One of the biggest worries and problems all internet users face today is Malware. Malware, short for malicious software, is a term that describes any software program designed to damage or do unwanted actions on a computer system. Some of these action may include disrupting computer operations, gathering sensitive information, gaining access to private computer systems or displaying unwanted advertising. The main types of Malware include the following, which we will go into more details about. (Contributor, Techterms.com, 2016)
• Viruses
• Worms
• Rootkits
• Trojan Horses
• Spyware
Computer Viruses are a form of malware that are small software programs that can spread to different computers. They cause interference to your computer’s operations,
Then this data may be spread or shared with others without the consent of its owner. It can also lead to the computer being controlled without the consumer’s consent. Spyware can consist of domestic or commercial. With domestic, computer owners may install this to monitor family members or employees, while commercial can be used by companies to track internet browsing and help marketers with advertising. Third parties can also install domestic spyware. Two of the main third party spyware installations are used in very different ways. Law enforcement agencies have used this to monitor suspected criminal information and criminals have used this to steal people’s information and cypher funds. Even though spyware is used to monitor, track and store a user’s movements and in many cases allow pop-up ads to be present based on the data collected, it can also be used to gather personal information including user login in, bank and credit card information and track where people use the net. (Contributor, TopTen Reviews,
(Consumer Information: Malware, 2016) One of the first and most important steps is installing security software from reliable and reputable companies. Companies such as Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, Bitdefender offer some of the top internet security programs. (Egan, 2016)These companies and many others offer protections at reasonable prices and cater to different areas and levels of computer security needed by the user. There really is no excuse not to have security on your computer or devices because many companies will even offer basic protection for free. It truly is so tempting to click on things, download things for free or simply upload updates or add-ons that you believe are needed to properly run programs that you use and not uncommon for many people to do, even on a daily basis. We get things from people that we know and automatically trust the source, not knowing whether or not their computer has been infected with any of these malware. In many cases, things are spread unknowingly and sometimes innocently. I feel the best way to protect yourself is to be prepared, proactive and smart. Set yourself for
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
From Facebook to Twitter, you can find out what is happening in the world that is “trending.” Is it okay to let companies like Google keep Internet browsing history and use it to lure users? Some might not feel it as a problem but what if Google is not the only one possessing that information? Well, that is precisely what is happening. Google and a reported 140 other companies are already tracking user to fit advertisements to their user’s recent history or videos they have watch that the...
Internet privacy has been a major issue for its users in the last decade. It is bigger than ever before, as more people join social media cites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These companies, keeping track of our personal data, have a responsibility to make sure our information remains private. Precautions Internet users take to protect their information from being used wrongfully, the government’s connection to this issue, and how the future generation responds to these practices. Consumers’ privacy refers to ability to control when, how, and to what extent the personal information is to be transmitted to others.
Information can be gathered about someone because of what they make public on social media, this includes: making a profile that includes personal information, tagging a location, or posting photos that capture personal details. However, data can also be gathered without one knowing. Information is gathered on store credit card holders every time they make a purchase. “Inside such a card a computer chip is buried that records every item purchased along with a variety of personal information of the buyer. This information obtained from the card enables marketing companies to do targeted marketing to specific individuals because the buying habits as well as other personal information of people are known” (Britz, 1996). There are certain types of software that can be considered harmless, for example “Cookies are small text files with unique ID tags that are embedded in a web browser and saved on the user’s hard drive” (Bidgoli, 2015) Another type of software that doesn’t have malicious intent is adware, which is simply a marketing tactic that collects data about internets users to determine which advertisements to put in each user’s web browser. Unfortunately, there are also types of software that do have malicious intent. One of these is Spyware, which is a type of software that gathers information about users, without their consent while they browse
You can see that data can be pulled from users’ search history, browser history, online preferences, social and working connections, medical knowledge and all aspects of a persons’ life is gathered. The data can be shared with marketers, advertisers, researchers and government agencies. As such, the above habit raises eyebrows in regards to an infringement into the privacy rights of an individual (Daniel, 2009).
