malwear

malwear

1. This is a piece of code that is designed to replicate itself throughout the computer or network. For example it will add itself to a file on your computer and, every time the file is opened, the virus runs and once more seeks out other files to infect. Viruses can be difficult to get rid of since, if a single infected file is left, it will eventually re-infect many other files on your system.

   • Scareware will cause a pop-up to appear on your screen which will say something like 'Your computer has a virus. To clear the problem please purchase this software', and a link is provided in the pop-up.

2. Worm This behaves just like a virus, but does not necessarily harm files. Instead, it tries to copy itself so many times that the whole system runs out of resources and crashes.

   • Pharming When you want to visit a website, you type a web address into your browser. Pharming malware will infect your browser, redirecting you to an identical looking, but fake website. It does this by telling your browser to look for a different IP address to the genuine site to that of the fake website thus redirecting you to the phoney site.
   • Spyware stays hidden out of view and is designed to spy on your computer, looking for personal information, passwords and so on. It does this by using a key logger to record every key pressed on the keyboard. It might also take screen shots. This information is then sent secretly over the internet to the criminals.

3. trojan appears to be a harmless application - a downloaded game for example. You play the game, but meanwhile it is running in the background carrying out its real intent - maybe letting someone else access to your computer.

4. Adware This malware can force your browser to display unwanted pop-up advertisements. It can cause pages that you didn't request to open up taking you to unwanted web sites. It can also take over your browser home page and direct you somewhere else every time you open up your browser

   • Rootkits give other people permissions and access to your computer, allowing them to take it over remotely and do whatever they like. It is designed to run even before the operating system itself is booted up and it continues to stay active in the background while you are using the computer.

5. Click fraud Click fraud malware aims to use your computer resources to open certain web sites and send a mouse click to the adverts. Every click makes them money. You are not aware of this of course, as the activity is hidden in the background.

   • Ransomware encrypts critical files and data, making them unusable. Eventually it presents the user with a ransom, demanding money be sent to the attackers to unlock the system. Scareware