What is Macro Virus?
A macro virus is a computer virus that replaces a macro that enables a program to work and initiate a specific set of actions and commands. If a virus replaces these actions and commands, it can cause significant damage to a computer.
Macro viruses can be built into sophisticated applications, such as those found in word processing systems, to run programs in such a way that they can be started automatically. Because macro viruses replace prompt commands, word processors are particularly vulnerable to these types of viruses.
The language is built into the macros to hijack the commands, including necessary actions like opening a document. A macro virus can be started by simply opening a document. Macro viruses can be spread through email attachments, modems, and on the Internet, networks, and hard drives.
By and large, macro viruses are started by simply opening a document. The macro virus is initially embedded in a document or some documents, but it can spread to other documents within the same computer, and it can also access other computers through shared documents.
Unfortunately, not all macro viruses can be detected by antivirus software, although there are some good products that can be used to detect them.
One of the most notorious and harmful macro viruses was developed by David Smith in 1999. Some reports say he named the macro virus Melissa after a Miami stripper of the same name. Once a Word document is downloaded, it replicates itself to the user's email address and sends automatic messages to the first 50 addresses which in turn infect recipients' emails, as well as their recipients, etc.
Smith was sentenced to 10 years but served 20 months in prison and was fined $ 5,000; The damage it caused totaled $ 80 million and affected more than 1 million computers.