Malware and its type

Malware stands for “Malicious Software” and it is designed to gain access or installed into the computer without the consent of the user. They perform unwanted tasks in the host computer for the benefit of a third party. There is a full range of malwares which can seriously degrade the performance of the host machine. Some of these go from simply distracting/annoying the user, to more complex or harmful actions which capture sensitive data from the host machine and send it to remote servers. There are various types of malware present on the Internet. Some of the popular ones are:

Adware

It is a special type of malware which is used to perform unwanted advertising. They either redirect the page to some advertising page or pop-up an additional page which promotes some products or events. This adware is financially supported by organizations whose products are advertised.

Spyware

It is a special type of which is installed in the target computer with or without the user permission. It is designed to steal sensitive information from the target machine. Mostly it gathers the browsing habits of the user and then sends it to the remote server without the owner of the computer knowing it. Most of the time it is downloaded onto the host computer while downloading free application programmes from the internet. Spyware may be of various types: It can keep track of the cookies of the host computer, it can act as a keylogger to sniff the banking passwords and sensitive information, etc.

Browser hijacking software

It downloads some malicious software which is offered over the internet and installed in the host computer without the permission of the user who is not aware/doesn’t know it. This software modifies the browser’s setting and redirect links to malicious sites.

Virus

A virus is a malicious code written to damage/harm the host computer by deleting or appending a file, occupy memory space of the computer by replicating the copy of the code, slowing down the performance of the computer, formatting the host machine, etc. It can be spread via email attachment, pen drives, digital images, e-greeting, audio or video clips, etc. A virus may be present in a computer but it cannot activate itself without the human intervention. Until and unless the executable file(.exe) is executed, a virus cannot be activated in the host machine.