Malware refers to any type of malicious software that tries to infect a computer or mobile device. Hackers use malware for multiple purposes, such as extracting personal information or passwords, stealing money or preventing owners from accessing their devices.
Many people include everything in a single concept: "Virus", but there are many types of Malware, and against many of them, the most effective way to combat them, is to recognize them, for this, in this post we will review the different types of malware that exists and the damage they can cause.
Virus
Programs, which when executed, infect parts of the computer, whether processes, or other major programs, altering its operation in various ways, in the worst cases, damaging the system. These viruses must be run manually to start their operation, although there are other tools to camouflage them within other types of files and thus run indirectly.
Adware
These Programs are basically advertising that is often installed in our browsers or even as pop-ups, they are usually installed together with the installation of free programs.
This type of software is less harmful to our computer, but if we are not careful, it can greatly affect our comfort and performance of our equipment.
Spyware
This software starts with our team and collects all the possible information on our computer to transmit it to another anonymous team, affecting our privacy, performance of our device and network resources.
Worms
Similar to Viruses, these have the ability to copy themselves once they have infected a device and spread to other computers on the same network, quickly affecting a large number of devices, these can be a great threat in large structures and affecting largely to our network traffic, creating endless communications between devices that collapse the network.
Trojans
Other software that is hidden in our computer, but this, acting of access so that another user from another point, can connect and take control of our equipment, this software, is not destructive in itself, although it is a tool that is used in bad Hands can lead to the destruction of our team.
Riskware
We call Riskware 2to all this software, which is not malicious, but its installation is a breach in our equipment, be it remote administration programs, or applications that open ports.
Phishing
More than a type of malware is a method to infect us with any type of software, this method is based on sending information by mail to a multitude of users, posing as known entities and using curiosity for the victim to open the email and thus Send us to a malicious web address where we can be infected by malicious software.
The possible damages.
The extent of the damage caused by malicious software often depends on whether you have infected a home computer or a corporate network. The consequences of the damage can also vary according to the specific type of malware and the type of infected device, in addition to the nature of the data stored on the device or to which it accesses.
Although in some cases the results of a malware infection may be imperceptible to the user; in others, the damage can have serious consequences:
Corporate network:A Trojan virus that sends spam can generate a slight increase in communication traffic, while other types of infection can cause the total collapse of the corporate network or the loss of critical company data.
Home users:an infection can lead to the loss of relatively unimportant information that can be easily replaced, or generate loss of information that offers cybercriminal access to the user's bank account.
