Compressed Files

Compressed files were originally used to smuggle viruses and Trojans past a computer’s security defense. Malicious programmers then used them to crash anti-virus software. More recently, they have been known to attack and corrupt an entire network. One of the biggest threats is presented by zip formats. Many individuals and organizations learned to block this format, forcing programmers to create more full-proof strategies. After a while, blocking them permitted other formats to penetrate the gateway, sometimes resulting in a DOS attack against applications or a computer due to a heavier processing load. Blocking these compressed file formats gives users a false sense of security, while prompting greater damage. The issue isn’t accredited as much to the troublesome compressed formats as it is to vulnerabilities in the anti-virus software. Since many of them are incapable of thoroughly scanning and detecting these compressed file formats, a user actually grants a virus easier access into the system or network by blocking them.