DEBATE TOPIC: THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER VIRUSES AND EFFECTIVE PREVENTIVE

MEASURES

OPPOSING SIDE 1:
COMPUTER VIRUSES ARE A SERIOUS THREAT

But before that, what is a Computer Virus?

- A computer virus is a code embedded in a legitimate program that can self-replicate and infect other programs.
It spreads through email attachments, file downloads, software installations, or unsecured links. These viruses
can steal data, hack into accounts, and even wipe out entire systems.

TYPES OF COMPUTER VIRUSES AND THEIR POTENTIAL DANGER

1. Trojan Horse Virus

- According to Fortinet, a type of malware that downloads onto a computer disguised as a legitimate program.
The delivery method typically sees an attacker use social engineering to hide malicious code within legitimate
software to try and gain users' system access with their software and According to PandaSecurity, the effects
of trojan horses is can be highly dangerous, they can destroy files or information on hard disks and they also
capture and resend confidential data to an external address or open communication ports, allowing an intruder
to control the infected computer remotely.

2. Worm Virus
-According to Fortinet, a virus that exploits vulnerabilities in your security software to steal sensitive
information, install backdoors that can be used to access the system, corrupt files, and do other kinds of harm.
Worms consume large volumes of memory, as well as bandwidth and According to VeraCode, the effects of
worm virus is also dangerous, it can typically cause harm to their host networks by consuming bandwidth and
overloading web servers and computer worms contain also “payloads” that damage host computers. Payloads
are pieces of code written to perform actions on affected computers beyond simply spreading the worm and
payloads are commonly designed to steal data or delete files. Worms also freeze or crash, program opening and
automatically running the computer.

3. Email Viruses
- According to TechTarget, a virus that malicious code distributed in email messages to infect one or more
devices. This malicious code can be activated in numerous ways: when the email recipient clicks on an infected
link within the message, opens an infected attachment or interacts with the message in some other way and
According to GuardianDigital, the effects of email viruses are incredibly prevalent and can compromise
sensitive inforation, destroy data, harm hardware, and waste time, resources, and energy.

4. RootKits Virus
- According to Kaspersky, a kind of malware intended to allow hackers access to and command over a target
device. Some rootkits can also infect the hardware and firmware of your computer, even though most rootkits
only affect the software and operating system. Although rootkits are skilled at hiding their presence, they are
still active while doing so. Rootkits provide hackers unrestricted access to computers, allowing them to steal
financial and personal data, install malware, or utilize computers as part of a botnet to send spam and take part
in DDoS (distributed denial of service) assaults and again According to Kaspersky, the effects can hide
keyloggers, which capture your keystrokes without your consent. This makes it easy for cybercriminals to steal
your personal information, such as credit cards or online banking details. Rootkits can allow hackers to use
your computer to launch DDoS attacks or send out spam emails.

5. Keyloggers Virus
- According to MalwareBytes, a particularly insidious type of spyware that can record and steal consecutive
keystrokes (and much more) that the user enters on a device. The term keylogger, or "keystroke logger," is self-
explanatory. Software that logs what you type on your keyboard and According to CrowdStrike, the main
danger of keyloggers is that malicious users can identify and exploit your personal information.
6. Adware Virus
- According to MalwareBytes, a type of malicious software that secretly installs itself on your device and
displays unwanted advertisements and pop-ups. In some cases, adware can even track your online behavior and
display personalized ads. Adware is short for advertising supported software and According to ESET, the
potential danger is to become malicious and harm your device by slowing it down, hijacking your browser and
installing viruses and/or spyware.
7. Spyware Virus
- According to TechTarget, a type of malicious software or malware that is installed on a computing device
without the end user's knowledge. It invades the device, steals sensitive information and internet usage data,
and relays it to advertisers, data firms or external users and According to CISA, the effects of it can capture
keystrokes, screenshots, authentication credentials, personal email addresses, web form data, internet usage
habits, and other personal information.
8. Ransomware Virus
- According to CounterPoint, a malware designed to deny a user or organization access to files on their
computer. By encrypting these files and demanding a ransom payment for the decryption key, cyberattackers
place organizations in a position where paying the ransom is the easiest and cheapest way to regain access to
their files and According to CIS, the potential danger is that risking of losing their files, but may also
experience financial loss due to paying the ransom, lost productivity, IT costs, legal fees, network
modifications, and/or the purchase of credit monitoring services for employees/customers.

