Malware

A computer virus is basically a software program or software scripts that can adversely affect how your computer runs. These malicious viruses can create files, move files, erase files, consume your computer's memory, and cause your computer not to work right. Some viruses can replicate and attach themselves to other programs, and travel across our network. Opening an infected e-mail attachment is the most common way to get a virus.

Computer worms are a type of standalone malware program that can duplicate itself in order to jump to other computers. It uses the computer network to spread itself. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. It can tunnel through your computer's memory and hard drive. If a computer worm consumes the memory you will notice your computer running very slow and it can even crash your system. If the computer worm affects your hard disk space, you will not be able to save or create new files because it will eat up your hard drive space.

Trojan horses are software programs that masquerade as regular programs, such as games, disk utilities, and even antivirus programs. But if they are run, these programs can do malicious things to your computer.

Spyware is software that "spies" on your computer. This type of malicious software can be downloaded from Web sites, email messages, instant message and more. You can even be downloading Spyware from an application when you accept an End User License Agreement from a software program. This type of software spies on your Web browsing habits, e-mail messages, usernames and passwords, and credit card information.

Email Spam is the electronic version of junk mail. It contains unwanted messages, often unwelcomed ads, to huge numbers of addresses. Spam can be a severe security concern because it can deliver Trojan horses, viruses, worms, spyware, and even directed phishing occurrences. Clicking on links in spam email may send users to phishing websites or sites that are hosting malware.

Phishing is basically online con games where malicious tech-savvy criminals attempt to steal private information. For more information, go to our page on phishing.

Email spoofing is the forgery of an email header so that the message appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual source. Email spoofing is a tactic used in phishing and spam campaigns because people are more likely to open an email when they think it has been sent by a legitimate source.

A spoofing attack is when a malicious party impersonates another device or user on a network in order to launch attacks against network hosts, steal data, spread malware or bypass access controls. There are several different types of spoofing attacks that malicious parties can use to accomplish this.