MALWAREAs a risk or a threat in social

media in marketing

Topics

What is malware? Avoid malware How to detect malware How to get rid of malware Computer viruses Different types of viruses Litterature

What is malware?

Malware is short for malicious software It’s usually includes viruses and spyware

that infects your computer or smartphone Malwares can be very troublesome and

can even crash computers Criminals use malware for identity theft

Avoid Malware

The easiest way is to keep your antivirus and firewall up to date

Don’t open “trash mail” or visit any suspicious websites

Back up your data

How to detect malware

By monitoring your computer you will be able to identify a possible malware

Especially if your computer is acting slow, crashes or displays repeated error messages

Other signs might be new unwanted toolbars, new icons on your desktop or changes in your internet homepage

How to get rid of malware

Virus-protection programs on the computer can handle most of the usual malwares

For more complicated malware it’s good to take your computer to a ”tech support” or a manufacturer

You can also report malwares to the federal trade commission

Computer viruses

Computer viruses can be used as malware

The computer virus is a small software that ”piggybacks on a program.

There are different types of viruses: viruses, e-mail viruses, trojan horses and worms

Different types of viruses

Viruses: Each time an infected program runs, the virus runs too, and it infects other programs while it’s conscious

E-mail viruses: E-mail viruses travels as an attachment to a e-mail. It also replicates by sending itself to other e-mail addresses

Trojan horses: Is a computer program. It’s usually disguised as another program(for ex. a game). It can erase your hard disk. Trojan horses doesn’t replicate automatically

Worms: Worms are small pieces of software that uses security holes and computer networks to reduplicate. They are often very advanced and scans network for security holes

Literature

http://www.onguardonline.gov/articles/0011-malware, 17.10.12

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus.htm, 17.10.12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware,17.10.12