Why do people create computer viruses? Why they benefit from it? It is like asking why do people commit crimes? (Why People Create Computer). In the 20th century at the beginning of early computer viruses. They were for experiments, annoyance, and testing. They do not really harm computer systems or computers back then. In the 21st century computer viruses, are changing. They are becoming smarter and more destructive rarely without annoyance but they serve a purpose to cause some harm to a computer or computer systems (Benford).
Having first appeared in Russia in 2005, referred as Winlock, that successfully scammed over £10m from unsuspecting victims before the Russian authorities arrested 10 individuals for involvement in such hackings in 2010, however it hasn’t stop the growing number of the problem. With such profitable money to obtain, perpetrators have discovered new ways to spread the malware and to cash-in at the expense of victims.
Computers are main technological features that allow criminals to step into unsuspecting victims lives. With a simple piggy-backing program hackers are able to track every keystroke made by the victim. One such program is called spyware, not to be confused with adware, which is often referred to interchangeably with spyware, but is potentially harmless (Louis 15). Spyware, hidden within downloaded software, implants itself deep within a computer’s hard drive, allowing it to track every move made by the user (Louis 16). Once inside a system, spyware can gather e-mail addresses, passwords, and credit card numbers.
Many big tech companies silently collect data when people use their products. For example, Facebook has a hidden sneaky feature that attempts to collect data from their phone users based on what they speak into the phone microphone. Google also secretly collects data about the physical world and who lives where through their Street View technology. Both technologies attempt to increase transparency by revealing more information about others to more people. This brings up a concern regarding the privacy that people will have in the future.
Malicious software in short known as Malware. It is also known as computer Contaminant. Similar to biological parasite, malware also reside in a Host. Malware will get installed on host without user’s consent. Generally a software is considered malware based on the intent of the creator...
However, the same personal data is being compromised and eroding privacy. Companies have been getting bolder in their attempts to gather, share and sell data. The latest trend is outsourcing data to third party companies for data processing, which can be done at a lower cost. One of the main problems with this approach is that a lot of very sensitive data is being sent, which could be harmful in the wrong hands. Most companies require their customers to "opt-out" to prevent their data from being shared with a company's affiliates. This process requires the customer to explicitly tell the company not to share their data, which is usually in the form of a web site or a survey sent in the mail. These surveys are often thrown away by consumers, so they don't even realize that they're giving the companies a green light to sell and share their data.
Malicious code, also known as malware, installed on a computer provides an attacker with the control over this machine. Therefore, malware can be defined as “a set of instructions that run on your computer and make your system do something that an attacker wants to do”. It is more common to see malicious code to be implemented in binary executable files. However, it can be implemented in almost any computer language. Attackers have used a huge number of scripting languages, word processing macro languages and a h...
...ntial information from a user. Luckily, there are reliable ways of defending against them. The most reliable way is to install strong security software that has the capacity to defend against the multifaceted forms of threats. Avoiding P2P file sharing sites and scanning email attachments before downloading them are also a surefire way of protecting a computer against malware threats. Basic acts like using an updated browser and allowing Windows updates to install and update themselves are also necessary to keep a machine safe. Furthermore, checking validity of individual website addresses and installing authenticated software can also help a computer user remain safe from potential data theft and possible damage of useful programs. It may also pay good dividends to backup files. In case of a lethal malware attack, backed-up files can always be recovered easily.
In today’s days malware is designated as a software which aims to disturb a computer with the consent or permission of the owner. This term “Malware” is used by computer professionals to describe a varied forms of destructive, annoying and intrusive software code. This word “Malware” is used to indicate all types of malware which include a true set of viruses.
...h the threat of “Mobile Malware” looming in the air, the desire to give the general public fair warning has never been greater. This paper was intended to provided that knowledge the general public needs and will reinforce the topic to those who were already aware. The history of malware gave you a look into the not so distant past. The discussion of technical examples of malware was intended to show you how rapidly the threat is developing along with the statistics of malware’s current expansion, and the future examples of malware and research showed you concepts that were unimaginable to the common electronic consumer. The majority of malware was originally designed to be a practical joke, but as we can see from the ever growing desire for malicious intent, the evolution of malware has followed suite. We can only hope that the growing need for security can be met.