EXAMPLES OF SIGNIFICANTS CYBERATTACKS CAUSED BY COMPUTER VIRUSES

1. The Melissa Virus - According to Clear Insurance, one of the earliest and biggest cyber threats came from
the Melissa Virus in 1999 by programmer David Lee Smith. He sent users a file to open via Microsoft Word,
which held a virus. Once opened the virus activated causing severe damage to hundreds of companies,
including Microsoft. It is estimated it will cost $80 million to repair the affected systems.
2. NASA Cyber Attack - According to Clear Insurance, in 1999, 15-year-old James Jonathan hacked and
shutdown NASA’s computers for 21 days! There were around 1.7 million software downloads during the
attack, which cost the space giant around $41,000 in repairs.
3. The 2007 Estonia Ctber Attack - According to Clear Insurance, in April 2007, Estonia witnessed what is
thought to be the first cyber attack on an entire county. Chiefly, it saw around 58 Estonian websites go offline,
including government, bank, and media websites.
4. A Cyber Attack on Sony’s Playstation Network - According to Clear Insurance, a cyber attack on
Sony’s PlayStation Network in April 2011 compromised the personal information of 77 million users.
5. Adobe Cyber Attack - According to Clear Insurance, the Adobe cyber attack was first thought to have
breached the data of 2.9 million users. Moreover, it compromised the personal data of up to 38 million users!
Adobe claims that only the passwords and credit card information of the first 2.9 million users were
compromised, however, the remaining 35.1 million suffered the loss of their passwords and user IDs.
6. The 2014 Cyber Attack on Yahoo - According to Clear Insurance - in 2014, Yahoo was subject to one of
the biggest cyber attacks of the year when 500 million accounts were compromised. During the attack, basic
information and passwords were stolen, whereas bank information was not.
7. Ukraine’s Power Grid Attack -According to Clear Insurance - the Ukraine’s power grid attack in 2015
was the first cyberattack on a power grid. As a result of the attack, around half of the homes in the Ivano-
Frankivsk region of the Ukraine were without power for a few hours.
8. 2017 WannaCry Ransomware Cyber Attack - According to Clear Insurance - one of the biggest
ransomware attacks of all time took place in 2017. Furthermore, it affected around 200,000 computers in over
150 countries. To sum up, the ransomware had a huge impact on several industries with a global cost of around
6 billion pounds to fix.
9. A Cyber Attack on Marriott Hotels - According to Clear Insurance - a cyber attack on the Marriott hotels
and Starwood hotels group went undetected for years, which only came to light in 2018. Thus, by the time they
became aware of the attack, an estimated 339 million guests had their data compromised. Consequently, the
UK’s data privacy watchdog fined the Marriott Hotels 18.4 million pounds.
10. The Biggest Password Leak Yet - According to Clear Insurance - in June 2021, we saw a compilation of
about 8.4 billion passwords leaked in the RockYou2021 attack. In fact, it was the largest breach since the
RockYou site in 2009 which affected 32 million accounts.

THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF COMPUTER VIRUSES ON INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

How can computer virus harm an individual and an organization?
- Some computer viruses are programmed to harm your computer by damaging programs, deleting files,
or reformatting the hard drive. Others simply replicate themselves or flood a network with traffic,
making it impossible to perform any internet activity.
What is the financial impact of computer viruses?
- Even with the best protection available, though, the cost of viruses in the workplace is staggering.
Businesses spend around $55 billion dollars per year dealing with viruses, whether that means cleaning
up an infected PC or paying for new security software and the damages caused by these viruses can be
significant and some estimates are in billions of dollars every year $4.5 billion in households and 55
billion in workplaces and businesses.
Are Viruses Still a Thing?
- Computer viruses have caused financial losses for individuals and organizations alike. From personal
bank accounts being hacked to large corporations losing valuable data or intellectual property. The
damages of these attacks have been devastating and have cost millions of dollars over many years.

THE POTENTIAL FOR COMPUTER VIRUSES TO COMPROMISE PERSONAL DATA AND

PRIVACY

Computer viruses can compromise your system and all the information on your hard drive. This is why it's
helpful to learn about the most common types of computer viruses and this information can help you identify
the best course of action to take, and many viruses can destroy our computer like the 7 common types of viruses
the trojan horse, worms, adware etc. Also, it can affect or hack the datas/personal datas onward.
How to Protect your Computer from Viruses?
There are 8 ways to protect your computer from viruses.
1. Install an Anti-Virus
2. Keep your software update
3. Backup your computer
4. Use a Strong Password
5. Watch the Downloads of your Computer
6. Install an Ad-Block
7. Run a Virus-Scan Often
8. Avoid Suspicous Links

Can Computer Viruses Gather Personal Information?

Criminals work to get malware on your devices so they can steal personal information, like your usernames and
passwords, bank account numbers, or Social Security number. They use this information to commit identity
theft.
 THE IMPACT OF COMPUTER VIRUSES ON THE OVERALL STABILITY AND SECURITY AND
COMPUTER SYSTEM

What are the effects of computer viruses in society?

- A computer virus is a malicious code, or a program written for specific objectives such as altering a
program or spreading itself from one system to another. They are used to cause harm when transferred
to a technological device. A computer virus can be used to steal data or destroy a device.

What is the impact of viruses?

- Viruses are like hijackers. They invade living, normal cells. They then use those cells to multiply (make
copies of themselves). This process is also called replication. The process can kill, damage, or change
the infected cells. Many viruses that can easily make our world unpleasant and unejoyable and can ruin
our lives because there are files that are important to us and ginanon nalang ng virus? shet naman.

THE CHALLENGES IN DETECTING AND REMOVING COMPUTER VIRUSES

- False positives are when your Anti-Virus software incorrectly tags normal, non malicious software as
dangerous. A false positive may not seem like a big deal. However, if the program tags a certain file as
dangerous, your computer can go haywire. There are many challenges in detecting computer viruses and
removing computer viruses like you gonna download “Anti-Virus”. Anti-Virus is a kind of software
used to prevent, scan, detect and delete viruses from a computer. Once installed, most antivirus software
runs automatically in the background to provide real-time protection against virus attacks.

10 TYPES OF ANTI-VIRUS TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER

1. Avast
2. AVG Anti-Virus
3. Bitdefender Total Security
4. Kaspersky
5. McAfee
6. MalwareBytes
7. Norton
8. SecureMAC
9. Trend Micro-Antivirus+ Security
10. Webroot SecureAnywhere

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE IN COMBATING COMPUTER VIRUSES

- While installing anti-virus software is one of the easiest and most effective ways to protect your
computer, it has its limitations. Because it relies on signatures, anti-virus software can only detect
malware that has known characteristics. It is important to keep these signatures up to date. No single
antivirus solution is 100% effective at detecting and removing malware, but it's still effective for the
most part. Scanning for known malware has little value when you encounter new, unknown malware, so
many antivirus products now have sophisticated features that can detect unseen threats.

THE OF COMPUTER VIRUSES IN SPREADING MISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA

- Fake news may seem new, but the platform used is the only new thing about it. Propaganda has been
around for centuries, and the internet is only the latest means of communication to be abused to spread
lies and misinformation.