What is Malware?

WARNING! You are about to install some malware!

Starting from the moment a malware warning similar to the above message pops up on your screen till the time you've followed all instructions to protect your computer from the threat, it's sheer panic! While most of us have faced this malware threat situation and many among this "most" have actually gone through the harrowing experience of setting things right after their computers have been invaded, the exact facts and information regarding malware is still a bit obscure for most. While we all know that malware are wicked programs and software designed to stealthily access our computers and cause considerable damage, in terms of data stealth and system corruption, such knowledge is generic for most as we have a general idea rather than specific insight into it. So, what is malware? Let's find out!

Malware and Its Various Forms

The term malware is the combined cropping of malicious software. As mentioned above, malicious software is a program that is specifically designed to stealthily invade a computer system that is accessing the Internet and such invasion is done without the informed consent of the human user or owner of the computer system. A malware is usually a hostile, intrusive or annoying program which may cause considerable damage such as data stealth, data loss, drive corruption, file system corruption, etc. The status of malware is usually given to a software based upon the perceived intention of the writer of such a program behind creating such a program code. You must have often wondered about the difference between malware, adware and spyware, haven't you? Well, malware usually comes in eight forms - computer viruses, computer worms, trojan horses, dubious adware, crimeware, spyware, scareware and rootkits. Each of these forms of malware are being briefly discussed below.

Virus
A computer virus is a program which is designed in such a way that once it invades a computer system, it replicates itself just like an actual biological virus. The replication continues till either steps are taken to remove the infection or till the virus has taken over the entire system. Computer viruses need to attach themselves to other programs in order to be able to replicate. Similar to biological viruses, even computer viruses need working hosts. Email viruses are the most common ones to invade a computer system.

Worm
A computer worm is also an infection, and like a virus, it replicates across the entire computer system. However, unlike a virus, a worm does not need to attach itself to an existing program and the replication can take place even without user intervention. Worms don't always corrupt files or drives like viruses. Worms usually invade computer networks due to faulty computer security and low network security. The harm caused by them may include something as simple as eating up bandwidth and slowing down the system.

Trojan Horses
Trojan horses are malware that enter the computer system under the guise of a useful application, mostly with the user's knowledge, and appear to perform relevant or desired functions. However, under this guise of utility, Trojan horses make way for unauthorized access to the user's system, once it has been installed and run on the system. Like the Trojan Horse of Greek legends, this malware appears as a harmless object before getting entrance into the user's computer system. Trojan horse virus removal could be quite a time-consuming task, if the infection has spread considerably.

Dubious Adware
These are advertising supported software which automatically play or download advertisements to the computer and in doing so, expose the computer to spyware and other privacy invasive programs and software. These mostly come in form of pop-ups and the best way to avoid them are to stop pop ups by installing the relevant tool bars or enabling pop up blocking options. You can also take the help of various adware protection tools.

Crimeware
These malware are specifically designed for the purpose of cyber crime and are mostly used to carry out identity thefts and hack the user's accounts to commit fraud. Such fraud usually includes fraudulent online financial transactions by hacking the genuine user's account.

Spyware
As the name suggests, spyware are malware that are installed on the user's computer system to spy upon user information without the latter's knowledge. Detecting these malware is a really difficult task, as they may exist in your system for months without your knowledge. That's why, getting spyware protection by installing an anti-spyware software is advisable - after all, prevention is better than cure.

Scareware
These malware are marketed to users under claims that they would correct a threatening computer situation. Most of the time, these malware are sold by cyber criminals who claim that your computer is hit by a virus and that downloading this other software and installing it on your system will be beneficial. Most scareware are scam software or spyware.

Rootkits
A rootkit is an auxiliary malware that allows privileged access of another software to a computer system by hiding the latter's entity from the users and even administrators. It does so by causing a subversion of the functionality of the regular operating system.

I guess that gives you a somewhat clearer idea of what a malware is, including a brief overview of the various forms of malware. Nowadays, a lot of anti malware products are available which, when installed on your computer, protect the system from potential malware threats and gives you malware warning when you access certain sites, and when you are about to install certain unknown software applications. This is a better option than anti-virus software as anti malware software safeguard your system against all the other seven types of threats as well as viruses. These software are enabled for malware detection as well as malware removal. Many free spyware removal programs are also available online these days. So, the next time you see that attractive offer to download and install a free application, stop right in your tracks! It could be a malware....