Could your computers be infected?
Malware, malicious software, is designed to infiltrate a computer system without the user’s knowledge. It encompasses many forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The words “computer virus” is used as a general phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.
Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most root kits, spyware, dishonest adware, crime ware and other malicious and unwanted software.
Many early infectious programs, including the first Internet Worm were written as pranks generally intended to be harmless or merely annoying rather than to cause damage. In some cases the perpetrator did not realize how much harm their creations could do. Young programmers learning about viruses and the techniques wrote them for the sole purpose that they could or to see how far it could spread. As late as 1999, widespread viruses appear to have been written solely as pranks.
Since the rise of widespread broadband Internet, malicious software has come to be designed for a profit motive, either more or less legal forced advertising or criminal. Since 2003, the majority of widespread viruses and worms have been designed to take control of users' computers for black-market exploitation. Infected "zombie computers" are used to send email spam to host illegal data such as pornography, or to engage in distributed denial-of-service attacks.
Symantec recently suggested that "the release rate of malicious code and other unwanted programs may be exceeding that of legitimate software applications." Malware's most common pathway from criminals to users is through the Internet - by e-mail and websites.
Another strictly for-profit category of malware has emerged in spyware -- programs designed to monitor users' web browsing, display unsolicited advertisements, or redirect affiliate marketing revenues to the spyware creator. Spyware programs do not spread like viruses; they are, in general, installed by exploiting security holes or are packaged with user-installed software, such as peer-to-peer applications.
For a malicious program to accomplish its goals, it must be able to do so without being shut down, or deleted by the user or administrator of the computer on which it is running. Concealment can also help get the malware installed in the first place. When a malicious program is disguised as something innocuous or desirable, users may be tempted to install it without knowing what it does. This is the technique of the Trojan.
In broad terms, a Trojan horse is any program that invites the user to run it, concealing a harmful or malicious payload. The payload may take effect immediately and can lead to many undesirable effects, such as deleting the user's files or further installing malicious or undesirable software. Trojan horses known as droppers are used to start off a worm outbreak, by injecting the worm into users' local networks.
One of the most common ways that spyware is distributed is as a Trojan horse, bundled with a piece of desirable software that the user downloads from the Internet. When the user installs the software, the spyware is installed alongside. Spyware authors who attempt to act in a legal fashion may include an end-user license agreement that states the behaviour of the spyware in loose terms, which the users are unlikely to read or understand.
Once a malicious program is installed on a system, it is essential that it stay concealed, to avoid detection and disinfection. Techniques known as root kits allow this concealment, by modifying the host operating system so that the malware is hidden from the user. Root kits can prevent a malicious process from being visible in the system's list of processes, or keep its files from being read. Some malicious programs contain routines to defend against removal, not merely to hide, but to make attempts to remove them virtually impossible.
A backdoor is a method of bypassing normal authentication procedures. Once a system has been compromised (by one of the above methods, or in some other way), one or more backdoors may be installed in order to allow easier access in the future. Backdoors may also be installed prior to malicious software, to allow attackers entry.
Spyware programs are commercially produced for the purpose of gathering information about computer users, showing them pop-up ads, or altering web-browser behaviour for the financial benefit of the spyware creator. For instance, some spyware programs redirect search engine results to paid advertisements. Others, often called "stealware" by the media, overwrite affiliate marketing codes so that revenue is redirected to the spyware creator rather than the intended recipient.
Another way that financially-motivated malware creators can profit from their infections is to directly use the infected computers to do work for the creator. The infected computers are used as proxies to send out spam messages. A computer left in this state is often known as a zombie computer. The advantage to spammers of using infected computers is they provide anonymity, protecting the spammer from prosecution. Spammers have also used infected PCs to target anti-spam organizations with distributed denial-of-service attacks.
It is possible for a malware creator to profit by stealing sensitive information from a victim. Some malware programs install a key logger, which intercepts the user's keystrokes when entering a password, credit card number, or other information that may be exploited. This is then transmitted to the malware creator automatically, enabling credit card fraud and other theft.
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