Eli5 – How are computer viruses created without destroying the creator’s computer first?

Question

I’ve always wondered how computer viruses are made. If someone creates a virus on their own computer, wouldn’t it infect and potentially destroy their system first before it’s spread to others?

In: 249

Answer 1

Creating a computer virus is like making a recipe for mischief on someone else’s computer. Imagine you want to bake a cake at someone else’s house without ruining your own kitchen. You study how their kitchen works, find a way to sneak in your ingredients, and then follow your recipe. The goal is to make their kitchen messy (infect their computer) while keeping yours clean.

Computer virus creators study computer systems to find vulnerabilities, just like you’d study someone’s kitchen. They then write code (the recipe) that can exploit these vulnerabilities on someone else’s computer, without harming their own. This way, they can infect other computers while protecting their own.