Translations:AY Honors/Internet/Answer Key 2/25/en

Traditional virus

In computer security technology, a virus is a self-replicating program that spreads by inserting copies of itself into other executable code or documents. Thus, a computer virus behaves in a way similar to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. Extending the analogy, the insertion of the virus into a program is termed infection, and the infected file (or executable code that is not part of a file) is called a host. Special programs are required to delete copies of the host to locate the malicious code for deletion. Unlike a biological virus where an immune system will seek to eliminate the virus, a computer virus will remain until deleted.