The New Age of Computer Virus and Their Detection

Abstract

This paper presents a general overview on computer viruses and defensive techniques. Computer virus writers commonly use metamorphic techniques to produce viruses that change their internal structure on each infection. On the other hand, anti-virus technologies continually follow the virus tricks and methodologies to overcome their threats. In this paper, anti-virus experts design and develop new methodologies to make them stronger, more and more, every day. The purpose of this paper is to review these methodologies and outline their strengths and weaknesses to encourage those are interested in more investigation on these areas. In this paper, first analyze four virus creation kits to determine the degree of metamorphism provided by each and able to precisely quantify the degree of metamorphism produced by these virus generators. While the best generator, the Next Generation Virus Creation Kit (NGVCK), produces virus variants that differ greatly from one another, the other three generators examined are much less effective.