A virus (Latin, poison) is a submicroscopic particle that can infect the cells of a biological organism. At the most basic level viruses consist of genetic material contained within a protective protein shell called a capsid, which distinguishes them from other virus-like particles such as prions and viroids. The study of viruses is known as virology, and those who study viruses are called virologists.
Viruses are similar to obligate intracellular parasites as they lack the means for self-reproduction outside a host cell, but unlike parasites, which are living organisms, viruses are not truly alive. They infect a wide variety of organisms, both eukaryotes (such as animals and plants) and prokaryotes (such as bacteria). A virus infecting bacteria is known as a bacteriophage, which is used mainly in its shortened form phage.
How Wall Street Can Mitigate Financial Fraud Using Biometric Authentication Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:23:24 -0400
Risk control procedures are not enough to mitigate fraud on Wall Street. The current financial meltdown provides evidence that many banks and financial institutions have failed to change systems and people in order to mitigate fraud and to comply with regulations and standards. Biometric authentication is a reliable solution for preventing security breaches. Knowledge Center contributors Paul Foote and Reena Hora explain why the financial industry needs to supplement its internal controls compliance with biometric authentication. - Daily, trillions of dollars are transferred worldwide in funds and securities through financial systems. The magnitude of this exposes the financial institutions and their customers to a very high risk of deliberate and accidental fraud. Many government and industry regulations and standards such as... eWeek Newsbreak, Oct. 6, 2008 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:29:25 -0400
Could it be true? Did Apple really drop their non-disclosure agreement for released iPhone software? Ashley explains what Apple's decision could mean to you and the applications you use. The Chinese government is monitoring the conversations of Skype users, scanning all communications for sensitive keywords including Taiwan Freedom, Communist Party and Voice of America. The data, including users personal information is then being stored in publicly accessible servers. Google's energy team is out to save the planet. They've put out a proposal outlining how the U.S. could cut back on energy consumption and develop green industries to create new jobs. Toshiba is looking to use its Super Charge Ion battery to help extend the life of your lap top. The innovative battery gets a 90-percent charge in just ten minutes. And finally, although not in production, Lamborghini showed off its four door concept car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. - Video Content.... Google, Yahoo Delay Search Ad Partnership Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:21:13 -0400
The Google-Yahoo deal announced in June to share advertising was widely seen as an effort to help fend off Microsoft's efforts to acquire Yahoo, by bringing Yahoo an additional $800 million in annual revenues. - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc and Yahoo Inc have decided to delay implementing a controversial search advertising partnership, Yahoo said on Friday.
quot;The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the [U.S.] Department of ... IBM is Closer to Building Bluehouse to Compete With Cisco, Google, Microsoft Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:19:48 -0400
IBM opens a beta for Bluehouse, the company's SAAS social networking and collaboration platform. The offering will compete with cloud computing solutions from Google, Microsoft and Cisco at a time when messaging and collaboration platforms are moving into the Web. - Update: IBM continues to drive the unified communications and collaboration bus, speeding closer along the road to Bluehouse, the company's SAAS (software as a service) social networking and collaboration software for businesses.
When IBM introduced Bluehouse last January at its annual Lotusphere ... DRAM Storage Chip Makers Face Credit and Supply Challenges: iSuppli Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:18:40 -0400
DRAM storage chip suppliers Samsung, Elpida Memory and Powerchip Semiconductor face tougher challenges in servicing debts and financing capital expenditure as banks become more cash-strapped under the Wall Street financial crisis and global credit crunch, according to iSuppli. iSuppli cut its near-term market rating on dynamic random access memory (DRAM) storage chips used mainly in personal computers to negative from neutral. DRAM storage chip maker Samsung Electronics is the only chip maker not suffering losses. - SEOUL (Reuters) - DRAM suppliers face tougher challenges in
servicing debts and financing capital expenditure as banks become more
cash-strapped under the global credit crunch, research firm iSuppli
said.
quot;Even with the expected intervention by the U.S. government, this
crisis means the co... eBay to Lay Off 10 Percent of Employees, Acquire Bill Me Later Payments and Craigslist Competitor Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:09:13 -0400
The eBay online auction site will pay $1.3 billion to buy the Bill Me Later online payments service to add to its PayPal division and Den Bla Avis and BilBasen, a Craigslist-like online classified service. eBay will also lay off 10 percent of its work force and sees third-quarter revenue hitting the low end of its forecast. eBay said the job cuts would affect about 1,000 employees and several hundred temporary workers. The reduction is expected to incur restructuring charges of about $70 million to $80 million, mostly in the fourth quarter. - NEW YORK (Reuters) - EBay Inc plans to cut its work force 10 percent
and sees third-quarter revenue hitting the low end of its forecast,
though profit will exceed expectations, the online auction Web site
said on Monday.
