Malware

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• Malware
  

  "Malware", short for malicious software, is an umbrella term that refers to any software program deliberately created to perform an unauthorized and often harmful action. It is a simple combination of two words created to allow people to talk about viruses and all other forms of malicious software in a general manner.

  
  
• Three Criteria for Malware Existence
  

  No operating system or application is vulnerable to malicious programs unless external programs, no matter how simple, can be launched. If an external program, even the simplest, can be launched within an operating system or application, then it will be vulnerable to malicious programs. Most contemporary operating systems and applications need to work with other programs, so they do end up being vulnerable. Potentially vulnerable OS and applications include: All popular desktop operating systems Most office applications Most graphical editors Project applications Any applications with in-built script language

  
  
• Who Writes Malicious Programs and Why?
  

  Virus writers belong to one of four broad groups: cyber-vandals, who can be divided into two categories, and more serious programmers, who can again be split into two groups.

  
  
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• Where We've Been and Where We're Going
  

  The trends in virusology that we observe today have their primary roots in the second half of 2003. Internet worms Lovesan, Sobig, Swen and Sober all not only caused global epidemics, but alos profoundly changed the malware landscape. Each of these malicious programs set new standards for virus writers. Once a piece of malware which uses fundamentally new techniques to propagate or infect victim machines appears, virus writers are quick to adopt the new approach. Today's new threats all incorporate characteristics of Lovesan, Sobig, Swen or Sober. Therefore, in order to understand what virus writers are doing currently, and to predict what the future may bring, we need to examine this quartet of worms carefully.

  
  
• Malicious Programs Descriptions
  

  Malicious programs can be divided into the following groups: worms, viruses, Trojans, hacker utilities and other malware. All of these are designed to damage the infected machine or other networked machines.

  
  
• History of Malicious Programs
  

  Malicious software may seem like a relatively new concept. The epidemics of the past few years have introduced the majority of computer users to viruses, worms and Trojans - usually because their computers were attacked. The media has also played a role, reporting more and more frequently on the latest cyber threats and virus writer arrests.

  
  
• What to Do If Your Computer Is Infected
  

  Sometimes even an experienced user will not realise that a computer is infected with a virus. This is because viruses can hide among regular files, or camoflage themselves as standard files. This section contains a detailed discussion of the symptoms of virus infection, how to recover data after a virus attack and how to prevent data from being corrupted by malware.

  
  
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