Human Viruses Versus Computer Viruses: Defeating the Digital Twin

While the digital world is galaxies apart from biological systems, there are certain behaviours that are similar in both environments and understanding one can help to explain the other. For those of us who are technologically impaired perhaps a little bit of humanity can help to transform the mysterious invader we know as a virus into a mere menace. Don't misunderstand, it's not the systems themselves that are alike. Rather it's the ways that they behave and survive that are strikingly similar.

Firstly, both human and computer viruses require a host in order to exist and multiply. Neither entity is a complete self-sustaining system in its own right. Human viruses can only live inside our bodies while computer viruses can only exist on the computer hard drive and memory.

They are both stealthy and rely on avoiding identification in order to propagate. Computer system viruses can attempt to appear like other system files, like friendly applications or like humorous email attachments just to name a few common forms. They rely on human intervention in order to activate. By the way, this behaviour is what distinguishes viruses from computer worms. Worms do not require human intervention in order to propagate, they use non-human triggers in order to spring into action.

So once they are activated there can be a number of missions to complete. Steal, destroy, hijack, disrupt, delete, deliver a message and/or multiply. The consequences can be devastating for the host who will, in most cases, also trigger a process to find another victim.

But unlike the human body, computers are not equipped to natively deploy antibodies in order to protect themselves. They need some assistance in order to get better. And that help comes in the form of virus scanners and anti-malware applications.

Immunity, of sorts, to these aliens can also be achieved through operating system patches. Most stealthy malicious software tries to exploit vulnerabilities in existing operating systems in order to manipulate the host. And as vendors identify these exploitations, they release patches to correct the security hole. So keeping up to date patch levels reduces the chances that there will be an exploit available for the viral intruder. Microsoft, for example, uses 'windows update' in order to deliver patches for their operating systems.

The final similarity is that of change. Human viruses can mutate and evolve as a survival strategy. Computer viruses are not so lucky, but there are thousands of programmers writing new viruses every day so the effect is very similar. Just because a PC or laptop is capable of identifying and preventing an infection today, it doesn't mean that it will be up to the challenge tomorrow when a new menace is probing for vulnerabilities. Keeping anti-virus, anti-malware and patch levels current is of the utmost importance and a critical aspect of maintaining a clean system.