EBay also said it would spend more than $1.3 billion to buy
companies that...
The Seattle Times: Business & Technology
Countrywide suit settled; homeowners to get aid Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:19:36 -0700 More than 10,000 Washington state homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure will get help with their mortgages as part of a record $8.4 billion settlement between Countrywide Financial and officials in 11 states. Ballmer went to Europe bearing good tidings Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:29:03 -0700 The last time the economy plunged into darkness, Microsoft broke free from the shackles of its U.S. antitrust case. That Web 2.0? We are so over that Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:32:50 -0700 As much as economic bubbles keep bursting all about us these days, it seems only a matter of time before the same happens to the ultrahip Web 2.0 phenomenon.
NYT > Technology
The Future of Reading: Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:03:09 -0000 Publishers, authors and even libraries are embracing video games to promote books to young readers.
Dawn of Low-Price Mapping Could Broaden DNA Uses Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:10:47 -0000 A start-up company called Complete Genomics says it will start charging $5,000 next year to determine a person’s complete genetic blueprint.
EBay Cuts 10% of Work Force Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:33:00 -0000 The move to cut about 1,000 jobs is an attempt by eBay to improve the performance of its core marketplace division, which has seen declining growth in the last few years.
CNN.com - Technology
An eco-friendly way to cool big trucks Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:35:43 -0400 More than 7 percent of the U.S.'s daily oil consumption is attributed to heavy-duty truck idling, according to estimates. Many truckers, while resting at truck stops, idle their engines in hot weather to cool their cabs. But now a company has developed an eco-friendly cooling device that works with the engine off.
How to measure your 'water footprint' Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:47:50 -0400 Most people by now will be familiar with the term 'carbon footprint' and may even have calculated it themselves, but how many are familiar with their 'water footprint'?
Report: 1 in 4 mammals at risk of extinction Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:37:19 -0400 Read full story for latest details.
NPR Topics: Technology
New Solar Cell Easy As Pizza To Make Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:16:00 -0400 The iJET is a new type of solar cell that's cheap and easy to make, requiring not much more than a pizza oven, some nail polish remover, and a common inkjet printer. Australian scientist Nicole Kuepper describes her invention. SpaceX Celebrates First Successful Rocket Launch Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:53:00 -0400 SpaceX's flagship Falcon1 rocket has successfully launched from an island in the central Pacific, becoming the first privately-developed rocket to orbit the planet. NASA has already contracted SpaceX to begin private space flight missions to the International Space Station beginning in 2010. Northeast States Trade Carbon Emission Credits Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:46:00 -0400 A consortium of Northeast states has completed the first cap-and-trade greenhouse gas auction in the U.S. Under cap-and-trade, limits are set on emissions. Companies that do not use up their quota of emissions are able to sell their excess emission capacity to other companies.
BBC News | Technology | UK Edition
Europeans sought over hack attack Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:10:44 -0000 The FBI is seeking a British man and his German accomplice over attacks on web shops selling satellite TV equipment. China 'spying on Skype messages' Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:38:32 -0000 Chinese officials are censoring messages sent through the internet service Skype, Canadian researchers say. Music stars unite to seek control Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:30:43 -0000 Acts including Robbie Williams and Radiohead join a coalition to try to gain ownership and control of their music from record labels.
Reuters Video: Technology
Shazam enters new era Sun, 05 Oct 2008 20:22:20 -0400 Oct 6 - The mobile music discovery service has seen a surge of new users after broadening its offering to work seamlessly with social networks.
Solar clothes Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:30:01 -0400 Oct. 3 - Argentine designer looks to the future by creating solar-powered clothing.
Ring ring, bling bling Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:21:52 -0400 Oct. 3 - Ring ring, bling bling; NIntendo's latest player, 3D reality, and a hybrid motorbike.
