Malicious Software
Published by: SoftDistrict, in Reviews
January20th2010
Malicious software is most commonly known as malware in short. Malware is basically that software that gets into someone's computer without the consent of the owner. Usually this software is meant to do damage on the infected computer and that is why it was called malicious. The computer specialists agreed to call "malware" all those kinds of software that is hostile and intrusive or even annoying, like adverts. This kind of software is usually sent via email and downloaded together with an attachment. Most people don't use this term, but the general term of "computer virus" is used generically to describe all kinds of malware, such as: realcomputer viruses, worms, trojans, root kits spyware or adware or any other software the user does not require and want.
The name of this software come mainly from the bad intentions of the person who made the intruding software and not from some features the software might have. Starting like pranks at the beginning, or even made out of curiosity because the creatore of such software wanted to see what happens if he dedigns such software or how quickly and how much it spreads, now this malicious software can have disastrous effects on the computers that are infected. It may access all the data on the computer and send them to the software creator who can use the data for his own benefit or with bad consequences for the owner of the infected computer. Some malicious software can even erase everything on the infected hard drive and you remain with no information that you stored on your computer.
All malicious software, especially computer viruses and trojans spread from one computer to another just like a disease and the infected computer becomes a source of infection in its turn. The internet is the best way of spreading such viruses and malicious software as it connects millions of computers in real time.
Later, together with the Internet, some other kinds of worms appeared, that were focused on attacking web pages instead of personal computers. That is the case of Code red worm who appeared in 2001 and vandalized web pages , that is infected them with graffitti like writing, making it impossible to read the original content of the page.
Malicious software was studies by computer specialists and divided into several categories, according to the features of the software applications belonging to each category: viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits , spyware and adware. Computer viruses spread exactly like disease viruse- they attack a system, then make copies of themselves and infect the software present on the infected system and in this way the once innocent software installed on that system becomes infectious itself. Then there are computer worms - they behave just like the organisms they were named after and find the weak point in a system, a bug in the computer's operating system or security, infiltrates there, multiplies there and then migrates from one computer to another in the network. Usually the infected computer and system have no idea that the worm is actually there and what it does. The trojans were named after the famous Trojan horse Ulysses built in order to mislead the soldiers of Troy and take it inside the city walls and after that they all got out of the wooden horse's belly and killed all the ennemies. Well, trojans behave in a similar manner and disguise into innocent software and actually get the user's consent to install the software.
The problem is that there are some kits with a molicious avtivity behid the surface. Rootkits operate changes into the operating system in order not to be detected and then they use breaches in the security system to spread to other computers, too. The spyware actually spies on your computer, but it does not act in a bad way directly on your system. It is used only as a spy and sends the information obtained from the personal computer to the inventor of the software and he uses this information in a bad way , usually illegal, that is stealing identity or even stealing passwords and accounts in order to access bank accounts and get material benefits. Finally the adware is in fact represented by unwanted adds sent via email, without any bad consequences, except for the annoyance of the email account holder who gets tired of getting so much advertisement.
You could see from this short presentation that there could be serious consequences if your computer gets infected with one of these computer programmes belonging to malicious software. The best way to prevent such an unhappy event is to always have a reaaly powerful antivirus software running on your computer, especially when you access the internet, which is the most dangerous environment from this point of view. Then you would better delete without opening any suspicious emails that you might get , especially if they have attachments. Even if the sender is someone you know, it is better to phone them and ask them about the importance of the email and avoid being infected this way.
Some other advice that you could use if you want not to get infected with malicious software:
- always watch what you are clicking when you are surfing the internet; read carefully everything written there and do not click any pop up window that appears advertising something. It may be a trick.
- update your antivirus software constantly, as it also updates the data base containing the signatures of all knows viruses so far and there are new ones appearing constantly, so it is better to have the latest information about it.
- try to use another web browser than Internet Explorer because it is well-known the fact that it has some bugs and allows some unwanted software to penetrate the system.
- scan your system regularly because the antivirus software is useless if it is not activated and used. So make sure you read all the warnings coming from your antivirus and act accordingly; do not ignore these messages.
