Security Suite Canada
What is malware and how do I get rid of it?Malware or as it is sometimes known - badware, is simply specially designed software that holds a malicious intent. The software is designed to break into a computer or to damage the system. The word malware comes from the combination of the words malicious and software. Malware covers all types of software that might end up on your computer including worms, viruses, spyware or adware, and even trojan horses. Malware can be widened to include other forms of software that end up on your computer without your permission even if they hold no hostile intent.
In order for malware to perform its intended goals it must conceal itself to be placed onto a user's computer. The people who write these malicious pieces of software code try to conceal their work by disguising the malware as something desirable or innocuous.
One of the ways of disguising malware is place the code inside a Trojan horse. The user is tempted to run the program hiding the Trojan horse and the payload is then unleashed onto their computer system. A common way for a Trojan horse to slip onto a user's computer is through software installs found on the Internet or via peer-to-peer sharing applications. Only install software after being scanned with your anti-virus software first, and make sure to only download software from reputable companies/locations.
Once on a user's system the malware may simply delete files, or it may drop an Internet worm to infect an entire network of computers. The infected computer user never notices many times the malware or spyware as that was the intent of its creator. The creator of the malware wants their software to remain unfound, as they want to profit from the hijacking of your computer system. They may serve pop-up ads, and overwrite code on the Internet to get you to click affiliate links for which they get for. Others like spyware will monitor you surfing habits and will report that back to advertising agencies.
Spammer viruses are also a form of malware. They are written with the intent of turning your computer into a spam email-sending super-machine. Many times these computers when hijacked are networked together to really spread massive amounts of spam email very quickly. Doing it this way the spammer retains a small form of anonymity from the law. These groups of computers are known as botnets. The creator of the malware can control the botnet via the Internet instructing it to do their bidding - including even updating the malware on your computer!
Finally and maybe the most damaging for the infected user is the ability for the malware creator to steal your personal information. These malware programs can install what are called key loggers. These key loggers track every single keystroke you make on your keyboard - including all your passwords, personal information, credit card numbers and more. Once this information has been collected the malware creator has the information sent back to them so they can begin their credit card fraud or identity theft.