AP Top Technology News At 10:54 a.m. EDT
EBay to cut 1,000 jobs, will buy Bill Me Later Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:04:15 -0000 SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- EBay Inc., which still reaps big profits but has been struggling to attract new users, said Monday it will cut about 1,000 jobs in an attempt to streamline its business. The cuts amount to 10 percent of eBay's work force.... Ask.com hopes to make search faster, more relevant By RACHEL METZ Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:15:38 -0000 NEW YORK (AP) -- Assuming your company's name isn't a verb synonymous with looking things up online, how do you get Web surfers to not just try your search engine, but also frequent it?... Fraud plagues prepaid calling card market By JOELLE TESSLER Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:54:15 -0000 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rosalba Posada can tick off a list of problems she has encountered trying to use prepaid calling cards to stay in touch with family back in Colombia....
CNET News.com
Suit against magazine-sharing site settled Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:04:00 -0700 The magazine-sharing site Mygazines.com is removing much of its copyrighted content after reaching a settlement in a suit filed by magazine publishers. GigaOm's tech blogs pull in $4.5 million Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:02:00 -0700 Alloy Ventures leads Giga Omni Media's third round of funding, which was planned both as a means for growth and a safeguard against economic troubles. Two Europeans indicted over U.S. cyberattacks Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:01:08 -0700 A 24-year-old from England and a 25-year-old from Germany face conspiracy and computer damage charges related to a large-scale DDoS attack resulting in major financial losses.
McAfee Virus Information - Virus alerts, mailing list, and searchable descriptions of common viruses.
Meta Description: [ McAfee offers virus protection, internet security software, personal computer updates, hacker protection and anti-virus downloads. ]
Antivirus World - Antivirus news, information, online tests, and useful downloads.
Meta Description: [ AntivirusWorld - Antivirus news, removal tools, fix instructions, how to delete viruses ]
AskMen.com - How To: Keep Your Computer Virus-Free - Article with basic advice on virus prevention, and a primer on computer virus terminology.
Meta Description: [ Computer Viruses- Protect computer against viruses ]
Burton Systems Software - Virus Avoidance Advice - Advice for avoiding and recovering from computer virus infections, mostly for users of Microsoft Windows. Includes links to many free tools and other resources.
Meta Description: [ Dave Burton's Virus Avoidance Advice ]
BusinessWeek Online - Mydoom's Most Damning Dynamic - Points out that Mydoom was so damaging only because so many individual net users were so unprotected despite education efforts that apparently do not have any significant effect on user behavior.
Meta Description: [ As a virus, it's a me-too uncreative piece of work. It's so damaging only because so many individual Net users are still so unprotected ]
CIAC Virus Database - No longer actively maintained. Detailed information on a number of older computer viruses, particularly for more obscure platforms.
Computer Associates Virus Information Center - Virus information from makers of e-Trust Antivirus (formerly known as InoculateIT).
Meta Description: [ The Virus Information Center serves as a rich, up-to-the-minute resource, containing detailed information on viruses, worms, Trojans, and hoaxes, as well as valuable documentation on the implementation of comprehensive antivirus protection. CA’s eTrust Threat Analysis and Response Global Emerge... ]
Computer Virus Myths - The canonical reference for computer virus myths, hoaxes, and urban legends.
Meta Description: [ Learn about computer virus myths, hoaxes, urban legends, and the implications if you believe in them. You can also search a list of computer virus hoaxes from A to Z. ]
Computer Viruses In Unix Networks - Paper which examines in detail the problem of computer viruses as they relate to Unix and Unix-like systems.
davebauer.net - Avoiding Viruses - Information to help computer users learn how to protect computers from viruses and hackers.
Meta Description: [ Plain English description of how viruses work, how they exploit weaknesses in your computer, and how you can easily correct those exploits. Also learn how viruses spread, how they count on you, the user, to help them spread. You will learn how to recognize potential viruses and avoid them. Person... ]
EICAR test file - Provides a standardized test file for signature based virus detection software. This file can be used to verify the correct operation of antivirus software without unnecessary exposure to viruses.
European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research (EICAR) - Combines universities, industry, media, technical, security, and legal experts from civil and military government and law enforcement as well as privacy protection organizations whose objectives are to unite non-commercial efforts against writing and proliferation of malicious code like computer viruses or Trojan Horses, and against computer crime and fraud.
Meta Description: [ eicar combines universities, industry and media plus technical, security and legal experts from civil and military government and law enforcement as well as privacy protection organisations whose objectives are to unite non-commercial efforts against writing and proliferation of malicious code li... ]
Examples of Malicious Computer Programs - Long essay that describes harm done by major computer viruses or worms, and discusses the nonexistent or lenient punishment for the authors or distributors of these malicious programs.
