BotNet News

Whether it’s locking up critical data for ransom, disrupting digital medical devices that help keep us alive or stealing industrial secrets to give competitors the upper hand, malware is one of the most dangerous and costly cyber threats. A single successful attack can have devastating consequences for individuals (bad credit, bankruptcy and identity theft) or entire organizations (loss of revenue and a loss of competitive advantage when intellectual property is stolen).

Cyber criminals use a variety of methods to deliver malware programs. They can be hidden as file attachments in emails, as add-ons on free download apps or embedded in Microsoft Word macros. They can also be downloaded from third-party websites and shared over peer-to-peer networks.

Once downloaded, malware programs can be active immediately or remain dormant until a specific condition is met. Examples of these conditions include a computer or device rebooting at a specific time, changes to software settings or an unusual amount of pop-up ads (which indicate adware).

Other malware types are less visible and harder to detect. For example, process hollowing is a technique that allows the malware to hide in the memory of a benign process by starting and pausing that process then replacing its own memory with malicious code. Or, a Trojan horse can hide in an existing app and use it to install more malware on the system. Finally, rootkits provide hackers with privileged access to systems and networks, making it difficult for security software to detect their activities.