infection is the process or state whereby a viral program attaches itself to a host program in such a way that when an attempt is made to run/execute/interpret the host program the viral program can be run/executed/interpreted in addition to or instead of the host program...
this attachment can be in the form of inserting the viral program in the host program, inserting the host program in the viral program, replacing the host program with the viral program, placing/naming the viral program in such a way that the operating environment finds/calls the viral program before the host program, inserting a call or reference to the viral program in the host program, linking the viral and host programs through manipulation of filesystem structures, etc...
many people today use the term 'infect' to refer to putting any kind of malware into something else (such as 'infecting' audio CD's with DRM)... this is a product of the public's high level of awareness of viruses and viral concepts compared to other forms of malware (viruses have been in the wild and in the public eye for 20 years or more now) and not a correct usage of the technical term...
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