Malware, or Malicious Software, is used to either gather information or gain access to your system or network. It is incorporate all forms of computer attacks, as opposed to simply referring to them all as computer viruses. Because different types of attacks often have different motivations and infect your system in entirely different ways. The most common malware is:

●Viruses
●Worms
●Adware
●Trojan
●Rootkits
●Ransomware

A Virus is normally hidden within another program or file that will attempt to replicate itself in an attempt to destroy data and corrupt your system. The virus will only start to replicate when the file that contains it is moved or opened. Viruses are often built with the intent of destroying your machine.

A Worm behaves similarly to a virus, however, a worm will not require any human interaction. It is a standalone program and can replicate itself within your system with no human interaction or help. The purpose of the Worm is to destroy data and corrupt the system.

Adware is the type of malware with which the majority of users are most familiar with. Adware is what will automatically display advertisements while you are online, and often these ads are unwanted and unwarranted. It will constantly slow down websites and hackers can infect your system if clicked. And then the hackers will input different types of viruses, worms, rootkits, or Trojans to your computer, which is so terrible. So we suggest using an ad blocker when online to help keep you safe from potential attacks.

A Trojan horse attack is a type of attack that will appear as a useful or needed utility or software to get a user to download the file. To keep you protected from Trojan attacks, you only need to download files from reputable websites and do not click on any links in spam emails. In addition, many antivirus software offers the ability to verify single downloaded files quickly, so you can quarantine and verify a file is safe before opening.

A Rootkit is a tool used by different types of malware. It will modify the operating system so that malicious activities do not show in your system processes list and keep its files from being read, and to avoid detection by the operating system or from a virus protection software. It becomes more common in the malware world as more and more malware is being written with the intent of siphoning data from the system. It is installed upon to either steal trade secrets or make monetary gains. The behavior is terrible.

A Ransomware attack is an extremely evil type of malware, which will permanently lock your computer and demand a ransom for the hacker to release your network and data. A ransomware attack usually will start with either a social engineering attack or through the use of another malware attack such as a Trojan.

Once the ransomware being installed on your system, a Rootkit will hide its identity from your computer and any security features. After being hidden, the ransomware will start encrypting your data without your knowledge. In some cases, the ransomware will be active on a user’s system for well over a month before it presents them with the infamous ransomware notification.