Malware is the short form of
“Malicious Software”. These softwares are written by attackers for the sole
purpose of disrupting computer operation, gathering sensitive information, or
gaining access to private computer systems. Malware includes computer viruses,
worms, Trojan horses, rootkits, spyware, adware etc. There are many disguises
for a malware. Sometimes malware is disguised as legitimate software, but
deeply embedded in them are tracking software whose sole purpose is to gather
marketing statistics.
Due to recent scenario
Antivirus, Anti-Malware and other
such security suites provide protection against malware attacks. However, the
malice effect of Malware and the community behind the creation of these
malfunctioning scripts can’t easily be avoided by just installing protection
suites. There are “open source” malwares designed on a collaborative platform
by the cybercriminals. Today this is the single largest threat to the web users
and even antiviruses are incapable of identifying all of these threats due to
its constantly evolving nature.
Almost all recent studies around
security have shown that web based malware threat protection came as the top
priority followed by data breaches.
Ever more concerning is the use of technologies
like “Java”. This technology is used by numerous software and web pages,
however it is a very vulnerable platform and there are multiple security
loopholes, which are used as target to exploit.
Security issues
Although the malware knows no known
target computer, but the security issue concerning the protection of enterprise
data is much more important than personal data. On an average a single
enterprise data attack can cost a company as much as $100,000. Security
professionals hence spend sleepless nights finding ways to react to the ever
changing and evolving malwares.
Now with the advent of smartphones, it
is a new area for cybercriminals to target and plant malwares. Most of these
smartphones are always connected to internet and have loads of apps installed which
contain hell load of personal information. These make smartphones vulnerable to
cybercriminals. To add to the woes of IT Department, the recent trend of BOYD
allows end users access secured enterprise data over smartphone which is still
not monitored the way traditional PC networks are managed. Installing reliable
antivirus software can however keep a check on the phishing and scam activities
but has its own limitations.
As said earlier, most antivirus
software in not always capable of protecting the system against the malwares,
and that data breaches occurrence is growing leaps and bounds every day, it
falls responsibility on the end users too to get updated about the malwares and
other forms of security issues that they might face, and also to install a safe
browser and avoid installing software from unknown publishers.
Cybercriminals will never stop
innovating ways to perform data breaches, hence it’s our responsibility to stay
awake and protect ourselves and hope for the best.
Author Bio
Abel Wike is head of
security research division; she has been 4 years experience on fraud prevention
activities. She recommends website anti malware scan from geotrust to reduce the risk of malware attacks. It
can identify malicious code & assure your clients that website is malware
free by showing anti malware seal.
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