What’s the Difference Between Viruses, Trojans, Worms, and Other Malware?

Virus Removal Information: What’s the Difference Between Viruses, Trojans, Worms, and Other Malware?

At Lawrence Systems / PC Pickup we are experts at removing viruses, malware,worms and trojans from your computer. But we are often asked what is a virus,malware or trojan so here's a helpful guide to understanding all the different types of malware.

What is Malware?

The word Malware is short for malicious software, and is a general term used to describe all of the viruses, worms, spyware, and pretty much anything that is specifically designed to cause harm to your PC or steal your information.

Viruses Wreak Havoc On Your Files

The term computer virus is often used interchangeably with malware, though the two don't actually have the same meaning. In the strictest sense, a virus is a program that copies itself and infects a PC, spreading from one file to another, and then from one PC to another when the files are copied or shared.

Most viruses attach themselves to executable files, but some can target a master boot record, autorun scripts, MS Office macros, or even in some cases, arbitrary files. Many of these viruses, like CIH, are designed to render your PC completely inoperable, while others simply delete or corrupt your files—the general point is that a virus is designed to cause havoc and break stuff.

You can protect yourself from viruses by making certain your antivirus application is always updated with the latest definitions and avoiding suspicious looking files coming through email or otherwise. Pay special attention to the filename—if the file is supposed to be an mp3, and the name ends in .mp3.exe, you're dealing with a virus.

Spyware Steals Your Information

Spyware is any software installed on your PC that collects your information without your knowledge, and sends that information back to the creator so they can use your personal information in some nefarious way. This could include keylogging to learn your passwords, watching your searching habits, changing out your browser home and search pages, adding obnoxious browser toolbars, or just stealing your passwords and credit card numbers.

Since spyware is primarily meant to make money at your expense, it doesn't usually kill your PC—in fact, many people have spyware running without even realizing it, but generally those that have one spyware application installed also have a dozen more. Once you've got that many pieces of software spying on you, your PC is going to become slow.

What many people don't realize about spyware is that not every antivirus software is designed to catch spyware. You should check with the vendor to make sure the application you are using to protect you from malware is actually checking for spyware as well. If you come across a PC that is already heavily infected, MalwareBytes & "SpyBot Search and Destroy" is a good program that can clean it thoroughly.

Scareware Holds Your PC for Ransom

Scareware is a relatively new type of attack, where a user is tricked into downloading what appears to be an antivirus application, which then proceeds to tell you that your PC is infected with hundreds of viruses, and can only be cleaned if you pay for a full license. Of course, these scareware applications are nothing more than malware that hold your PC hostage until you pay the ransom—in most cases, you can't uninstall them or even use the PC.

If you manage to come across a PC infected with one of these, your best bet is to Google the name of the virus and find specific instructions on how to remove it, but the steps are usually the same—run a combination of , MalwareBytes & "SpyBot Search and Destroy" to help remove it.

Trojan Horses Install a Backdoor

Trojan horses are application that look like they are doing something innocuous, but secretly have malicious code that does something else. In many cases, trojans will create a backdoor that allows your PC to be remotely controlled, either directly or as part of a botnet—a network of computers also infected with a trojan or other malicious software. The major difference between a virus and a trojan is that trojans don't replicate themselves—they must be installed by an unwitting user.

Once your PC has been infected with the trojan, it can be used for any number of nefarious purposes, like a denial of service (DoS) attack against a web site, a proxy server for concealing attacks, or even worse—for sending out buckets of spam. Protection against trojans works the same way as viruses—make sure that your antivirus application is up to date, don't open suspicious attachments, and think long and hard before you try and use a downloaded crack for any comercial program—that's one of malware authors' favorite spots to hide a trojan.

Worms Infect Through the Network

Computer worms use the network to send copies of themselves to other PCs, usually utilizing a security hole to travel from one host to the next, often automatically without user intervention. Because they can spread so rapidly across a network, infecting every PC in their path, they tend to be the most well-known type of malware, although many users still mistakenly refer to them as viruses.

Some of the most famous worms include the ILOVEYOU worm, transmitted as an email attachment, which cost businesses upwards of 5.5 billion dollars in damage. The Code Red worm defaced 359,000 web sites, SQL Slammer slowed down the entire internet for a brief period of time, and the Blaster worm would force your PC to reboot repeatedly.

Because worms often exploit a network vulnerability, they are the one type of malware that can be partially prevented by making sure your firewall is enabled and locked down—you'll still need an updated antivirus software, of course.

Confused? Still have questions or need our help removing a virus?

Give us a call and we can get your computer back up and running!

Cleaning up your system with CCleaner

Have you wanted a program that can clean up your system easily. Well that program is called CCleaner and can be found here on our web site. This small program does a very good job at cleaning up all of the temp files and all of the information left in your web browsers.

First when you open up CCleaner your main window should look like the one below and should be on the Cleaner tab. Depending on your preferences you can check whichever options that you would like to use. You then have two choices you can either just push Run Cleaner or you can hit Analyze. Is doesn't really matter which one you use but I personally like to use the Analyze first because then you can see how much space that is going to be freed up on you hard drive. Then after it is done analyzing I will then click on the Run Cleaner button.

Main CCleaner window

After Analyze

After Cleaning is completed

Facebook Facts you probably didn't know!

