Virus writers use social engineering and exploit detailed knowledge of security vulnerabilities to gain access to their hosts computing resources. Motives for creating viruses can include seeking profit, desire to send a political message, personal amusement, to demonstrate that a vulnerability exists in software, for sabotage and denial of service, or simply because they wish to explore artificial life and evolutionary algorithms. Not all viruses carry a destructive payload or attempt to hide themselves—the defining characteristic of viruses is that they are self-replicating computer programs which install themselves without the users consent.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 14:31:56 +0000