUI) and provides a free edition for home, noncommercial users alongside commercial enterprise versions.

AVG

A full-featured antivirus utility available in free and commercial tiers that integrates with email clients like Microsoft Outlook and filters web traffic and downloads.

Kaspersky

An antivirus suite available for business and personal use that provides non-virus detection features such as a password vault.

Active Code

Executable web content—such as XSS, SQL injection scripts, macros, and other browser scripts—that network defense policies recommend blocking within web browsers.