Think you know about malware? Here’s a refresher to make sure you know what you’re talking about. Generally, people call every type of malware a “virus”, but that isn’t technically accurate. You’ve probably heard of many more terms beyond virus: malware, worm, Trojan, rootkit, keylogger, spyware, and more (top 10 computer malware). But what do all these terms mean? Understanding them will help you understand the dangers you’ve heard about.
You know the first malware was “organism” written in 1950. computer scientist John von Neumann wrote the “Theory of self-reproducing Automata” a paper that postulates how a computer program could reproduce itself. In the 1950s, employees at Bell Labs gave life to von Neumann’s idea and created a game called “Core Wars.” In the game, software “organisms” competed for taking control of the computer itself. This was the first malware. Till then the term virus was not used. The term “virus” however, wasn’t introduced until the mid-eighties. Fred Cohen, a student at the University of Southern California ‘s School of Engineering often considered the father of what we know today as a computer virus, coined the term in his 1986 Ph.D. thesis
He defined a “virus” in a single sentence as: “A program that can infect other programs by modifying them to include a, possibly evolved, version of itself.”
Development of Malware
In the last four decades, almost everything has changed in the field of malware and malware analysis. The concepts have changed from malware creating as a security breach to malware created for financial gain to malware created to sabotage infrastructure. The global threat landscape is constantly and rapidly changing. Hackers and bad actors find new and devastating ways of infiltrating networks, leveraging security protocols, and hijacking users’ computers and systems for their own personal gain.
Malware is often created by teams of hackers: usually, they’re just looking to make money, either by spreading the malware themselves or selling it to the highest bidder on the Dark Web. However, there can be other reasons for creating malware too — it can be used as a tool for protest, a way to test security, or even as weapons of war between governments.
What is Malware?
The malware falls into two main categories: those that are basically no more than a nuisance, and those that are aimed at getting money from the victim.
“Malware” is brief for “malicious software” -computer programs or codes designed to infiltrate, damage, or disable the computer, Computer Systems, networks without the user’s consent. It can steal, encrypt, or delete your data, alter or hijack core computer functions, and spy on your computer activity without your knowledge or permission.
Here are Top10 Computer Malware
Top10 Computer Malware
I finds it funny when someone calls or write virus in their blogs. It can be biological virus or, a software viruses. You should always mention Computer viruses when writing or googling. Most of the people and end-users call every malware program as computer virus. All malware are not viruses
Possibly the most common type of malware, the VIRUS can execute itself and spread by infecting other programs or files. It is a kind of malicious code or program written to change the way a computer operates and is meant to spread from one computer to a different computer and again another computer and so on…
A virus operates by inserting or attaching malicious code to clean code so as to execute its code. In the process, a virus acts like an epidemic and has the potential to cause unexpected or damaging effects, like, harming the system software, core functionality of the system, or by corrupting, deleting or destroying data.
Some of the dangerously damaging Viruses are Blaster, Code Red, and Creeper.
2.Computer Worms
The email brought them into fashion in the late 1990s. It was very common to send them as an attachment to an email. When users open that wormed email, the worm spreads to the system and the attached systems also.
Some of the common worms are, ILOVEYOU, Michelangelo, and MSBlast
3.Computer Spyware
With this type of malware, you can check on the computer activities of your friends and foes.it is used to steal the passwords or intellectual property. It’s one of the oldest and most widespread threats on the Internet, secretly infecting your computer in order to initiate a variety of illegal activities, including identity theft or a data breach.
Some of the common spyware is, Adware, Trojan, Tracking cookies and system Monitors
4.Computer Adware
Adware is employed to trace a user’s browser and download history with the intent to display pop-up or banner advertisements that lure the user to buy something. Adware is often combined with spyware — a piece of malware may monitor your browsing habits and use them to serve you with more targetted ads.
Some of the common adware are Fireball, Appearch, and DollarRevenue.
5.Computer KeyLoggers
Computer Keyloggers are used for recording every keystroke you make..Then keystrokes are analyzed to steal passwords, credit cards, etc. They serve the purpose like spyware, Keyloggers may be software or hardware.
One of the common keyloggers is Olympic Vision keylogger
6.Computer Malvertising
Malvertising, or malicious advertising, is the term for criminally controlled advertisements within Internet-connected programs. Cybercriminals might pay to place an ad on a legitimate website. When a user clicks on the ad, code in the ad either redirect them to a malicious website, or installs malware on their computer.
Some of the most common examples are RoughTed, KS clean
7.Computer Trojan Horse
Trojan tricks users into downloading and installing malware disguising itself as a normal file. A Trojan can give a malicious party remote access to an infected computer. Once an attacker has access to an infected computer, it is possible for the attacker to steal data (logins, financial data, even electronic money).
A Trojan is meant to wreck, disrupt, steal, or generally, inflict some other harmful action on your data or network, install more malware, modify files and monitor user activity (screen watching, keylogging, etc).
Some of the most common types of Trojan malware are Backdoor Trojan, Fake AV Trojan, and Game-thief Trojan
8.Computer Rootkit
Rootkits are a highly sophisticated type of malware. Such malware sometimes loads much before loading windows. A rootkit might hide completely, preventing itself from showing up in the Windows task manager.
Once installed, Rootkits provide a bad actor with everything they need to take control of your PC and use it for DDoS or as a zombie computer.
Some of the top rootkit types that can pose threats to enterprises and individuals are Kernel-mode Rootkit, Bootkit, and Virtual Rootkit.
9.Ransomware
There were times when someone was kidnapped physically and ransom was asked. Now the bad boys have created ransomware malware to demand money in exchange for releasing their data. Users are shown instructions on how to pay a fee to get the decryption key. The costs can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands, payable to cybercriminals in Bitcoin within the stipulated time.
Some of the well-known ransomware are CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, Locky, TeslaCrypt, and CryptoWall.
10. Malware bot
There are some types of malicious bots capable of causing damage to our systems. The threat of these automated programs can come in many forms; DDOS, spam, content duplication, etc. Malicious robots can be used for hacking, spamming, spying, interrupting, scrape information, and compromising websites of different sizes.
