Which type of damage is commonly associated with viruses?

Corrupting or destroying files is a common damage associated with viruses because many viruses are specifically designed to modify, delete, or encrypt files on a computer system. This behavior can lead to significant data loss and can disrupt the functionality of applications that rely on those files. By corrupting or destroying files, viruses can cause not only immediate operational challenges but also long-term repercussions for data integrity and recovery efforts.

In the context of viruses, their main objective often lies in harming the system by affecting the very data that users need to access or rely on. This damage can manifest in various forms, such as rendering documents unusable or causing critical system files to become corrupted, which could lead to system crashes or failures.

While other options might relate to different types of malicious software or effects that are not the primary focus of typical viral behavior, the most direct and well-known impact of viruses specifically involves file corruption and destruction.