What you probably didnt know about Nintendo

Whats Happened with Cell Phones This Decade?

Net Neutrality under attack again

If you enjoy wandering freely around the Internet and enjoy that over %60 of the content on the internet is non commercial and available to you, then you should be in favour of Net Neutrality.

Earlier this year it was determined that the FCC could regulate the service providers such as Comcast in the same way the phone industry is regulated. These regulations keep the internet the same as it is now, free, open and unrestricted.

Comcast began filtering their customers internet and selectively blocking content. Comcast was in complete denial of doing this but after an extensive investigation they were caught red handed and were forced to stop.

What Comcast and other internet service providers are after is being able to control where you go on the internet. For example, they could start blocking internet phone providers such as Skye or Vonage because they want you to use their phone service instead. The more threatening example is they could decide what political or religious sites to block based on their own agenda. Imagine if they had a vested interest in one political candidate or bill they wanted to pass, they could simply filter out any web site that had an opposing view.

The next step Comcast took was to go after the FCC.

"A federal court threw the future of Internet regulations into doubt Tuesday with a far-reaching decision that went against the Federal Communications Commission and could even hamper the government's plans to expand broadband access in the United States.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the FCC lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. That was a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, which had challenged the FCC's authority to impose such "network neutrality" obligations on broadband providers"
(From MSNBC)

The Internet is a wonderful place where ideas and information flow freely and has brought forth new business models that were not even conceived of less than ten years ago. It has allowed us more direct access to information than ever before and I am on the side of keeping it that way.

Better Passwords

Nearly a quarter of people (23 per cent) polled in a survey by Symantec use their browser to keep tabs on their passwords.

A survey of 400 surfers by Symantec also found that 60 per cent fail to change their passwords regularly. Further violating the 'passwords should be treated like toothbrushes' maxim (changed frequently and not shared), the pollsters also found that a quarter of people have given their passwords to their spouse, while one in 10 people have given their password to a ‘friend’.

Password choices were also lamentably bad. Twelve of the respondents admitted they used the phrase 'password' as their, err, password while one in ten used a pet's name. The name of a pet might easily be obtained by browsing on an intended target's social networking profile.

Eight per cent of the 400 respondents said they used the same password on all their online sites, a shortcoming that means a compromise of one low-sensitivity account hands over access to a victim's more sensitive webmail and online banking accounts. The survey respondents came from readers of Symantec's Security Response blog, who might be expected to be more security savvy than the general net population, though the survey shows many of them making the same basic errors that crop up time and again in password security surveys.

Symantec has put together its findings together with a list of suggestions for picking better passwords, a basic but woefully overlooked security precaution, in a blog post here.

The net security firm advised computer users to pick a mix of numbers, letters, punctuation, and symbols when picking passwords. This may be derived from taking a memorable phrase and altering it by replacing characters with symbols, for example. Surfers should avoid personal information, repetition and sequences in passwords, Symantec further recommends.

Article written By John Leyden

Where does the Malware Come From?

CNET is reporting that Avast has tracked over 2.6 million instances of malware
that have been served up to unsuspecting web surfers since last
December by ad services such as Yahoo's Yield Manager, Fox Audience
Network's Fimserve.com and even some from Google's DoubleClick. Some
high-profile sites include The New York Ti...mes, Drudge Report.com,
TechCrunch and WhitePages.com. The practice has been dubbed
'malvertising.'

The Full Story can be found here
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20000898-245.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

Facebook users targeted in massive spam run

By Jeremy Kirk
Created 2010-03-18 07:37AM


Facebook's 400 million users have been targeted by a spam run that could infect their computers with malicious software designed to steal passwords and other data, according to security researchers at McAfee.

Over the last two days, millions of messages have been sent, which McAfee detected through customers running the company's security software, said Dave Marcus, McAfee's director of security research and communication.

The messages appear to come from Facebook, with a return address that looks legitimate but has been spoofed, such as "help@facebook.com," Marcus said.

The messages say that the user's Facebook password has been reset and the user should download an attachment that contains the new password. The English-language messages are grammatically correct, but contain an odd sign-off: "Thanks, Your Facebook." McAfee has included a screenshot on its blog.

The attachment is actually a Trojan horse program, which infects a computer without any visible signs. Marcus said the spam run contained a variety of malware programs, including password stealers, rogue antivirus programs or botnet code.

No Web site would automatically reset someone's password and send the new one in an email, Marcus said. Facebook's high number of users makes it a prime target for spammers and hackers.

"There's a huge victim pool to go after," Marcus said.

Although it's unknown how many people may have been inadvertently duped, "I'd assume a lot of people would fall for something like that," Marcus said.

The spam is believed to have been sent from botnets called Cutwail and Rustock. Botnets are groups of computers that are controlled by hackers and often used for malicious activity such as sending spam or conducting denial-of-service attacks against Web sites.

Security analysts have been experimenting with different ways to shut down botnets. Over the last few weeks, two botnets called Mariposa and Waledac were shut down after security experts were able to commandeer the command-and-control servers used to communicate with infected computers.

But botnets have become more and more sophisticated and harder to combat. Many computer users don't even know their computers are infected, and the botnet code is engineered to avoid detection by antivirus programs.

Source URL (retrieved on 2010-03-22 03:08PM): http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/facebook-users-targeted-in-massive-spam-run-066