Meta Description: [ details of attacks by computer viruses
and worms, and the legal consequences ]
F-Secure Virus Information Centre - A searchable database of virus descriptions, from the provider of F-Secure range of anti-virus software.
Fire Antivirus Kit - Virus Information Library - Provides detailed information on viruses
Meta Description: [ Many new and altered viruses being discovered every day, you need accurate, up-to-date information at your fingertips. New virus information is added to Virus Information Library to ensure that the most recent information is always available instantly! ]
How Stuff Works: Computer Virus - Multipart tutorial describes how computer viruses work.
Meta Description: [ Computer viruses range from pesky to outright dangerous. Clicking on what looks like a harmless e-mail message can lead to hours of recovery efforts, if not irreparable damage. Learn about computer viruses. ]
IBM's Antivirus Research - News and information about virus prevention, the latest in IBM's research, virus alerts, and lists of the latest hoaxes and hype.
Meta Description: [ Antivirus Research ]
Lets have fun with EICAR - Article showing how to test the effectiveness of anti-virus heuristics using modifications of the EICAR test file.
OpenAntiVirus Project - Project aimed at developing open source antivirus software comparable to current commercial offerings.
Meta Description: [ Home of the OpenAntiVirus Project ]
Panda Software Virus Laboratory - Up to date and in-depth descriptions of the most common viruses by Panda Software, makers of Panda Antivirus Platinum.
Personal Home page - Ferrie, Peter - Various research papers on computer viruses
Meta Description: [ This site provides articles and papers on computer viruses and anti-virus research. ]
Personal Home Page - Harrold, Robert - Massive collection of antivirus links and news.
Meta Description: [ Free AntiVirus Checks Online & Security Downloads and News ]
Personal Home Page - Szor, Peter - Research papers on computer viruses written by Peter Szor. The site covers Windows viruses and worms and the development of polymorphic and metamorphic viruses.
Secunia - Virus Information - Collects virus information from multiple anti-virus vendors, and the collected information is grouped and indexed. When certain conditions are met virus alerts are generated and can be emailed.
Meta Description: [ Secunia - Virus Information ]
Sophos Virus Analyses - This Sophos database holds the latest virus names and descriptions.
Meta Description: [ We have compiled threat analyses of some of the most common or interesting viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms, adware and PUAs detected by our products. ]
Team Anti-Virus - An organization for independent anti-virus researchers to facilitate communication, collaboration, and public education. Publishs and links to many papers written by independent researchers.
Meta Description: [ Reporting Computer Viruses and learning to fight them ]
500TestVirus.org - Tool to automatically send EICAR test files in various formats to a given email address.
The Art Of Noh - A weblog on computer security, viruses, worms, trojans and other types of malicious software by Costin G. Raiu.
Trend Virus Encyclopedia - Trend Micro issues regular advisories regarding new viruses, including a guide to avoiding them in the first place. Site covers risk factor of the newest viruses. lists top ten virus and offers a security alert archive.
Virus Bulletin - News and technical articles on developments on viruses and anti-virus products.
Meta Description: [ Independent malware journal and website with advice, reviews and tutorials ]
Virus Bulletin - Independent Anti-virus Advice - Independent anti-virus journal and website with advice, reviews and tutorials
Meta Description: [ Independent malware journal and website with advice, reviews and tutorials ]
Virus Information Library and Search - Database of viruses for research and informational purposes
Meta Description: [ VirusLibrary - Virus Information Library and Search ]
Virus or Hoax? - Created to provide basic information about viruses. Links to major anti-virus companies, public services, software downloads, and updates.
Meta Description: [ 'Virus or Hoax' provides you with everything you always wanted to know about viruses, but where afraid to ask. Freeware, Removal Tools & instructions, links to all major AV companies & Public Services, Hoaxes, Worms, Trojans Horses, Archive,.... ]
VirusList.com - Permanently replenishing information about new viruses. Mechanisms of breeding and operation, detailed analysis of algorithms of viruses. Methods to guard against computer viruses.
Windows Startup Tasks - Massive listing of tasks that may be running on a Windows system at startup, including tasks which may be created by viruses, worms, spyware, and trojans
This tutorial will show you how to make a non-destructive prank that will make someone think they have a virus on their ...