Introduction to Malwares

The term malware came from “Malicious software”. It is the software designed to damage, disturb and disrupts normal operations or to steal data. There are different types of malwares. The four main types are

1.   Virus: A virus is a malware attached to another program. Typically a virus requires human interaction to spread. It can be attached with an email or any other shared file.

2.   Worm: A worm is similar to virus. It will not attached to another program and comes as standalone program. It can be automatically spread by using the weaknesses in the operating system

3.   Adware: Adware is a software which will generate a popup window periodically to buy some products or some service. Even though it is harmless, will be annoying for users.

4.   Spyware:  Usually offers something free, and will ask to complete a survey and when you click the submit button it will execute. It can be used to steal information from your system.

5.   Trojan: A Trojan comes as helpful program and may provide some helpful functions. But in the background it will do the malicious activity.

6.   Rootkits: A rootkit is a type of software designed to hide the fact that an operating system has been compromised, sometimes by replacing vital executables. Rootkits allow viruses and malware to “hide in plain sight” by disguising as necessary files that your antivirus software will overlook. A rootkit operates at the kernel level and very hard to find for an Antivirus.

7.   Ransomware: It is a kind of malware that will lock or encrypt files and demands payment to decrypt.

8.   Botnets: Botnet is the short for robot and network, as they do human activities like sending mails, browse web etc. A bot combined with the virus can send email as you from your system.

Protecting System from Malware

                            To protect from malware you should install an antivirus to your system. Antivirus is the software used to remove malwares. Most antivirus uses the definition files, which are the list of all known malware. Each vendor will update their definition files periodically. Because of these updates you should update your antivirus to get the latest definition files. Antivirus checks any newly downloaded program to ensure that it is malware-free. It periodically scans the computer to detect and defeat any malware that might have slipped through.

  There are so many antivirus vendors like popular Norton, Kaspersky, McAfee, Malwarebytes etc. You can choose the desired one based on the resource usage and other options they provide.

     One of the most popular ways to spread malware is by email, which may be disguised to look as if it is from a familiar company such as a bank, or a personal email from a friend. So personal vigilance also required to protect against the malware.

                There are so many free rootkit removal tools like Kaspersky TDSSkiller, Malwarebytes anti rootkit etc. available in the internet. You can run them frequently along with the antivirus.

Limiting User Rights

                          Least privilege is a key component of protecting against any malware, including ransomware. If users don’t need admin rights to their systems, don’t give it to them. That way, malware may not even be able to run on their system since most types must be executed. Limiting file system access on network shares to Read for data that users don’t need to make changes to will prevent ransomware from encrypting those files. Eliminating shares that are open to all, or worse, allow anonymous access, is always recommended, but can reduce the scope of damage ransomware could cause.

Backup

   Always take the backup of your important files to alternate location like external storage or cloud storage like OneDrive or google drive.