Other Types Of Malware:

• Hijacker: These programs are appropriated for navigation applications in the network (especially browsers) and cause the automatic opening of undesirable web pages.
• Rootkit: Rootkits are usually composed of a driver and, sometimes, from the modified copies of programs normally present in the system. Rootkits are not harmful in itself but whose function is to conceal, both for the user that programs such as antivirus, the presence of particular files or system settings are then used to hide spyware and Trojans.
• Rabbit: The rabbit are programs that exhaust the resources of the computer by creating copies of them (in memory or on disk) at high speed.
• Adware: Software programs that you have advertisements during use, compared with a reduced rate or nil risk which can cause damage and slow down your PC. Privacy risks as communicate surfing habits to a remote server.
• Batch: Batch is the so-called “virus amateur. Files are not always dangerous because there are many far from malicious batch file, the problem comes when a user decides to create one that executes the command to format the PC (or other harmful things) the user that is sent file. Does not open automatically, you must open it, so given that the virus does not find the batch files as dangerous and always helpful to ensure that the source who sent you the file is trusted, or open it with notepad to test whether his dangerousness. But we must also say that there are ways to disguise and make them look Batch exe files, increasing the weight to allay suspicion. The use of this particular “malware” is often recurrent in Cyberbullying.
• Keyloggers: Keyloggers are programs that can record everything a user types on a keyboard or by copying and pasting thus making it possible to steal passwords or data that may be of interest to someone else. The difference with adware is that the computer does not notice the presence of keyloggers and the program does not cause slowdown of the PC, going so totally unnoticed. Generally, the keylogger is installed on your computer from trojans or worms, in other cases, the keylogger is installed on your computer by another person who has access to a PC or via remote access (which allows a person to control another PC from his own PC via a program) or in person, so stealing data and password.
• Rogue Antispyware: Malware pretends that a program for PC security, forcing users to purchase a license of the program.

In common usage the term virus is used as a synonym for malware and the misunderstanding is fueled by the fact that anti-virus to detect and remove other types of malicious software in addition to the virus as such.

Note that a malware is characterized by the misconduct of its creator, so do not fall within the definition programs contain bugs, which are the norm even when it is observed on a best effort in the development of software.

Criminal Activities Related To Malware

The legislation on malware is extremely variable depending on countries and is constantly evolving. In general, if viruses, worms and trojans are illegal in almost every part of the world you can not say the same for other categories. Dialers program in particular is legal in itself, so that any modern operating system contains at least one. The ambiguity is worsened by the fact that most software is located on the boundary that separates a true malware from a program maybe annoying but not harmful.

Currently, malware (including trojans and worms and spyware, and malware) are used to send large amounts of files requested by the user, the latter are usually sold to spammers. There is a real black market linked to malware than the trading of personal information, you can purchase the use of infected computers, which can be used for its own purposes and without the knowledge of owners, a certain amount (in order of thousands) of computers controlled remotely via a backdoor.

Study: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons.

What Is Malware?

Malware is defined as any software created with the sole purpose of causing more or less serious damage to the computer on which it runs. The term comes from the contraction of the words malicious and software, and therefore the literal meaning of “program evil”, is also known as malicious code.

The spread of such software is constantly increasing. It is estimated that in 2008 only one year on the Internet are shot about 15 million of malware, including those circulated between the months of January and August are the sum of the previous 17 years, and these numbers will likely increase.

Categories Of Malware

Are distinguished several categories of malware, though often these programs are composed of several parts interdependent, and therefore belong to more than one class. Furthermore, given the rapid developments in this field, the classification presented below is not to be exhaustive.

• Virus: they are pieces of code that spreads by copying itself into other programs, or in a particular section of the hard drive in order to be executed each time the infected file is opened. A virus program travels from one computer to another via the movement of infected files by users.
• Worm: they do not need malware to infect other files to spread, because changing the operating system of the host machine to be executed automatically, and groped to replicate using mostly the Internet. To induce you to run them using social engineering techniques, or exploiting the defects (bugs) of some programs to spread automatically. Their purpose is to slow down the system with useless or harmful operations.
• Trojan horses: software that besides having the functionality “lawful”, useful to induce you to use, contain malicious instructions that are executed without the user. Not have auto-replication, so spread must be knowingly sent to the victim. The name comes from the famous Trojan horse.
• Backdoor: literally “back door”. Are programs which allow unauthorized access to the system you are running. Typically spread in combination with a trojan or a worm, or are a form of emergency access to a system, for example to cater for the recovery of a forgotten password.
• Spyware: Software that is used to gather information from the system on which they are installed and to transmit to a beneficiary. Information carp may go up from surfing habits to passwords and encryption keys for a user.
• Dialer: these programs are responsible for managing the connection to the Internet via the normal telephone line. Malwares are quite dangerous programs as they are used in fraudulent manners, changing the number dialed by the connection with a default set rates in order to reap illegal profits without your knowledge.

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