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Malware
(Malicious software) is a catch-all term used to refer to a variety
of software that is designed specifically to disrupt and/or damage
a computer system. It can be a Virus, a Trojan Horse,
a Worm . . . . .
Let's
stop right here for a bit . . . . . As an example of just how confusing
the terminology used to describe Malware is, the most dangerous
of them all and certainly the most common of them all - the Virus,
is further subdivided into the three groups originally mentioned:
Viruses, Worms and Trojans.
You
can wade through the ½ million hits on Google for
"Malicious Code" or the 82,000 + hits on "Malware"
and find a variety of definitions for Malware. I like the
simple explanation at F-Secure
which defines Malware as: A common name for all kinds
of unwanted software such as viruses, worms, Trojans and jokes.
Based
on that simple explanation, I define Malware as: Take a deep
breath....
Viruses,
Worms and Trojans, spy software, advertising software (especially
those pop-ups), Key Loggers, Jokes (the really bad ones),
Spam, Chain Letters, Porn, and "Aggressive Marketing Software",
and anything else I did NOT invite into my computer. Well, OK, I
can live with the jokes.
The
persons involved in attempting to get Malware onto my PC
are known as Bad Guys, Crackers, Hackers, Black Hats and Script
Kiddies (so far).
Some
of the ways they can attack me are: Exploits, Backdoors, Buffer
Overflows, Hacking, Cracking, AV (Audio Video) software, Social
Engineering, Denial of Service (DOS/DDOS) attacks, Man in the Middle,
Replay, TCP/IP Hijacking, DNS Poisoning, Weak Keys, Mathematical,
Birthday, Password Guessing, Brute Force, Software Exploitation,
War Dialing, Port Scanning, Ping of Death, War Driving, Fragment
Attacks, Syn Floods, as well as Smurfing, Spoofing & Sniffing
(so far)
What
do all those words mean? Heck, I don't know them all. That's why
I use Google. However, if
you want protection against Viruses, Worms
and Trojans, spy software, advertising software (especially
those pop-ups), Key Loggers,), Spam, Chain Letters, Porn,
and "Aggressive Marketing Software", I
can help you there. I mean:
Now
if you will excuse me, I have some reading to do . . .
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