What Is Malware and How Does It Affect Your Computer?
Malware is invasive software or computer code that infects, damages, or gains access to your devices, compromising their security and privacy. It can steal personal information and financial assets, encrypt data for ransom, or even shut down your entire business network. The consequences of a malware attack can be severe: Think of the trauma of an individual who discovers their social security number has been stolen and their credit scores are now trashy. Or the embarrassment of a reputable company who must tell its customers that a security lapse allowed their sensitive data to be compromised by cybercriminals.
In the early 1990s, hackers began using macro languages hidden in Word documents to create malware programs that spread within the Windows ecosystem of PCs. This gave rise to the term “malware” to describe this malicious software.
By 2002, attackers started spreading self-replicating malware known as worms to infect instant messaging networks such as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger. These worms took advantage of popular social engineering tactics such as inviting users to click on malware download links and exploiting their trust.
From 2007 to 2009, hackers leveraged the popularity of social media sites like Myspace and Twitter to spread malware through infected links, phishing attacks, and malvertising. In 2013, a new type of malware emerged called ransomware that infected PCs and demanded payments to unlock the systems, a trend that continues to this day.
Other types of malware include keyloggers, which record the keys struck on a keyboard and send that data to the attacker, and cryptojacking, where attackers use your device to mine for digital currencies such as Bitcoin. Regardless of the specifics of the malware type, every variant is designed to compromise the security and privacy of your computer system and its users.