Have you experienced any unusual behaviors on your computer system after downloading a file from an unknown source?

Have you had a corrupted data replaced by unknown files stored on your hard drive? Have you had a slow internet connection because of high bandwidth usage?

Well, think again.  These things are possibly caused by malware’s malicious actions.

Malware is any program or software that has malicious actions designed specifically to damage a system.

Malware starts by entering a computer system through different ways like attaching itself as an email attachment or downloading itself once a user visits a malicious web site.

Once malware enters the system and the user executes it unknowingly, it then exploits other entry points like system startup process, application or program process and registry keys.

With this, it will have the chance to infect the system with its malicious actions.  It can possibly propagate or spread to other systems.

But not all malware can propagate itself, but they can perform other attacks.  Viruses modify and infect files, Trojans masquerade as a legitimate file to trick individuals and Worms infect networks.

After this, the malware can drop its payloads that can further infect computer systems.  This may result to unusual system behaviors, damaged computers, or corrupted data.

Kinds of Malware

• Virus – is a program that tries to modify the behavior of a computer system without the user’s consent.  A virus requires a host to propagate or spread to other systems.  Its goal is to infect other files in order to replicate itself.
• Trojan – is a program that masquerade as a desirable application.  It does not propagate itself; this is why it is not considered a virus or worm.  But virus and worms can be used to copy a Trojan to other systems or networks as a form of a payload.
• Worm – is a program that is able to spread copies of itself to other systems through network connections, email attachments and file transfers.  Unlike a virus, a worm doesn’t modify files.  Although it may need another program to propagate, it doesn’t change that program or file in any way or form.

Now that we know the differences between the kinds of malware, it will help us to prevent our computers from being attacked or infected.

Consider the following preventive actions to secure your computer system:

1. Apply the latest Microsoft security patches
2. Disable the Autoplay feature of Windows
3. Allow “Read Only” access to network shares
4. Maintain a strong password policy
5. Scan downloaded files first with updated anti-virus software before executing them

You can check our post which is about “Tips to Secure Computer from Virus“. The article gives you a tips to protect your computer from malware.

Understanding Malware is a post from: Computer Spot