Malware, viruses, worm, trojan horse, adware, spyware, scareware , ransomware explained.

 Malware, viruses, worm, trojan horse, adware, spyware, scareware , ransomware explained.

 

Most people use computers or laptops in their daily life, Either for office work or for their entertainment purpose. And many of them had frequently listen to different  haunting term such as malware, virus, Trojan, etc. All of these terms actually comes under one thing known as malware.

What is a Malware?

Malware is software intentionally designed to damage your system, delete or copy user data, create backdoors, etc. Malware exists in different forms such as trojan horse, scareware, spyware adware, etc.

Malware is any software which when you install it on your computer system creates trouble, steals data, slows down your system, etc.
Malware can be divided into 7 parts:

1. Viruses
 

 

A computer virus is a piece of software that attaches itself to file Especially .exe and when executed gets activated and spread their copies into the system. This virus can delete your files, can make your computer system unstable, they can even use your email to get spread other system also, moreover it can corrupt the hard disk which can result in loss of data.
 

Usually, a virus doesn't run by itself, they are simply attached to application software like ms excel, ms word, etc. So whenever a user runs the software the virus runs too. Many viruses are harmless but some of them can be destructive.
 

So to avoid these a user should not download or install software for malicious sites. But if in case a user had downloaded software from an unknown source, the user should first scan that software by the antivirus and then he or she should use it.

2. Worms

A worm is a malware that reproduces itself and spread to another system over a network connection. A worm does not modify files because a worm does not have to attach itself to any file in your system like a computer virus. It simply multiplies until it fills all available space on the computer. There are different types of worms example email worms, instant messaging worms, internet worms, file sharing network worms, etc.

 

 The first-ever worm was created by a student named Robert Tappan Morris in 1988 at Cornell University, which effectively shuts down the whole internet for several days. The main difference between worm and virus is that a worm doesn't need a host file to replicate itself instead a worm is a standalone self-executing program that uses a network to spread its copies in other computer systems. 

 

3. Trojan horse

A trojan horse is simply an application software that looks genuine until runs. A type of malware is hidden in the host program or host computer system and it does not replicate itself like worms and viruses. 

These are the malware when gets activated create funny pops on screen like a dancing cartoon, funny and weird sounds, etc. A trojan horse from this point can look harmless but it is not true. A trojan horse can create back doors on your computer system, back doors in the computer system helps hackers or unauthorized users to enter into your system for their benefits. A backdoor can also send your private data or passwords to hackers.

There are various types of trojan horses like the file serving trojan horse, password-stealing trojan horse, distributed denial of service attack the trojan horse, etc.

4. Adware

 Adware is another type of malware which when installed on a system show an unnecessary or unwanted advertisement on the computer system. 

Just like the viruses they are also attached to a host file or software which when runs create pops of a different advertisement on the computer screen. Adware is not harmful but it can be a big headache. Also when multiple pops advertisement when presented on the screen by adware will increase the use of your CPU and memory power also, which will result in the reduction of your system performance.

Adware is only responsible for showing pop-ups on the screen they cannot install any monitoring mechanism on your system.

5.  Spyware

Spyware can sound similar to adware but it is very different from adware. Spyware is generally considered to be software installed on the computer system without the user's knowledge. Spyware runs in the background of a computer system. Spyware is simply used to spy on the user like monitoring the user's web browsing, keystroke activity, checking the user's emails, it can also slow down the computer system.

Spyware does not spread like a virus but they are very difficult to remove without proper assistance. Some spyware is adware also.

6. Scareware

Scareware is the type of malware which are not harmless. Scareware creates false popups on the screen like "you are arrested by FBI pay this amount to get free" or like "you system is hacked pay these amount or we will delete everything". Scareware cannot cause any kind of harm to the system, they are just installed to scare the computer user and to get money from it.

Some of the scareware pop-ups also force the user to visit malicious or infected sites to install multiple software for their advantage.

7. Ransomware

Ransomware is considered to be one of the most dangerous types of malware and can easily harm the user. Ransomware encrypts user data available on the system by cryptovirology and threatens the user to publish the user data on public sites. It also locks user's access to their data until the user pays the money. Ransomware encrypts the user data and creates an unlocking key also. 

 

It simply creates a pop-up on the screen that you are encrypted now, pay this amount to get access to your data or we will delete the unlocking or hash key. The user also doesn't have the guarantee that after paying the money he will get his data or not. And the user cannot also track the attacker by its billing address because the mentioned address for payment is the bitcoin address which is a fully secured payment technology made using blockchain.

That's why ransomware is considered the most dangerous malware.

 

If you wanna know about the computer networking devices then you can check this Networking devices explained