Malware is something that was coded with a bad intent. So malware can effect you life in many different ways in today's world. Being able to identify and have the correct behavior in this day and age is the best way to combat and avoid malware. Malware can be on many different devices and networks in your daily life, including your phone, power plant near your house, game accessory, social network, windows computer, and mac computer.
A story recently published on infonet about a 15 year old creating a virus called "gawde" which uses Microsoft's Kinect game accessory to take pictures of the victim's surroundings. This software can even be triggered based on voice recognition trigger the camera capture. This is interesting in how it can be triggered.
Another story on the rise of viruses on smartphones is on the rise. It states that in the last four months viruses on smartphones has risen 800% in the last four months. One way that this virus is spread is by applications from the store. The appications insert malicious code in the application. When the virus is on the phone things like identity fraud can be done, SMS, browsing, and downloading content.
A virus called Stuxnet is something that was designed to gain control of systems made by the manufacturer Siemens and also other common control systems. There was speculation about the virus being directed toward Iran and it's nuclear facilities.
On a social network like facebook, users can be lured into clicking on links in emails that have a Trojan in the link instead of accepting a friend request. People nto knowing how to identify what is an email from facebook and what is not needs to be known by the user.
How to protect against a computer virus on a windows machine is something that will hinder your experience and may result in your identity being stolen. Having the correct idea of how malware writers attack users and how to protect against that is a must. By keeping your computer updated and having a software that is known to have a good record of protecting the users is also a must.
On the Mac currently having good usage patterns is the only thing that you need to do right now. The anti-virus programs on the mac are not really ever updated. The reason being the mac is not used widely enough to be a target for someone to write a virus that will spread. If a mac becomes more widely used than maybe one day this will not be the case.
So in today's world you need to be able to have the correct behavior in order to prevent a successful attack. Not having the correct behavior mean that your computing experience will be diminished. This is how mal-ware can effect you in this day and age.
What is the most common type of mal-ware?
Answer: Trojan (see above graph)
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3 Response to Malware And The Ways It Will Effect You
This is a nice rundown on some recent events in the wacky world of Malware. I like the graphic from Panda software. I hadn't realized that trojans currently comprise such an overwhelming majority of malware infestations. I wonder how current it is
One more point, would it be possible to amend your post to include a possible question for the final exam with your WB 4 & 5 post as previously mentioned? Thanks.
Good writeup, statistics, and links. On Mac, it may be possible to upgrade the Norton Antivirus definitions. However, there is a limit to how much that can be done as the latest Antivirus definitions are frequently released for Windows.
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