What is Malicious Software(Malware)?
Malicious Sotware or malware is a term often heard by many but ignored by some. It is a harmful software made by cybercriminals and sent throughout the web for the purpose to steal, abuse, destroy and crash others computer system and information. There are various types of malware known to men till these days; Virus, Worms, Trojans, Spyware, Rootkits, and adware. You can learn about each type of malware here. Many new malware emerge each day for the sole intention of invading others computer system. Their purpose of invading can be a way to have fun,testing their ability, to feel superior than others or some to gain money. A premilinary results made by Symantec in 2008 stated that "the release rate of malicious code and other unwanted programs may be exceeding that of legitimate software applications."
Often users are infected by malware unwittingly as they surf the web because of the various ways a malware can be distributed. One major way use by cybercriminals to distribute their malicious code is by using e-mail. The malicious code are often sent as an attachment with an e-mail and the sender are disguse as a trustworthy sources or friends. Other ways are by using the pop-up windows; if a user click on the pop-up windows the malware will be install automatically into user computer and through the use of websites where certain websites throughout the web is spreading various types of malware. There are even those websites that forge another trustworthy sites as a way to gain user's trust. You can learn more on various ways malware are distributed and how to prevent it here.
What is Internet Security and why do we need it?
Computer security is a term often heard these days and even though it is something that needs all Internet users intention, sadly it is often ignored by the majority of Internet users. Some Internet users think that computer security may not necessary if they don't store any important data in their system.
As stated, when we are connected to the Internet not only we are able to obtain and search for vast information provided in the network we are also open to lots of security vulnerabilities such as malware, data theft, phishing and more. This is where computer security plays its role, as its name suggest Internet security are there to secure your computer and connection from most of the security vulnerabilities came from foreign network.
There are many reason for securing your computer:-
To prevent data theft especially money related information.
To protect our privacy when we are surfing the Internet.
To avoid computer from corrupting and crashing.
To protect our computer from malicious software, malware for short. These include viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, and rootkits. These malware are describe in detail here.
To prevent computer resources such as CPU's performances, hard disk's space, and internet connection being abuse by hackers.
Without proper security software installed in your system you are open to many attacks by malicious software and are easily abuse by cybercriminals all over the Internet.
