Protection, hacking – these terms come hand in hand to either scare or placate consumers or users. It’s always the same old story: a virus went viral, and then this anti-virus comes to the rescue. Hence, it shouldn’t come as surprising to theorize that the source of virus are these antidote-makers.
Just flip your newspaper, or click on some tech news. News authorities had been circling like vultures over the hacking on Apple employees’ Mac computers. And the pinpointed culprit – the Asian power, China.
What do you get from this sort of news?
Apart from either passivity or panic, news readers get a plethora of questions. In the name of fact finding and information upgrading, these questions were compiled, four of which sits below this section:
What kinds of viruses are there?
If you’d type ‘kinds of viruses’ in your preferred search engine, and take time browsing each, you’d likely observe that no one site or techie agree in the number of kinds there is for computer viruses. This lack of consensus is due to the fact that the judgement of the virus’ impact on computers is relatively subject to these differing techies.
However, the general kinds recognized for almost every classification are the following: boot sector virus, macro virus, multipartite virus, and polymorphic virus. The rest of the virus types juggle between one name and function. For beginners, it is worth pointing out that names of these viruses are automatically associated with the type of virus attacks it initiates.
For instance, a multipartite virus refers to a virus that is able to carry multiple virus characteristics, attributes, and attacks. This type is the opposite of the rest of computer virus that relies in one method of attacking. Another interesting name is the polymorphic virus; this type is described as an ever “mutating” virus – hence, its name polymorphic (poly = Greek for many and morphe = forms).
Are hackers categorized too?
Yes, hackers are slipped into categories too. The major types consist of the white hat, grey hat, and black hat, while its derivatives may also include hacktivists and cyberterrorists. Of these kinds, the most news-spotlighted ones are these hacktivists whose favorite targets are government websites.
A DIY Question: c) How could you protect your PC and online accounts against hacking?
Protection starts with the medium used – the computer. Moreover, a good bulk of protection consists of simple safety measures that aren’t so different with protecting your house or your property. First, you would have to know what part of your PC is susceptible to hacker attacks – is it the data, the applications, software, et cetera.
Next, work on providing protective shields per identified hacker target. For instance, if it’s your data, you are advised to create a backup, seal it with passwords, and arrange its security settings. After putting up protection for these specific targets, adopt an umbrella shield that will cover as much as it can (firewall, antivirus applications). Part of maintaining the teeth of this shield is regular updates.
And the best tip is…
To educate yourself – from the makings of your computers, its hardware, software, and what is inherently harmful for it. This education is made possible by reading books, or manuals; checking online blogs (which are non-techie friendly); visiting tech company sites; looking at tech product reviews; and getting updated about tech issues and news.
And if none of this is enough, take short or online courses that cover the basics and advanced areas of computer use and protection. Look at your local institutions: do they offer courses regarding all these tech stuff?
All this is imperative in making your tech-life smooth and easy. Moreover, enriching your tech-knowledge is an investment you put up whenever you decide to purchase and use tech gadgets, products, or services. As technology gets more advanced, so are risks; don’t wait to be the next victim of computer hacking.
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