Virus Spreading Across Campus
A new virus is being spread from campus computers to other personal computers and laptops through the use of USB devices.
Most viruses delete specific files, take down a computer’s firewall and leave the computer open to other viruses and people who can take over computers. They can also crash vulnerable computers.
Viruses are often made as programs that come from spam e-mails or downloads from unreliable sites such as side ad’s and porn sites. “When you click the e-mail to open it, the virus can impersonate you on your computer and do almost anything your username and password permit. This includes copying itself to a flash drive,” stated John Blackwood, CIS instructor at UCC. Nate Ross was one of the students whose flash drives got infected; “It turns your flash drive into a folder, making it so you have to right click and go down to explore, rather than just double clicking on it.
Another virus called cisuc.exe has been going around can take up to 98 percent of a computer’s processing speed. “Usually, if you click an e-mail containing a virus, your virus protection software will stop the virus from functioning. However, if the virus is new, your virus protection software won’t know how to fight it. This is how your computer can get infected,” says Blackwood.
| The Mainstream is a student publication of Umpqua Community College. | About us | Advertising | Archives |