My Introduction to Malware

Malware – it strikes fear in every computer user’s heart.

You may have heard of the term malware that is software with a malevolent intent. According to Wikipedia, the definition of malware is “software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent.”

In this day and age, with so much data exposed in banking, credit cards, online purchasing, and paying bills, etc., it’s possible for our financial data to be uncovered. In addition, some malware is simply destructive in that it will render your computer useless. There are many types of malware, such as spyware, viruses, worms, backdoors, and Trojan horses, just to name a few.

Many of you may have already been affected – remember when the UF announced that the Grove system had been possibly breached with over 97,000 students’ personal information exposed, such as name and social security number?

What does all this mean? What do you do when malware affects you? How can you get rid of it? These are just a few of the questions that I’d like to address in this blog. Some additional topics are:

· What exactly is malware?
· Where did it come from?
· Who writes malware and why?
· What are the differences between viruses, worms, backdoors, and Trojan horses?
· How can I remove malware from my system?
· How can I protect myself from malware?
· What do I do when I get a warning that some content contains malware?
· What are keystroke copiers and botnets?
· The forensics and upcoming trends of malware.

Of course, if you have any additional topics you’d like to see, feel free to comment here.

References:

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2009), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware
(Retrieved March 6, 2009)