MALWARE: What is it, Its Type and How to avoid them

We are going to explain what exactly malware is, a type of threat that has quite a few types, from computer viruses to ransomware. Sometimes it can be a bit confusing to find you so many names to talk about the different types of malware, and we end up not knowing the differences well. In this article, we are going to try to explain everything to you.

We will start by explaining what exactly malware is, and we will continue with a short list summarizing the different types of malware that you can find on the network. Later, we will give you several tips to avoid it, both knowing how they tend to spread and with other extra tips.

What is malware?

The word malware comes from English, and it is the result of the union of the words malicious software or malicious software. Therefore, it is a type of software or application that aims to harm the device in which it has been managed to host, install or infiltrate, be it a computer, a mobile phone or any other device.

There are many types of malware, including computer viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware, and ransomware. However, malware is the main term we use to talk about all these computer threats.

The way of acting of each one is usually different, but in common they have the objective of damaging the equipment or its user, and that of being installed in the computer or electronic device without you wanting it to be there or without you noticing. For the latter, each type of malware will use different techniques that range from camouflaging itself as a normal application, tricking you into installing it, or being installed by a different application.

However, all applications that can expose your data or create unwanted operations on a computer are not malware. For example, faulty software is not malware, although it may end up having similar effects in some cases, as it is simply programs that were designed with good intentions, but whose code has bugs that cause it to malfunction.

Malware types

Let’s summarize the main features of the different types of malware:

·       Computer virus: A type of malware whose objective is to alter the proper functioning of a device. A virus needs to be run by the user thinking that it is a legitimate application, and once it does, it can replicate and infect the computer. There are different types, from simple jokes made to annoy others that can seriously damage your computer by deleting or modifying files that directly affect its operation.

·       Computer worm: This malware does not require user intervention or modify any existing file, and it can also replicate itself and send copies to other computers connected to the one they are on or that are in their contact list. They are often used to create botnets, zombie computer networks that can act simultaneously when an operator gives them the order to send SPAM in bulk, spread malware or launch different types of computer attacks DDoS or denial of service attacks.

·       Trojan: It is a malware that goes inside a legitimate program or disguised as it to enter your computer as if it were using a Trojan Horse, hence its name. While a virus is usually destructive, a Trojan tries to remain inconspicuous while accessing your device with the intention of executing hidden actions to open a back door so that other malicious programs can access it or steal information. These do not spread by themselves.

·       Spyware: A malware that also installs itself on your computer by itself or through the interaction of a second application that launches it without you noticing, and often works secretly trying not to be detected to collect information about the user or organization that owns it. Unauthorized computer.

·       Adware: An application on the frontier of malware, because it is not always harmful to the computer. Its only mission is to get into your computer and start showing you advertising, either while you are browsing the internet, as a popup at random times or during the execution of a program. To do this, it is installed on your computer normally through the installation process of other applications, almost as if it were a Trojan but without harming you.

·       Ransomware: Ransomware is a malware that hijacks the data on your computer by blocking only them or the entire computer, and asking you for a financial ransom in exchange for recovering them. This type of program can access your computer on the back of a computer worm or other type of malware, and it is important to never pay the ransom so as not to encourage their use and because you have no guarantees of releasing the data on your computer.

How can your computer get infected?

Each type of malware has its own techniques when it comes to infecting your computer. However, there are several common methods that many of them share, and precisely for that reason they are the ones that you will have to pay attention to the most to avoid their installation.

First of all, be careful with internet downloads. When you want to download a program or application, always use the official pages. And is that when you download it from third-party pages, you can end up with installers of those pages that, in the best of cases, will try to put adware on your computer.

You have to take extreme precautions if you are looking to download programs on P2P networks, especially if you are looking for cracks to break the security protections of legitimate games to play for free. These cracks and the promises to get a certain game or application for free, saving you a lot of money, are a classic and eternal method of dissemination for many types of malware, since cracks are always programs that you have to run.

You also have to be careful with emails. Often times, a cybercriminal may attempt to impersonate a business or organization, or even a friend. They can do this to take you to a fraudulent page where they can obtain your credentials such as username and password, making you think that you are logging in to the real web, or to download applications with malware inside.

Always be careful with any free program that you do not download from its official website or that you do not know about. We repeat it because it is one of the most common methods. And if it is not recommended to download an application from well-known websites but that are not the official one of the program, you have to avoid by all means downloading them from pages that you do not know or have never heard of.

Other precautions to avoid malware

Beyond avoiding the classic methods of infection of different malware, there are other things that you can also do to prevent it. The most important thing is to have your device's operating system always up-to-date, since both computers and mobiles are periodically updated in security, in which remedies for known malware are implemented.

Never install applications that you do not know, no matter how good promises their creators make, and if you are tempted to do so because this program does something you need, find out first by looking for its name on the Internet. Thus, you will be able to know if other users have had problems with it, and you will avoid the most common method of installing malware, which is through a malicious application. It's the third time we've mentioned it to you, yes, but it's very important.

If you are careful with all the programs or applications that you install on your computer, they are not always necessary. However, as a precaution it is also usually advisable to have some type of antivirus, especially in operating systems that do not have a centralized method to download applications.

By this, I mean that in operating systems such as Android or iOS the applications are downloaded through their internal official stores, which allows Google and Apple to control the security of these apps. Even so, sometimes malicious apps also sneak in, that is, for the fifth time, be careful with installing apps that you do not know.

Meanwhile, in other operating systems such as Windows you can install programs that you download from other web pages, so it is more advisable to have an antivirus on these computers. Windows 10 already comes with its own antivirus called Windows Defender which is pretty good, although you also have other alternatives that you can turn to.

Other operating systems like macOS or GNU / Linux are much less widely used than Windows, which means that cybercriminals do not bother to design so much malware for them. However, that does not prevent you from always having to take precautions and at least pay attention to the most common diffusion methods.

Finally, it is also important to make backup copies of your operating system and its files. Thus, if malware makes your computer useless or makes it work too badly, you will have a backup copy with which to return to a previous state, or a copy of the files so as not to lose them if they are damaged.