What is Malware?

Malware is a contraction of malicious software. Simply, malware is any piece of software that was written with the intent of doing harm to data, devices or to people. Malware can be embedded in different file formats, including scripts, email attachments, executables, and macro-embedded documents.

There are various types of malware including viruses, key-loggers, spyware, adware, worms, or any type of malicious code that infiltrates a computer. Malware today is largely designed by and for professional cyber criminals.

Types of Malware

  • Virus: Any program that performs malicious activity on the infected computer, such as deleting files, draining memory on the hard disk, and corrupting data

  • Worm: A type of malware that is designed to replicate itself across a network and propagate to other computers on the network

  • Trojan: A virus that is disguised as a legitimate program but performs malicious activity after being installed on the device

  • Spyware: Malware that steals information from the infected computer and sends them to a remote location

  • Adware: Software that is installed without the user's consent in order to display ads

  • Browser hijacker: Malware that modifies the behavior of your browser to alter the content of pages or redirect you to other locations.

  • Rootkit: A malware that gains administrative access to an infected device and uses it to cause harm

  • Ransomware: Ransomware is a form of malicious software. The software takes over your computer, threatens you with harm, usually by denying you access to your data. The attacker demands a ransom from the victim with the promise to restore access to the data upon payment

Report Malware

Contact the Help Desk or your site based technology support specialist (TSS).

Video: Protect Your Computer from Malware

From the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)