Introduction v Teme hospital
Introduction
v Teme hospital
v I have currently been using the hospital desktop computers for recording patient’s data as well as for making my communications with staffs as well as other stakeholders.
v A desktop computer is one of the most recognized and widely used computer systems.
v A desktop is a combination of hardware’s as well as softwares.
v The computer is permanently sited on a desk as its design cannot allow it to be easily portable.
v Some common components of a desktop includes system unit that has the main memory and the computer processor, a monitor, keyboard, mouse floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, CD/DVD drive and speakers.
Cyber threats that may affect a desktop
v Every computing device is prone to compromises, and a desktop computer is not an exemption.
v Considering our environment, patient’s data are very crucial. Additionally, our organization’s critical information, such as financial records and employee’s record is essential.
v Cyber attack has been a common challenge in the healthcare industry, and as teme hospital, we are not exempted to such threats.
v Apart from physical threats that we have worked so hard to mitigate, the internet-based warning is severe.
v If we do not investigate and put measures to reduce the treats, we may end up losing our reputation as well as our customer loyalty and may end up closing the hospital.
v several threats affect a computer system that may lead to data loss.
Computer virus
v A computer virus is malicious software that is used by cybercriminals to piggyback on a legitimate computer application for purposes of reproducing itself.
v Similar to other malwares, a virus is deployed by a cybercriminal to destroy as well as take control over your desktop or any other device.
v A virus cannot be able to reproduce by itself, and hence it must hijack a cell to attain its target.
v A computer virus is injected in a legitimate application, and when the user runs the application, the virus code is executed.
v A computer virus has a disgusting feature in that it must infect a program for it to run.
v Other types of malware that behave like a virus are Trojan and the worms.
What a virus does
v After the infection has been injected in your computer, and the user runs the virus code when he runs the application.
v The virus code is then loaded to the central processing unit memory before any of the legal systems has been executed.
v After which the virus starts to multiply and infects other valid application in the hosts desktop.
v The boot sector virus places the code at the boot sector of the desktop system disk.
v The virus ensures that the code will be first executed before the operating system loads.
- As a result, the computer starts running in an unusual way which may alter the operations of the user.
v After which the virus executes its payload which is mandated to conduct the compromises which include deleting some files.
v Additionally, the virus can turn the desktop into a zombie and use that feature to launch a distributed denial-of-service attack and encrypt other information.
How virus spread
v In the pre-internet days, computer viruses used to spread from one desktop to the other through infected disks.
v Currently, computer viruses are rapidly spread via the internet.
v Mostly, the applications that have been affected by the virus are spread from one computer to the other.
v This has been enhanced as most viruses operate under a logic bomb whereby they only get executed at a set time or under specific conditions.
v Some viruses’ hijacks the computer mail software and make copies of files and then send to the hacker’s target mails.
v Virus can also be gotten from applications that have been downloaded from a compromised application store.
v Once the user receives a malicious mail and downloads the attachment, if firewalls do not protect the computer, the machine will get infected by the virus.
Types of computer viruses
v There are several types of computer viruses that are used by hackers to attack a computer.
v The viruses include resident and non-resident virus, boot sector virus and web scripting virus.
v A macro virus is a virus that infects a macro application that is embedded in pdf files as well as Microsoft Office documents.
v On the other hand, a polymorphic virus is very tricky as it changes its source code once it infects a new document or application.
v This feature helps these types of viruses to avoid detection by anti-virus softwares.
Computer virus protection
v Computer anti-virus software is the commonly known software that is used by users to protect their computers from viruses.
v An anti-virus is not a 100% protection against viruses. As when it comes to a more advanced corporate network, endpoint securities offer a more effective solution.
v Endpoint security not only provides a signature-based detection but instead they offer other solutions such as anti-spyware, crowd strike, carbon black and personal firewalls.
v One good thing about viruses is that they take advantage of vulnerabilities that a person may have in his computer’s operating system.
v If computer operating systems in the desktop have no loopholes, a virus cannot take control of the desktop regardless of it being executed.
v Hence, there is a need to regularly patch as well as upgrade your operating system to avoid vulnerabilities that hackers are using to run their virus codes.
Computer virus symptoms
v, Contrary to ransomware, a virus is not keen on giving signs that it has compromised your computer.
v Similarly to a biological virus, a computer virus always aims at maintaining the life of the host-virus so as it can keep on reproducing.
v Although a computer virus doesn’t offer clear alerts, there are several symptoms from the desktop that can indicate you have been compromised.
v Usually when viruses have infected a desktop, the performance is very slow, and it takes time to complete a single task.
v A desktop or any other computing device that has been compromised by viruses experiences a series of crashes.
v Additionally, a compromised computer has several unfamiliar programs that start after the network has begun.
v Moreover, computers that have been compromised keeps on sending mass emails from the user’s email.
v Finally, you may find your computer homepage has changed, and the password has also been changed…