Bear in mind that it is illegal to design and activate any kind of malicious software and the people who do that are under the incidence of the law, so they should be reported. Laws adapted to this kind of crime and now there are even cyber cops who deal with trying to find the people who are responsible for such bad things and you can report any kind of malware here. So make sure you use your computer safely and stay away of any kind of viruses.
The name of this software come mainly from the bad intentions of the person who made the intruding software and not from some features the software might have. Starting like pranks at the beginning, or even made out of curiosity because the creatore of such software wanted to see what happens if he dedigns such software or how quickly and how much it spreads, now this malicious software can have disastrous effects on the computers that are infected. It may access all the data on the computer and send them to the software creator who can use the data for his own benefit or with bad consequences for the owner of the infected computer. Some malicious software can even erase everything on the infected hard drive and you remain with no information that you stored on your computer.
All malicious software, especially computer viruses and trojans spread from one computer to another just like a disease and the infected computer becomes a source of infection in its turn. The internet is the best way of spreading such viruses and malicious software as it connects millions of computers in real time.
Later, together with the Internet, some other kinds of worms appeared, that were focused on attacking web pages instead of personal computers. That is the case of Code red worm who appeared in 2001 and vandalized web pages , that is infected them with graffitti like writing, making it impossible to read the original content of the page.
Malicious software was studies by computer specialists and divided into several categories, according to the features of the software applications belonging to each category: viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits , spyware and adware. Computer viruses spread exactly like disease viruse- they attack a system, then make copies of themselves and infect the software present on the infected system and in this way the once innocent software installed on that system becomes infectious itself. Then there are computer worms - they behave just like the organisms they were named after and find the weak point in a system, a bug in the computer's operating system or security, infiltrates there, multiplies there and then migrates from one computer to another in the network. Usually the infected computer and system have no idea that the worm is actually there and what it does. The trojans were named after the famous Trojan horse Ulysses built in order to mislead the soldiers of Troy and take it inside the city walls and after that they all got out of the wooden horse's belly and killed all the ennemies. Well, trojans behave in a similar manner and disguise into innocent software and actually get the user's consent to install the software.
The problem is that there are some kits with a molicious avtivity behid the surface. Rootkits operate changes into the operating system in order not to be detected and then they use breaches in the security system to spread to other computers, too. The spyware actually spies on your computer, but it does not act in a bad way directly on your system. It is used only as a spy and sends the information obtained from the personal computer to the inventor of the software and he uses this information in a bad way , usually illegal, that is stealing identity or even stealing passwords and accounts in order to access bank accounts and get material benefits. Finally the adware is in fact represented by unwanted adds sent via email, without any bad consequences, except for the annoyance of the email account holder who gets tired of getting so much advertisement.
You could see from this short presentation that there could be serious consequences if your computer gets infected with one of these computer programmes belonging to malicious software. The best way to prevent such an unhappy event is to always have a reaaly powerful antivirus software running on your computer, especially when you access the internet, which is the most dangerous environment from this point of view. Then you would better delete without opening any suspicious emails that you might get , especially if they have attachments. Even if the sender is someone you know, it is better to phone them and ask them about the importance of the email and avoid being infected this way.
Some other advice that you could use if you want not to get infected with malicious software:
- always watch what you are clicking when you are surfing the internet; read carefully everything written there and do not click any pop up window that appears advertising something. It may be a trick.
- update your antivirus software constantly, as it also updates the data base containing the signatures of all knows viruses so far and there are new ones appearing constantly, so it is better to have the latest information about it.
- try to use another web browser than Internet Explorer because it is well-known the fact that it has some bugs and allows some unwanted software to penetrate the system.
- scan your system regularly because the antivirus software is useless if it is not activated and used. So make sure you read all the warnings coming from your antivirus and act accordingly; do not ignore these messages.
Bear in mind that it is illegal to design and activate any kind of malicious software and the people who do that are under the incidence of the law, so they should be reported. Laws adapted to this kind of crime and now there are even cyber cops who deal with trying to find the people who are responsible for such bad things and you can report any kind of malware here. So make sure you use your computer safely and stay away of any kind of viruses.
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