Article printed from SiteProNews: http://www.sitepronews.com
  HTML version available at: http://www.sitepronews.com/archives.html

Malware: Computing's Dirty Dozen
By Joel Walsh (c) 2005

It seems that no sooner do you feel safe turning on your
computer than you hear on the news about a new kind of internet
security threat. Usually, the security threat is some kind of
malware (though the term "security threat" no doubt sells more
newspapers).

What is malware? Malware is exactly what its name implies: mal
(meaning bad, in the sense of malignant or malicious rather
than just poorly done) + ware (short for software). More
specifically, malware is software that does not benefit the
computer's owner, and may even harm it, and so is purely
parasitic.

The Many Faces of Malware

According to Wikipedia, there are in fact eleven distinct types
of malware, and even more sub-types of each.

1. Viruses. The malware that's on the news so much, even your
grandmother knows what it is. You probably already have heard
plenty about why this kind of software is bad for you, so
there's no need to belabor the point.

2. Worms. Slight variation on viruses. The difference between
viruses and worms is that viruses hide inside the files of real
computer programs (for instance, the macros in Word or the
VBScript in many other Microsoft applications), while worms do
not infect a file or program, but rather stand on their own.

3. Wabbits. Be honest: had you ever even heard of wabbits before
(outside of Warner Bros. cartoons)? According to Wikipedia,
wabbits are in fact rare, and it's not hard to see why: they
don't do anything to spread to other machines. A wabbit, like a
virus, replicates itself, but it does not have any instructions
to email itself or pass itself through a computer network in
order to infect other machines. The least ambitious of all
malware, it is content simply to focus on utterly devastating a
single machine.

4. Trojans. Arguably the most dangerous kind of malware, at
least from a social standpoint. While Trojans rarely destroy
computers or even files, that's only because they have bigger
targets: your financial information, your computer's system
resources, and sometimes even massive denial-of-service attacks
launched by having thousands of computers all try to connect to
a web server at the same time.

5. Spyware. In another instance of creative software naming,
spyware is software that spies on you, often tracking your
internet activities in order to serve you advertising. (Yes,
it's possible to be both adware and spyware at the same time.)

6. Backdoors. Backdoors are much the same as Trojans or worms,
except that they do something different: they open a "backdoor"
onto a computer, providing a network connection for hackers or
other malware to enter or for viruses or spam to be sent out
through.

7. Exploits. Exploits attack specific security vulnerabilities.
You know how Microsoft is always announcing new updates for its
operating system? Often enough the updates are really trying to
close the security hole targeted in a newly discovered exploit.

8. Rootkit. The malware most likely to have a human touch,
rootkits are installed by crackers (bad hackers) on other
people's computers. The rootkit is designed to camouflage
itself in a system's core processes so as to go undetected. It
is the hardest of all malware to detect and therefore to
remove; many experts recommend completely wiping your hard
drive and reinstalling everything fresh.

9. Keyloggers. No prize for guessing what this software does:
yes, it logs your keystrokes, i.e., what you type. Typically,
the malware kind of keyloggers (as opposed to keyloggers
deliberately installed by their owners to use in diagnosing
computer problems) are out to log sensitive information such as
passwords and financial details.

10. Dialers. Dialers dial telephone numbers via your computer's
modem. Like keyloggers, they're only malware if you don't want
them. Dialers either dial expensive premium-rate telephone
numbers, often located in small countries far from the host
computer; or, they dial a hacker's machine to transmit stolen
data.

11. URL injectors. This software "injects" a given URL in place
of certain URLs when you try to visit them in your browser.
Usually, the injected URL is an affiliate link to the target
URL. An affiliate link is a special link used to track the
traffic an affiliate (advertiser) has sent to the original
website, so that the original website can pay commissions on
any sales from that traffic.

12. Adware. The least dangerous and most lucrative malware
(lucrative for its distributors, that is). Adware displays ads
on your computer. The Wikipedia entry on malware does not give
adware its own category even though adware is commonly called
malware. As Wikipedia notes, adware is often a subset of
spyware. The implication is that if the user chooses to allow
adware on his or her machine, it's not really malware, which is
the defense that most adware companies take. In reality,
however, the choice to install adware is usually a legal farce
involving placing a mention of the adware somewhere in the
installation materials, and often only in the licensing
agreement, which hardly anyone reads.

Are you ready to take on this dirty dozen? Don't go it alone.
Make sure you have at least one each of antivirus and
antispyware.
================================================================
Joel Walsh writes for spyware-refuge.com about malware removal:
http://www.spyware-refuge.com/spyware-removal.html?%20malware%20remover
[Publish this article on your website! Requirement: live link
for above URL/web address w/ link text/anchor text: "malware
remover" OR leave this bracketed message intact.]
================================================================

Copyright © 2005 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.