The New Virus Threat Quiz | Computers

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The first known computer virus was written in 1981 and was a forewarning of things to come. It was called 'Elk Cloner' and displayed a little rhyme on the screen, delivered by the floppy disks that contained the operating system. What type of computer was affected?

Answer: Apple II

A 15 year-old High School student, Richard Skrenta, wrote Elk Cloner. When the Apple II was booted from an infected floppy disk it would display a short poem; "It will get on all your disks-It will infiltrate your chips-Yes it's Cloner! -It will stick to you like glue-It will modify ram too-Send in the Cloner!"

2. 1991 saw the 'Tequila' virus outbreak. It was the first virus that could change its signature (binary pattern) with each new replication in an attempt to escape detection from antivirus software. What's the term for this type of virus?

Answer: Polymorphic

Scanning for known viruses was relatively easy, as the scanners looked for certain byte patterns in executable files. Polymorphic viruses encode each replication with a different encryption routine making them near impossible to locate using this method. Antivirus companies had to get smarter and began to use algorithms to find the core viruses.

3. Which of the following applications would a macro virus most likely infect?

Answer: Microsoft Excel

Macro viruses are most commonly delivered by email and infect applications like spreadsheets and word processors. They trigger when the application is started and may automatically insert text while you're typing a line. More advanced (and sinister) macro viruses include 'Love letter' and 'Melissa' which alter the system registry and attack Outlook, forwarding themselves to recipients in the address book. 'Melissa' caused Microsoft Corp. to shut down its incoming email.

4. This self-replicating virus takes control of features on your computer that can transport files or information automatically. Most commonly they send out copies of themselves using your email address book. They can also open a backdoor into your computer for spammers and hackers. What's the generic term for this type of virus?

Answer: Worm

In this sinister world of deceitful computer advertising, spammers pay programmers for the creation of worms to give them backdoor access to your computer and often a list of accurate IP addresses. Worms attacking email address books can spread through the world like wild fire, crashing even the most secure servers.

The name 'worm' appeared in the 1970 movie 'Shockwave Rider' to describe a program that propagates itself through a computer network.

5. This sometimes malicious, irritating virus appears disguised as a gift, offer or update, with the sole intention to deceive you into approving its install. When the victim accepts the gift, a program is installed on your PC, which can then attack your files or alter configurations. Spyware falls under the banner of this pest. What's the generic term for this virus?

Answer: Trojan

Just like the Trojan Horse at Troy, things are not what they seem. New breeds of Trojans are extremely annoying and dangerous. They hijack your browser, bed themselves in your system memory and are near impossible to get rid of without a complete reformat.

The devastating trojan 'My Doom' in 2004 (delivered via worm) bought many servers to a stand still. File sharing programs such as Kazaa are common spreading grounds for Trojans, in fact you agree to accept their own spyware when you install their software, and sweeping out their Trojans will render the PTP software useless.

6. A famous virus was unleashed in 1991 and the resulting media frenzy put computer users into a panic (not to mention putting antivirus programs on the retail shelves). It was called 'Michelangelo' because it activated on the Renaissance painter's birth date of March 6th. What did this virus do?

Answer: Erased the hard drive

Michelangelo, the first media darling virus, had journalists in a frenzy creating a picture of doom and destruction to all personal computer users. "Up to 10,000,000 computers will be erased on March the 6th!" Actually, very little happened. It's estimated that less than 10,000 PCs were actually affected.

The media hype did scare users into buying AV programs to protect their computers before March 6 arrived, and perhaps this did dramatically reduce the victims of Michelangelo.

7. This 2001 virus was the first to use social engineering to lure in the victim. It spread rapidly by masquerading as a digital picture of a celebrity and was named after the file supposedly on offer. What was this virus called?

Answer: Anna Kournikova

Millions of people could not resist the temptation of a free picture of the beautiful tennis star Anna Kournikova, but they got more than they bargained for. It spread in the same manner as earlier viruses 'Melissa,' 'Love Letter' and 'I Love You,' by executing a macro in a document, which attached itself to Outlook.

8. This widespread 2004 virus utilised a vulnerability in Windows and spread through an open FTP port. It replicated by randomly targeting IP addresses. What's the common name for this virus?

Answer: Sasser

Sasser was the first mass spread worm virus that didn't need to utilise email for delivery. Victims blamed Microsoft for the Windows vulnerability, but in fact Microsoft had previously issued warnings about the potential danger and had issued security updates, which were free to download. Globally, Sasser's effects were devastating.

It grounded aircraft, blocked satellite communications and closed down banks. In May 2004, an 18 year-old German computer science student was arrested for authoring the virus.

9. "Look out, it's airborne!" OK, that's not a great analogy, but like its real-life counterpart, any single computer virus can come in many strains and can morph into an even more dangerous infection. Is it true that by 2004 there were close to 70,000 known computer viruses?

Answer: Yes

As I write this info at 9am on the 27th August 2004, there are 67,994 known computer viruses on the Symantec website. Many people buy antivirus programs to protect their computer but do not update them regularly to protect against new strains and new viruses. With most of the world online now, email worms and Trojans can circle the globe in minutes, infecting even the most secure network or PC. Give yourself every chance of preventing a virus by keeping your software updated.

10. Nowadays, the target audience for virus authors is enormous with tens of millions of home and office PC's all networked together by the Internet. Fortunately we can protect ourselves against the majority of these attacks by running up-to-date antivirus software. Which of these major software publishers DOESN'T produce antivirus software?

Answer: Corel

The computer virus threat is big business for antivirus companies. Symantec alone spends millions of dollars annually to predict the next virus threat, forewarn their subscribers, and create fixes, patches and blocks for recently discovered strains, all within minutes of an outbreak! With our worlds run by computers the virus threat is enormous. Banking, telephone, transport, electricity supply, supermarket transactions, writing quizzes on FT and even calling a taxi, all could come crashing down without relevant protection. We also need improved laws to persecute the cyber terrorists that seek to disrupt our modern way of living. Thanks for playing!

Source: Author Bertho

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The New Virus Threat Trivia Quiz

One hundred years ago it was smallpox. Recently it was AIDS. In the age of technology there's a new virus that threatens our way of life. This quiz looks at computer virus history and some famous viruses that have plagued and panicked the computer world.

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