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Types of
Threats |
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There are a vast number of threats that could
affect your computer today: |
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Worms |
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This malicious program category largely exploits
operating system vulnerabilities to |
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spread itself. The class was named for the way the
worms crawl from computer to |
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computer, using networks and e-mail. This feature
gives many worms a rather high |
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speed in spreading themselves. |
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Viruses |
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Programs that infected other programs, adding
their own code to them to gain |
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control of the infected files when they are
opened. This simple definition explains the |
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fundamental action performed by a virus -
infection. |
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Trojans |
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Programs that carry out unauthorized actions on
computers, such as deleting |
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information on drives, making the system hang,
stealing confidential information, |
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etc. This class of malicious program is not a
virus in the traditional sense of the word |
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(meaning it does not infect other computers or
data). Trojans cannot break into |
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computers on their own and are spread by hackers,
who disguise them as regular |
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software. The damage that they incur can exceed
that done by traditional virus |
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attacks by several fold. |
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Spyware |
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Software that collects information about a
particular user or organization without |
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their knowledge. You might never guess that you
have spyware installed on your |
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computer. |
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Riskware |
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Potentially dangerous applications include
software that has not malicious features |
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but could form part of the development environment
for malicious programs or could |
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be used by hackers as auxiliary components for
malicious programs. |
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Rootkits |
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Utilities used to conceal malicious activity. They
mask malicious programs to keep |
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anti-virus programs from detecting them. Rootkits
modify the operating system on |
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the computer and alter its basic functions to hide
its own existence and actions that |
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the hacker undertakes on the infected computer. |
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