Malware

What Is Malware

Malware is a malicious piece of code that is harmful to a device, service, or network. It could be used for several purposes, such as stealing financial or personal data, disrupting services, or taking control of a device. Usually, the main motive behind creating malware is to gain monetary benefit, but personal, political, or social agendas are also not uncommon.

'Malware is malicious software that is installed without approval'

What Makes Malware Malicious

Malware is a general term that includes several malicious software variants such as virus, worm, trojan, ransomware, adware, spyware, and so on. Each type of malware performs certain operations to harm the device, user, data, service, network, or system. Malware can focus on one or several of the following:

  1. Stealing financial or personal information
  2. Impairing device performance
  3. Disrupting services or operations.
  4. Encrypting your data and make it unusable to you
  5. Providing unauthorized access to your system and network resources to criminals
  6. Harnessing device resources for cryptocurrency mining

Types of Malware

There are several types of Malware, and understanding them is the first step towards effectively protecting your data and devices.

Ransomware

Ransomware is the most popular type of malware amongst cybercriminals, as it involves monetary benefit. It can install itself onto the victim's device, and the purpose is to encrypt the device data and demand ransom (in form of cryptocurrency due to its anonymous nature) for access to the files.

Spyware

Spyware is a program installed on your computer, usually without your explicit knowledge, that captures and transmits personal information or Internet browsing habits and details to its user. Spyware enables its users to monitor all forms of communications on the targeted device. While spyware is often used by law enforcement, government agencies, and information security organizations to test and monitor communications in a sensitive environment or in an investigation, it is also available to consumers, allowing purchasers to spy on their spouse, children, and employees.

Mobile Malware

Mobile malware is designed to target the operating systems of mobile phones. The most commonly used OS for the mobile phone is Android. There are various malware variants available for the mobile OS with different methods of delivery and infection. Mobile malware is also a threat to organizations because many businesses allow employees to use their own devices. Operating system manufacturers do their best to combat these threats, but the criminals are constantly developing their skills as well.

Trojan

Trojans masquerade as harmless applications, tricking users into downloading and using them. Once up and running, they then can steal personal data, crash a device, spy on activities, or even launch an attack.

Fileless malware

This type of malware is hard to detect and remove because it uses legitimate programs to infect the device and leaves no footprints to get tracked. It can affect the Windows registry which leaves no malware files or processes to track.

Viruses

A virus is a set of instructions or a malicious code that performs malicious actions. The victim has to run the virus file in order to get infected. A common method of delivery of a virus is through email attachments.

Differences between types of malware

Regardless of the type, malware is dangerous software that threatens a user's information security.

Staying Safe in the Digital World

Malware can cause a lot of damage to your devices and infect other devices connected to the same network. By following these few tips, you can protect yourself from malware.

  1. Never click on unknown links.
  2. Don't visit unknown websites
  3. Don't insert unknown USB drives into your computer.
  4. Update your OS regularly and apply critical updates as soon as they become available.
  5. Back up your computer from time to time using cloud services or traditional backup drives.
  6. Use antivirus and firewall software.
  7. Use a pop-up blocker.

'You shouldn't take shortcuts. It pays to stop and think critically about protection strategies.'

Exercise: Malware Types


Exercise: Recognizing Malware