Malware are of the following types:
Worms: These programs have the ability to replicate themselves. Their sole objective is to increase their population and transfer themselves to another computers via the internet or through storage media, all the work is done like a top secret mission hiding their movement from the user. They don’t cause any harm to the computer, their replicating nature consumes hard drive space, thus slow down the machine. Some of the notable worms are, SQL Blaster which slowed the internet for a small period of time, Code Red took down almost 359,000 websites.Viruses: They also have the ability to replicate themselves, but they do damage files on the computer they attack. Their main weakness lies in the fact, they can get into action only if they have the support of a host program, otherwise they’re just like a defeated warrior. They stick themselves to songs, videos, and executable files and travel all over the internet. W32.Sfc!mod, ABAP.Rivpas.A, Accept.3773 are some of the examples of Virus programs.
The Virus Gang:
File Viruses
Macro Viruses
Master Boot Record Viruses
Boot sector Viruses
Multi-Partite Viruses
Polymorphic Viruses
Stealth Viruses
Feel free to Google anyone of them if you like.
Trojans: Basically, Trojans are no Viruses, and are not meant to damage or delete files on your system. Their sole task is to provide to a backdoor gateway for malicious programs or malevolent users to enter your system and steal your valuable data without your knowledge and permission. JS.Debeski.Trojan is an example of Trojan.
They are named after the ‘Trojan Horse’ tale, in which Greeks entered the city of Troy with the help of a wooden horse which was meant to be a gift, but turned out to be a sweet poison, as depicted in the movie Troy.
The Trojan Gang:
Remote Access Trojans
Data Sending Trojans
Destructive Trojans
Proxy Trojans
FTP Trojans
Security Software Disabler Trojans
Denial-Of-Service Attack Trojans
Feel free to Google anyone of them if you like.
Also Read: Here’s the Best Antivirus Software for Windows PCs, According to New Tests
Adware: Adware are used to display advertisements in the programs. They generally come attached with software programs that are free to use as they are the only source of revenue for the developers of those software programs. Adware can’t be completely called as Malware as they have no intention to harm your machine, they only track what advertisements you’re more interested in, so as to display the relevant advertisements on your screens.
Spyware: These programs also come attached with other freeware software, track your browsing and other personal details and send it to a remote user. They can also facilitate installation of unwanted software from the internet. Unlike Adware, they work as a standalone program and do their operations silently.
Spam: You get very irritated when you receive unwanted emails from unknown senders, these are called Spams or junk mails. And the process of flooding the internet with the same message is called Spamming, is done for the purpose of commercial advertising. These junk mails may sometimes contain Viruses or Trojans that enter your system as soon as you open the mail.
Bots: Bots or Robots are automated processes that are designed to interact over the internet without the need of human interaction. They can be used for good and bad intentions. An evil minded person can create a malicious Bot that is capable of infecting the host on its own. After transmitting itself to the host device, a Bot creates a connection with central servers which act as the command centers for the infected hosts attached to that network, called Botnet.
Their skills include stealing passwords, logging keystrokes, analyzing network traffic, relay spam, launch DoS (Denial of Service) attacks and open back doors on infected hosts. These Bots can be seen as the advanced form of Worms, their infection rate and tactic is more effective than those of Worms. These malicious Bots are created after a lot of hard work done by their malignant creators.
Ransomware: These type of malware alter the normal operation of your machine, thus barring you to use it properly. Thereafter, these programs display warning messages asking for money to get your device back to normal working condition.
After reading all this, you might be thinking why people create Malware. Here are some reasons which may compel a coder to write malware codes:
- Take control of a person’s computer for personal or professional reasons.
- To get financial benefits.
- To steel confidential data.
- To prove their point regarding a security breach can be done on a system.
- To take down an individual computer or a complete network.
How can you protect your Computer :
- Keep your system up to date.
- Use genuine software.
- Install an antivirus software and update it regularly.
- Set-up a firewall, may it be custom as provided by antivirus software. Windows has an in-built firewall option in case you don’t want to use a custom firewall.
- Never open unknown emails that generally reside in your Spam folder.
- Never open unknown links, use online website safety checker tools if you’re not sure to open a website.
By taking these simple measures, you can effectively keep your machine free from Malware and other potential threats.
