Understanding Malware: Viruses, Trojans, Worms, and More

Understanding Malware Threats

Malware encompasses any program, document, or message that can harm your computer. This harm can include deleting data, slowing down performance, or causing programs to malfunction.

Types of Malware

Viruses

A virus is a program that installs itself on your computer without your knowledge. Its primary purpose is to spread to other computers and execute malicious actions.

• Objectives: Affect the integrity and availability of data and software.
• Affected Elements: Data and software.
• Solution: Antivirus software (scanning, file checking, and resident protection). Prevention, detection, and recovery are key.

Trojans

Trojans are small applications disguised as utility programs, images, or messages. Their purpose is to create a backdoor for gathering information from your computer and potentially taking control of it. Keyloggers are a type of Trojan that records all keystrokes, including passwords.

• Objectives: Affect confidentiality and availability.
• Affected Elements: Data and software (as they can hide within programs).
• Solution: Security packages with proactive resident scanning and analysis, as well as firewalls to prevent unauthorized inbound or outbound connections.

Worms

Worms are programs that replicate themselves and infect all computers on a network. Their main impact is to saturate network traffic, leading to slowdowns. They often spread via email.

• Effect: Slow network connections. Worms do not typically destroy data.
• Objectives: Affect availability.
• Solution: Firewalls and comprehensive security packages.

Spam

Spam refers to unsolicited advertising emails sent in bulk. The primary negative consequences are the saturation of mail servers and the potential to conceal other malicious software. Pop-under ads, which open new windows behind the current one, are a common form of spam.

• Objective: Affect availability.
• Solution: Configure your browser security settings.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information stored on a website visitor's hard drive through their browser at the request of the server. This information can be retrieved by the server later.

• Effect: User tracking and gathering information about browsing habits.
• Objective: Compromise confidentiality.
• Affected Elements: Data.
• Solution: Adjust your browser security settings.