WHAT IS MALWARE?
Malware is an abbreviated term used to describe a "malicious
software" program. Malware includes things like spyware or adware
programs, such as tracking cookies, which are used to monitor your
surfing habits. It also includes more sinister items, such as
keyloggers, Trojan horses, worms, and viruses.
A keylogger is just what it sounds like.
It is a program that logs every keystroke you make and then sends
that information, including things like passwords, bank account
numbers, and credit card numbers, to whomever is spying on you. A
Trojan horse may damage your system, and it may also install a
"backdoor" through which to send your personal information to
another computer. These forms of malware are commonly used for
perpetrating identity theft.
A virus or a worm replicates itself and
may hijack your system. These types of malware may then be used to
send out spam or to accomplish a variety of other unsavory
activities, and you may not even know it. Viruses usually attach to
other programs, while worms are self-contained. Both can cause
severe damage by eating up essential system resources, which may
lead to your computer freezing or crashing. Viruses and worms
commonly use shared files and items like email address books to
spread to other computers.
Any type of code or program that is used
for monitoring and collecting your personal information or
disrupting or damaging your computer, may be referred to as malware.
In fact, malware can be any type of malicious code, even if it has
not yet been identified as a worm, Trojan, etc. Good anti-virus
programs can be configured to scan email for any type of malicious
or suspicious code, and alert you to its presence, even if it is not
currently recognized malware.
Anti-virus programs are good protection
when kept up to date. However, they frequently miss certain types of
malware, such as Trojans and spyware, so it is a good idea to run at
least one anti-adware program in conjunction with anti-virus.
Utilizing a firewall is also helpful. While it won't keep malware
out, it can keep such programs from accessing the internet and
delivering your personal information to the intended target.
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Report finds China and Russia produce more
than 50 percent of internet threats.
H1 2011 E-Threat Landscape Report - Overview
The first six months of 2011 have been placed under the sign of
vulnerabilities and data breaches. While the malware landscape
has witnessed little to no significant changes or epidemics, the
numbers of data breaches and outages have increased considerably
during the monitored period. IT security companies have been the
primary targets of cybercriminals in an attempt to take them
offline and, at the same time, to diminish their expertise in
the eyes of their customers. Two of the most important IT
security vendors that have been slammed with such attacks are
HBGary and RSA, the security division of EMC.
Another major
data leak followed by almost one month of outage was the Sony
PlayStation Network incident, which exposed credit card details
of about two million PSN users. The data leak was disclosed with
a significant delay. The damage inflicted to users is yet to be
estimated. Significant outages have also happened in Egypt,
following the massive wave of protests that took place on
January 28. In order to prevent demonstrations and protests, the
Egyptian government had all the local ISPs pull the plug on the
Internet, thus rendering the bulk of electronic communications
useless. The Internet blackout in Egypt has brought up endless
debates on the importance of digital communications and the
catastrophic results of outages.
Social
networks have played a key role in maintaining a climate of
insecurity. Although the number of e-threats especially designed
to infect social network users (such as the infamous Koobface
and Boonana worms) has dramatically decreased, cyber-criminals
have focused their efforts on pushing an unprecedented number of
rogue applications. The purpose of these virally/spreading
applications is two-fold: on the one side, they redirect the
users to websites where they are forced to fill in surveys; on
the other side, these applications collect exhaustive
information about their victims and their friends, which are
later used in targeted spam and phishing campaign
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