Security Basics

Your computer is running at its best, but is it safe? You are never 100% protected online; you can get attacked within seconds, so it's best for you and your system to have protection, and do not fall for online scams spams and viruses. Before we continue on safety features, it's best for you to know what kind of malicious softwares are out there.

Malware, short for malicious software, is software used to disrupt computer operation, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems. It can appear in the form of code,scripts, active content, and other software. 'Malware' is a general term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software.

Software such as anti-virus, anti-malware, and firewalls are relied upon by users at home, small and large organizations around the globe to safeguard against malware attacks which helps in identifying and preventing the further spread of malware in the network.

Malware includes computer viruses, ransomware, worms, trojan horses, rootkits, keyloggers, dialers,spyware, adware, malicious BHOs, rogue security software and other malicious programs; the majority of active malware threats are usually worms or trojans rather than viruses.In law, malware is sometimes known as a computer contaminant, as in the legal codes of several U.S. states.Malware is different from defective software, which is a legitimate software but contains harmful bugsthat were not corrected before release. However, some malware is disguised as genuine software, and may come from an official company website in the form of a useful or attractive program which has the harmful malware embedded in it along with additional tracking software that gathers marketing statistics.

For a malicious program to accomplish its goals, it must be able to run without being detected, shut down, or deleted. When a malicious program is disguised as something normal or desirable, users may willfully install it without realizing it. This is the technique of the Trojan horse or trojan. In broad terms, a Trojan horse is any program that invites the user to run it, concealing harmful or malicious code. The code may take effect immediately and can lead to many undesirable effects, such as deleting the user's files or installing additional harmful software.

Trojan horses

One of the most common ways that spyware is distributed is as a Trojan horse, bundled with a piece of desirable software that the user downloads from the Internet. When the user installs the software, the spyware is installed along with it. Spyware authors who attempt to act in a legal fashion may include an end-user license agreement that states the behavior of the spyware in loose terms, which users may not read or understand.

Once a malicious program is installed on a system, it is essential that it stays concealed, to avoid detection. Software packages known asrootkits allow this concealment, by modifying the host's operating system so that the malware is hidden from the user. Rootkits can prevent a malicious process from being visible in the system's list of processes, or keep its files from being read.

Rootkits

Some malicious programs contain routines to defend against removal, not merely to hide themselves. An early example of this behavior is recorded in the Jargon File tale of a pair of programs infesting a Xerox CP-V time sharing system:

Each ghost-job would detect the fact that the other had been killed, and would start a new copy of the recently stopped program within a few milliseconds. The only way to kill both ghosts was to kill them simultaneously (very difficult) or to deliberately crash the system.

Backdoors
A backdoor is a method of bypassing normal authentication procedures. Once a system has been compromised, one or more backdoors may be installed in order to allow easier access in the future. Backdoors may also be installed prior to malicious software, to allow attackers entry.

The idea has often been suggested that computer manufacturers preinstall backdoors on their systems to provide technical support for customers, but this has never been reliably verified. Crackers typically use backdoors to secure remote access to a computer, while attempting to remain hidden from casual inspection. To install backdoors crackers may use Trojan horses, worms, or other methods.


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