The Origins of Antivirus Tools

In 1991, Symantec released the first version of Norton AntiVirus. Norton was a popular brand name among computer technophiles from the well-known and successful Norton Utilities program. Programs like Norton AntiVirus are designed to find and eliminate viruses from a computer, usually with three goals in mind:

_ Make the virus stop doing harm to the computer it has infected

_ Stop the spread of the virus

_ Limit any further harm the virus can do

The People Who Write Viruses

Sometimes I think that it helps to understand a little bit more about the people who perpetrate crimes, in order to be able to avoid being a victim of those crimes. Others of you may just have a morbid curiosity about those who like to hurt other people. Either way, you’ll learn a little more about the people who construct the malicious programs that cause billions of dollars of damage each year.

Why they write ’em

The actual crime of writing and distributing viruses is a crime of anonymity: The perpetrators usually carry out their crimes anonymously, from the safety of their rooms. They expect never to meet their victims face to face — in fact, they rarely know who their victims are.

How Early Viruses Spread from Computer to Computer

In the mid-to-late 1980s, data was most often transferred from computer to computer by using floppy disks and so-called bulletin board systems (BBSs), managed online locations that were the forerunners of today’s Web sites.

Stowing away on floppy disks

Even without using the Internet, people in offices where PCs were used traded and circulated programs, documents, and spreadsheets — not to mention jokes, games, filthy pictures, and so forth. The standard method was sneaker net — walking up to another person and handing over a floppy disk.