Malware is software designed to gain access to or damage your computer. It tries to multiply as much as possible and spread from the victim’s computer to their “neighbors” on the local network.
These programs are used to steal personal information, corporate espionage, attacks on company servers, etc.
For more than half a century of computer technology, viruses have also gone through several stages of evolution, and now the most advanced representatives of this class are not just the creation of a lone enthusiast, but the result of the painstaking work of dozens or even hundreds of programmers and hackers.
Following are types of malware:-
1. Trojan:
Many people know this type of malicious software. True, more in the name, which was derived from ancient myths. To be more precise, it comes from the Trojan horse, thanks to which the city of Troy was taken.
This type is very much afraid of novice users, although in fact it is most often the simplest. The main task is to steal information or destroy it. For an ordinary home computer, the Trojan should not do much harm. But to steal passwords to e-mail, payment systems and electronic wallets can very well.
It is Trojans that are used for industrial espionage. They can also be carriers for more “heavy” and dangerous viruses, or modules of a botnet to attack sites.
2. Adware
This species has “bred” very much in the last few years. The point of work is demonstration of advertising banners and pop-ups in all browsers wherever possible. It is noteworthy that not all of them are recognized by antiviruses, because some developers simply do not consider them to be malicious. More often than not, it’s not easy to pick it out – they penetrate better than any worm, change the shortcuts of web browsers, install default page change control modules (for example, Search Protect).
3. Worm
Thanks to frequent messages in information programs, even those users who do not have a computer have heard about the worm. This is a parasitic malware that infiltrates the victim’s operating system and then spreads copies of itself to all accessible computers – over the local network and over the Internet. In my memory, there were mass mailings of worms via e-mail and Internet messengers. The purpose of the work can be completely different – theft of information, financial fraud, destruction of information, massive disabling of operating systems, etc. This is probably the most dangerous type of virus.
4. Backdoor
The purpose of this infection is to organize remote access to a computer by hacking the protection system or using vulnerabilities in the installed software. After installing it, a hacker (or another attacker) gains the ability to access and control the server data. Further, different actions are already possible – stealing information, deleting it, installing spyware or using computing power to attack other nodes in the network.
5. Exploit
A software module or a piece of code that exploits a vulnerability in any operating system or installed software to organize remote access to it. The exploit itself is harmless and most often it is used to inject another malware module, the same backdoor, for example, on the attacked machine.
6. Botnet
This is not quite a program in the form in which users are used to seeing it. But nevertheless, it is a virus that is written in a programming language – mostly Java Script, but sometimes Visual Basic. By clicking on the link received from the attackers by mail, in an Internet messenger, or simply on a fake site, the user downloads a script that processes the browser and performs certain actions in it. Usually their goal is to download a Trojan or a backdoor, which actually continues to work, and the script has worked.
7. Boot virus
This type of computer virus works at the lower levels, close to the hardware. Their targets are hard disk master boot records. With the help of the changes made, the virus code is loaded before the operating system starts and has a higher priority than normal programs. Antiviruses do not see them either. This is a very insidious type of infection, fraught with loss of information on the disk.
8. Spyware
Spies do not destroy information and do not harm the installed software. Their purpose is different – tracking user actions and stealing information: credentials on web services, etc. They save the collected information to the specified server. There are also some types of spyware, which, based on the analysis of user actions, can slip ads in a web browser.
9. Fake antivirus
A fake antivirus program that, under the guise of good free security software, gets on your computer. An example is Online Antivirus XP-Vista 2009, XP Antivirus 2009, Personal Antivirus, Malware Doctor.
The funny thing is that it simulates violent activity, finds dozens of different types of virus programs and actively removes them. In fact, it does nothing useful, but on the contrary, it just crap: downloads other malicious programs, sends spam, and displays ads.
Removing the deceiver will not be easy, to the extent that you have to boot in safe mode and clean up the tails.
10. Hoaxer
It’s not exactly a virus, but it’s closely related. This is a deceptive letter that comes to your e-mail from supposedly developers of antivirus software (for example, Kaspersky Lab) in which you are warned about an epidemic of another worm and asked to inform all your friends and acquaintances about it. It seems to be a joke, if not for the circumstances. These letters create a heavy load on mail servers. In some cases, they even offer to check their system with a free utility to find and remove this type of virus, which most often turns out to be an adware module or fake antivirus.
Signs of a pc malware infection
It can be very difficult to determine if your device has been infected with malware. Below are some of the signs that might indicate that your device has been infected, but this is not a guarantee. Very sophisticated malware or spyware may not give any indication that your device has been infected
- Your device may be running slower than usual
- Pop-up ads will appear on your device
- Your computer / phone may not work as it should.
Ways to be protected against malwares
One of the main ways to fight malware is timely prevention. To prevent malware infections and Trojan horse attacks, there are some guidelines to follow:
Do not run programs received from the Internet or as an attachment to an e-mail message without checking for a virus
1. It is necessary to check all external drives for viruses before copying or opening files on them or starting the computer from such drives
2. Antivirus software must be installed and regularly used to scan computers. Quickly update the antivirus program’s database with a set of virus signature files as new signatures appear
3. You should regularly scan your hard drives for viruses. Scanning is usually performed automatically every time you turn on your PC and when you place an external disk in the reader. When scanning, the antivirus program looks for a virus by comparing the program code with the codes of the viruses it knows stored in the database
4. Create strong passwords so that viruses cannot easily guess the password and gain administrator permissions. Regular file archiving will minimize damage from a virus attack
5. The main means of protecting information is backing up valuable data that is stored on hard drives
There are many anti-virus protection software. Modern anti-virus programs consist of modules:
1. Heuristic module – for detecting unknown viruses
2. Monitor – a program that resides in the PC RAM
3. A control unit that launches anti-virus programs and updates the virus database and components
4. Mail program (checks email)
5. Scanner program – scans, detects and removes a fixed set of known viruses in memory, files and system disk areas
6. Firewall – protection against hacker attacks