What is Malware and How Does it Affect Your Computer?
Malware is a general term for any software program that is designed to cause disruption to computer systems, servers or networks, leak private information, steal intellectual property, gain access to login credentials and more. These programs are often hidden on devices, infecting users by tricking them to execute a download or clicking an unsolicited link. The malware then starts to perform the task it’s programmed for, such as stealing data, encrypting files, installing additional malware and so on.
Before the Internet became popular, malware spread through floppy disks and hard drives and was known as viruses and worms. Early viruses were based on the Apple II and Macintosh operating systems while later worms targeted IBM PC and MS-DOS machines. From 2002 to 2007, IM worms like SWINet, FraudGPT and Love-GPT spread via instant messaging platforms such as AOL IM and MSN Messenger by sending malicious download links.
Today, many types of malware aim to do one thing: make money. Attackers can gain monetary or reputational damages to individuals, companies and organizations by stealing sensitive data, credentials and payment information from infected computers. Attackers can also disrupt services in critical infrastructure like power grids, healthcare facilities and transportation systems by executing ransomware attacks.
Other objectives of malware include acting as a backdoor to provide attackers with unauthorized access to infected systems or by communicating back to the attacker’s command and control server (called ‘phoning home’) to download additional infections such as adware, keyloggers or cryptojackers. Another common objective is to cause device or network degradation, like decreasing performance or reducing available storage space on the device.