Computer viruses are the nemesis of the computer age. Viruses are known globally for the havoc they wreck on different users, destroying important files and documents. Let us know more detail about ‘Can Your Computer Become Infected With A Virus Via E-mail?’.
Can Your Computer Become Infected With A Virus Via E-mail?
A computer virus in itself is a computer program. A virus is usually a written program when executed can override the function of existing programs and insert its code, run its program script, and changes the normal functioning of existing programs. Similiar to the biologically existing viruses, computer virus is known to spread in different ways, but a lot of people have asked if emails can be a source of their transference. Well, let’s find out.
Can Computers Become Infected With A Virus Via Email?
The short answer to this is yes. Emails are one of the popular ways viruses can spread into a computer system. Hackers and other fraudulent individuals usually send an email containing harmful links and other file attachments which when clicked on, can infect a computer system with a virus.
Email Virus
An email virus comes through an email. They refer to malicious content embedded in emails with the primary aim of infecting a device or network system. In other words, any infectious program or code is sent via email.
These malicious programs are known to affect devices in a plethora of ways, but three popular methods are noted as how they gain access to operating in terms of affecting a person’s computer.
One such way is through email attachments. In different file types, these viruses are hidden and sent in accompanying emails. And when clicked, these viruses can gain access. Another form of invasion is by being embedded in the body and content of emails. Also, through phishing emails.
Email Viruses can carry out devastating activities. Some of the havoc caused by this virus type includes,
- Crashing the total computer device
- Pop-ups and unsolicited ads
- Sending emails from the users’ inbox
- Provides access for attackers to the user’s files
- They can also be programmed to steal important data and other information of the user.
Thankfully there are known ways to remedy the effects of a computer or email virus, ensuring that user data and the device can be salvaged.
How to Prevent Computer Virus?: Can Your Computer Become Infected With A Virus Via E-mail?
Safety usually begins with the user. Email security is a priority of the user and their interaction with these emails. Regardless of the purpose and frequency of use of the internet and a network system, ensuring that you are security conscious is the first step in preventing harm and virus from unknown sources. Some of the known ways of preventing these viruses include;
- Inspect the data source: Who is the sender of the email and what connection does he have with the company or individual? It is important to inspect the email address, does it seem familiar? Or from someone you already know? Make sure you do not fall victim to misspelt addresses. Attackers try to deceive people by using email addresses that are wrongly spelt or adding an extra character to popular sites to make them seem accurate. Ensure that proper inspection is carried out on sender emails before they are opened.
- Update the company’s website safety protocols: Another important step to carry out in preventing attacks from malicious sites and attackers, is to consistently improve and update the network protocol. For workers, ensure to familiarize yourself with the existing network procedures of the organisation to guide against these harmful infections of viruses.
- Trusted Antivirus: Antiviruses are essential must-haves to guard against computer infection. These products have been provided to ensure that a person’s workspace — devices — are kept safe and guarded. They protect computers from any harm liable by carrying out regular scans and blocking out malware altogether.
- Scan Email Attachments: This is a regular practice that must be worked into a habit and daily practice. Ensure that for every file sent to your device, a scan is carried out to ascertain the safety of the file before they are clicked on. Suspicious mail must run through these scans to guard against any malware.
- Avoid pop-up advertisements: One rule of thumb for safety, is to avoid pop-ups. Most browsers and devices come with the enablement to block these ads. It is advised that individuals take advantage of these provisions and disable pop-ups from accessing their devices because most of them are easily linked to malware and viruses.
How Do I Know When My Computer Has Been Infected?
The effects of computer viruses on a device are easy to spot. They are usually programs running against the normal flow of processes within any infected computer. However, some of these symptoms can go unnoticed, therefore, it is important to know what exactly to look for when trying to discover these viruses. Some common signs are listed below.
Self-executing Programs: A very common sign that a device has been infected is when several programs begin to run tasks and operations unassisted. One common such sign is the constant crashing and shutting down of programs. Also, applications refusing to load is another indication of an infected program.
Reduced Speed: Reduced speed of a computer system can be caused by many things, however, one such cause, is infection with viruses. Viruses affect the speed of the system, its applications and even the internet speed. Once a computer has good enough space and has no CPU-draining application running, but still ends up being slow, that is an indication of an infected computer system.
Missing files: Another operation of a computer virus is its ability to hide files. When a computer has been infected, some or all of the files in that computer will most times be hidden from access or completely wiped off the device.
Incessant Pop-up Windows: When pop-ups randomly begin to show up on a computer or web browser this is an indication that a virus is at work.
Types of Viruses
Viruses are a plethora in number. They have different types and modes of operation. Let’s look at some of the different types of known computer viruses;
- Browser Hijacker: These are specific to computer web browsers. A hijacker changes the configuration of a web browser, making awkward changes to settings and in most cases, causing repeated crashes. These viruses, although they do not infect files, can adversely hamper the browsing process. Settings like, home pages, tab openings and other operations can be hijacked and corrupted.
- Network Virus: A network virus can damage a computer system. These virus types can be hidden in a network connected to and use these means to inject themselves into a computer device leading to crippling effects. They can also be replicated through simple file sharing or network sharing. The only way to prevent these infections is by using advanced firewalls and network security protocols.
- Multipartite Virus: Just as their names suggest, they have multiple infection methods and spread very quickly within a computer system. One point these viruses infect a computer is the hard drive before spreading to several other drives and then crippling the operations of applications. They can be detected in reduced performance speed. The only means of handling this virus type is by totally wiping the computer’s hard disk.
- Overwrite Virus: Using a trusted antivirus and totally formatting a computer device are the only known way to curtail the effects of this virus. The overwrite virus can delete user data and overwrite them with their script. They are devastating and can be very annoying to any user. They can affect Windows, Linux, IOS and several other operating system types.
- Boot Sector Virus: The only good thing that guards against this virus type is that most new computers come with inbuilt safety guards for their boot sectors, helping to prevent the effects of this virus type. However, the boot sector virus, when in operation hampers operations like the boot-up, and system performance and disabling the hard disk thereby preventing it from being accessed. One very important means of ensuring that this virus type is avoided is by preventing untrusted hard drives from being connected to a system before turning it on.
Conclusion
Now We’ve learnt about ‘Can Your Computer Become Infected With A Virus Via E-mail?’, It is advised that computer users remain weary of unknown files and programs got off the internet. One way for these viruses to spread is by clicking and enabling unknown files. Ensure that adequate security checks and measures are deployed to prevent hackers and other malicious content from gaining access to you online.
For viruses to be functional, certain user actions are required. These actions can be double clicking on links, running corrupted files or opening infected webpages. Therefore, having control over online activities is the biggest hack to prevent these infections from occurring.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What are some specific things computer viruses do?
Answer: Usually, viruses are written programs that are executable. In reality, these programs can do almost anything they are programmed to do. However, some specific viruses are encoded to deliberately damage certain file types or functionalities of a device. Some others are made to replicate themselves in an increased space.
- Is a Trojan Horse a Computer Virus?
Answer: Often, Trojan horses are listed out to be computer viruses. However, these programs are file types and executable formats that are written to hide viruses. Trojan horses usually have their actual functions hidden; they are written out to do one thing but when executed, they carry out a different function. They can be downloaded online or come attached to emails.
