Malicious software commonly referred to as malware is increasingly being used as a way to make money from illegal activities. Such activities include:

1. Identity theft
2. Extorting money from individuals and or corporations
3. Information & Data warfare against governments

In many cases, the victims are unaware their systems have been compromised and as a result, it is becoming increasingly important to protect ourselves against malware. Over the course of my next two blogs I will be discussing the most common forms of malware along with preventative maintenance and removal of malware.

The most common forms of malware are as follows:

• Viruses - A virus is malware which attaches to a program inadvertently installed or copied to a PC. When a required program is run, the malware also runs.
• Worms – Unlike Viruses, Worms can distribute themselves across a network and across the Internet. Once a worm takes up residence in a computer on a network, built-in routines attempt to locate other vulnerable systems, sending special packets. Once a vulnerable system is found, the worm copies itself to that system. Now there are multiple copies of the worm attempting to propagate within the processing environment. Over time, this replication process might slow network performance and compromise all vulnerable systems.
• Trojans - A Trojan is a program that looks like a useful application. For example, you might download free software from an email or web advertisement. When installed the software will perform as expected however in the background, it's engaged in activities designed to compromise your system.
• Spyware ­- Spyware is software that is downloaded and installed, usually as part of another program installation which gathers information about individuals, companies, and systems. It then transmits this information back to a parent device where cyber-criminal can exploit the information.  

For the safety conscious amongst you malware can be scary stuff, during my next blog I will discuss forms of malware protection.