PROTECTION FROM MALWARE IN HOME AND OFFICE
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Today’s blog is interesting. You already know me and you know that I love to help you and make your life as easy as possible. Today I am going to teach you, easily and quickly, how to detect, avoid and eliminate viruses and malware.
What
Is Malware?
Formerly called computer viruses, today they are more
technically known as 'malware' (malicious software). This term is used to
encompass all types of malicious program or code specifically designed to
infect a computer and thus perform certain actions (harmful or fraudulent) for
which it was programmed.
Types
of Malware
There are different types
of malware:
Adware
/ PUPs: Those annoying malware that fill us with advertising.
Rootkits: Elusive
and sometimes difficult to remove.
Trojans: The
most dangerous. They are famous for being "the thieves" who steal
bank details, private and confidential information from companies or
individuals, and so on.
Botnets: Creators
of networks of PCs Zombies.
Rogues: Fake
antivirus that fool thousands of people every year.
Ransomware
/ Crypto-Ransomware: They are the ones that currently sound the
most due to the recent cases that you have seen in newspapers and digital
magazines. They are hijackers of computers and their files that can only be
released if the amount requested by their creator is paid. It is one of the
most common types of extortion today.
For all these unpleasant creations of unfriendly people, we
bring you this guide with tools and steps to follow in order to detect and
eliminate practically 90% of all the 'malware' currently circulating on the
net.
The
Complete Family of Malwares
Within the generic name 'malware' we find specific
malicious programs such as: Computer viruses, Trojans (Trojan horse), Banking
Trojans, Ransomwares , Worms ( Worm ), Hijackers , Badwares , Keyloggers , Backdoors
, Fake Antivirus (Rogues) Scarewares, Rootkits, Bootkits, Adwares, Botnets,
Spywares , Ransomware and Crypto-Ransomware.
Who
Creates Malware and For What?
Today, the creation of 'malware' has evolved into an
industry of organized crime (crimeware). Although it may surprise some, it is
run by mafias. They are not mafias in the traditional sense of the word
(although some mafias are already modernizing). They are groups specialized in
all types of computer crimes (cybercriminals) that revert to significant economic
benefits for their creators.
How
Can My PC Get Infected?
Among the main routes of infection we can currently highlight:
§ When
installing any free program, without reading its options (PUPs / Adware).
§ When
you insert an infected USB device (Worms) into the computer.
§ When
you visit a website that is still legitimate, it has been infected
-drive-by-download- (Ransomware).
§ If you
download fake drugs (hacks, activators, serial generators ...) from pirated
programs or "gift" programs (Spyware / Trojans).
§ Download
a fake Adobe Flash Player or JAVA update to watch a video (Trojan / Botnet).
§ By
opening an attachment or following a link in an unsolicited email (Spam /
Phishing).
§ Follow
an infected link from a known contact (who has also been affected) or wall on
social networks, Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.
§ Visiting
malicious pages to which we were directed by Google searches (BlackHatSEO).
What
Would Be The Symptoms That My Computer Is Infected By Malware?
Modern malware is getting stealthier and more elusive, and
it's no longer just about wiping data on your hard drive. They can also take
advantage of your system to turn your computer into a Zombie PC (Botnet). In
this way, your PC will serve criminals to send spam, host malware, phishing
sites, steal data, etc. This is why they will try to stay on your system for as
long as possible without being detected by you or by security software like antivirus software.
In other cases they are already more noticeable when making
modifications to our equipment such as:
Change the home and search page of our browser and / or
redirect Google results to other sites.
Issue false alert messages or infections on our computer.
Prevent the installation or execution of programs, as well
as not letting the antivirus or other security programs update.
Block security websites or forums that tell you how to
remove threats.
Total blocking of the entire computer (Ransomware) or even
encrypting all the victim's files (Crypto-Ransomware) to ask for money and
extort money to recover them and other things.
Prevent the spread of malware by email.
You should know how to prevent the spread of email malware
both on your computer and at work. Cyber-attacks have always been a problem for
users. Their growing presence and sophistication affect both home and business
computers.
Personal information, accounts or finances are some of the
areas compromised by malicious software that comes from different routes. Here
we explain how to avoid the spread of 'malware' by email, as it is the
mechanism most used by cybercriminals due to its easy implementation.
Avoid
Malware At Home
Ignorance and overconfidence are the weapons used by black
hat hackers (crackers) to spread emails with malware. You must pay attention to
each e-mail received and pay attention to some key points. First, it examines
the subject (the title of the message) to determine if the text is in doubt, is
in another language, or was written in an unknown one. In case the sender is a
company, its name must match the email address that sends it.
Also, do not open the attachments if you do not recognize
the extension, generally XLSM and DOCM are used instead of the actual
extensions XLSX (excel) and DOC or DOCX (Word) that correspond to Office
documents to run encryption programs. The result is the loss of your documents
and the request for a financial reward to recover them. It goes without saying
that any personal data such as users or passwords should not be delivered under
any circumstances, especially if it is banking information as you should
already know.
Avoid
Malware in the Enterprise
More and more people have email addresses for their
companies. This is a situation that encourages the spread of threats. It is
convenient to audit the documents shared with employees, those that are sent to
clients and those that are received. Each worker must respect and follow
cybersecurity protocols, as well as the preparation of a daily or weekly backup
of documents in the appropriate cases and carry out eventual analyzes of the
state of the system using antivirus.
Another applicable security measure is to restrict the type
of documents that each department handles so that an infection does not reach
all areas and can be contained. On the other hand, the daily use of the mobile
phone (and more so if it is a business) puts the integrity of the company at
risk. This is mainly due to the fact that the type of malware is different on
computers and mobiles. Most 'Smartphone' users do not have antivirus installed on
their device. A notable improvement would be to have an action protocol to
check the company's emails from the mobile. It is currently one of the best
security ideas you can take.
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