What is Malware: Definition, Types, Rises, Security Tips

By Prempal Singh 0 Comment March 17, 2017  bugs, locky ransomware, malicious software, Malware, ransomware, rising of malware, rootkits, spyware, virus, what is malware

Malware: Malware is short for Malicious software, mean that software that can be used to compromise computer functions, take or grab data, bypass access settings, or cause harm to the computer. Malware is a broad term that refers to a variety of malicious programs. This post will determine several of the most frequent types of malware like:

Adware: Adware (short for advertising-supported software) is a type of malware that automatically offers advertisements. Common examples of adware include pop-up advertising on websites and adverts that are displayed by the software.

Bugs: Inside the context of software, a bug is a flaw produces an unwanted outcome. These flaws are usually the consequence of human mistake and problem and typically exist in the source code or compilers of a program.

Rootkits: A rootkit is a type of malicious software designed to remotely access or control a computer without being detected by users or security programs.

Spyware: Spyware is a type of malware that functions by spying on user activity without their knowledge. These spying capabilities can include activity monitoring, capturing keystrokes, data theft (account information, logins, financial data), and much more.

Trojan: A Trojan horse, commonly known as a “Trojan,” is a type of malware that a normal file or program to trick users into downloading and installing malware. An attacker can send to the victim with bind some other software, and victim install the original file but behind the software Trojan is installed and the attacker can access your system.

Virus: A virus is a form of malware that is capable of copying itself and spreading to other computers. Viruses often spread to other computers by attaching themselves to various programs and executing code when a user launches one of those infected programs

Worms: Computer worms are among the most common types of malware. They spread over computer networks by exploiting operating system vulnerabilities.

Rising of Malware

1966: The theory of self-reproducing automation is published, which posits that self-replicating code can be created through clever algorithms and techniques. The theory is based on the universal constructor, a machine designed in the 1940s Capable of reproducing itself using materials found in its environment.

1986: Brain virus is the first to use a stealth mechanism on a popular computing platform. It infected the boot sector of floppy disks, spreading globally in a few weeks. At the time the coders behind it were just 17 and 24, running a computer store in Lahore, Pakistan. When they discovered that customers were circulating illegal copies of software they’d created, the brothers wanted revenge. The brain was their attempt to set pirates straight. In a 2011 interview, the coders said the bug was “friendly” and “not made to destroy any data”. IT even contained their contact info.

1988: A graduate student releases a malevolent computer program on the internet, the Morris worm. Within a few hours, thousands of computers become clogged with numerous copies of a program that spreads from computer to computer muck like a biological infection. It took only days to clean up the mess, but the online world has never been quite the same since.

1991: The periodically dormant Michelangelo virus creates a media firestorm. Infecting the boot sector of floppy diskettes and hard drives, it represents a new and nasty type of attack.

1995: WM/Concept becomes the first virus to spread through a common word-processing suite.

1997: Trojans begin to replace self-propagating malware. These tend to steal ISP passwords, foreshadowing the phishing phenomenon that has dominated in recent years.

1998: The age of nation-state cyberespionage begins when a government agency detects network breaches from Russia, part of an intelligence-gathering hacking campaign that federal investigator codename Moonlight Maze. Thousands of documents with info relating to military technologies are stolen.

2005: Commwarrior is the first mobile phone virus able to spread via MMS message and wireless technology.

2010: Stuxnet, The beginning of the cyber war, this malicious computer worm is believed to be a joint America-Israeli effort and was used against an Iranian nuclear facility. Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information, it wreaks physical destruction on equipment that affected computer control.

2014: In December, hackers demand that a major movie studio pulls its film about a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader. As part of their extortion, they leak confidential internal data from the studio, including personal information about employees and executives email address and salaries.

2014: A grand jury indicts five Chinese military officials on charges of hacking and economic espionage, according to a federal law enforcement agency release. The targets were six U.S. enterprises operating in the solar products, nuclear power, and metals industries.

2016: Use of ransomware expands wildly. Sixty derivatives of Locky spread throughout. Europe and infect several million computers; Tiny Banker Trojan is later found to have infected more than 20 major U.S. banks; a DNS attack cripples internet access for 24 hours in the U.S. The head of a U.S. intelligence organization says that a “nation-state” consciously targeted a presidential candidate to change the outcome of the election.

Malware Affects symptoms

• Increased CPU usage, which you can see in the task manager.
• Slow computer or web browser speeds, which you feel that internet speed is too good but browsing data is not updated.
• Problems connecting to networks
• Freezing or crashing
• You realize that you are not deleting that file instead of the file is deleted itself automatically.
• Appearance of strange files, programs, or desktop icons
• Programs running, turning off, or reconfiguring themselves (malware will often reconfigure or turn off antivirus and firewall programs)
• Your system behavior is strange.
• Emails/messages being sent automatically and without user’s knowledge (a friend receives a strange email from you that you did not send)

Safety Tips

How to avoid Malware by detecting it manually

Checking temporary files and folder

You can check on task manager by right click on windows taskbar and go to service tab, and check there is malicious service is running or not. If it is, then right clicks on that service and go to containing the folder, then you can analysis that this service is valid or not.

Check timely to the following location that is there are unwanted folder or not

C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\LocalLow\Temp\

Block the virus from startup list

You cannot remove or kill the virus but you can put it sleep the malware, actually, some virus or malware are automatically started after booting, like another start up the application. So just block the malicious services or application which are start with windows.

So just click on start button and type run, or you can use window key + R for go to run window. Then write down the MSConfig for windows configuration.

System Configuration opens the “General” tab, where you will need to select the circle next to “Selective Startup.” Next, move to the “Startup” tab and go through the list there: select all the programs that have an unknown manufacturer and disable them, because programs with unknown manufacturers are almost always malware. Restart your computer to close any currently running versions of the malware.

Awareness about Malware

• Do not click on unknown URL or web link.
• Do not register anywhere with your personal information.
• Do not use cracked version software.
• Do not download the files and software from anywhere, if you want to download then use officials web sites or genuine website, you can check reviews on Google or that websites.
• Your antivirus must be updated.
• If you are using flash drives then just scan with your antivirus, if its ok then open flash drive folder, because sometimes attacker uses a file with an autorun, whenever you connect your flash drive then malware affect your system instantly and you can’t do anything, so just use good and updated antivirus.