To aid the fight against computer viruses and other types of malicious software, many security advisory organizations and developers of anti-virus software compile and publish lists of viruses.

The compilation of a unified list of viruses is made difficult because of naming. When a new virus appears, the rush begins to identify and understand it as well as develop appropriate counter-measures to stop its propagation. Along the way, a name is attached to the virus. As the developers of anti-virus software compete partly based on how quickly they react to the new threat, they usually study and name the viruses independently. By the time the virus is identified, many names denote the same virus.

Another source of ambiguity in names is that sometimes a virus initially identified as a completely new virus is found to be a variation of an earlier known virus, in which cases, it is often renamed. For example, the second variation of the Sobig worm was initially called "Palyh" but later renamed "Sobig.b". Again, depending on how quickly this happens, the old name may persist.

Scope

In terms of scope, there are two major variants: the list of "in-the-wild" viruses, which list viruses in active circulation, and lists of all known viruses, which also contain viruses believed not be in active circulation (also called "zoo viruses"). The sizes are vastly different, in-the-wild lists contain a few hundred viruses but full lists contain tens of thousands.

List of viruses and related programs

• List of computer viruses (Numeric)
• List of computer viruses (A-D)
• List of computer viruses (E-K)
• List of computer viruses (L-R)
• List of computer viruses (S-Z)

Related lists

• List of computer viruses (all)
• List of computer worms
• Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms
  Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms
  This is a timeline of noteworthy computer viruses, worms and Trojan horses.- 1966 :* The work of John von Neumann on the "Theory of self-reproducing automata" is published...
  
  

Similar software

• Adware
  Adware
  Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...
  
  
• Malware
  Malware
  Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
  
  
• Spam
  Spam (electronic)
  Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
  
  
• Spyware
  Spyware
  Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
  
  
• Computer Worms
  Computer worm
  A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes and it may do so without any user intervention. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach...
  
  
• Trojan
  Trojan horse (computing)
  A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is software that appears to perform a desirable function for the user prior to run or install, but steals information or harms the system. The term is derived from the Trojan Horse story in Greek mythology.-Malware:A destructive program that masquerades as a benign...
  
  

Security topics

• Antivirus software
  Antivirus software
  Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware...
  
  
• Computer insecurity
  Computer insecurity
  Computer insecurity refers to the concept that a computer system is always vulnerable to attack, and that this fact creates a constant battle between those looking to improve security, and those looking to circumvent security.-Security and systems design:...
  
  
• Cryptovirology
  Cryptovirology
  Cryptovirology is a field that studies how to use cryptography to design powerful malicious software. The field was born with the observation that public-key cryptography can be used to break the symmetry between what an antivirus analyst sees regarding a virus and what the virus writer sees...
  
  
• Security through obscurity
  Security through obscurity
  Security through obscurity is a pejorative referring to a principle in security engineering, which attempts to use secrecy of design or implementation to provide security...
  
  

External links

• The WildList, by WildList Organization International
• List of Computer Viruses - listing of the Latest Viruses by Symantec.
• List of all viruses All viruses cataloged in Panda Security’s Collective Intelligence servers.
• Antivirus online - listing of the Latest Anti-Viruses