Malware everything they never told me
I was never told to get a anti malware program… just an antivirus would suffice or would it?
I guess not... but 1st and foremost what is malware after all? Anything designed to penetrate and achieve a goal that is not the one of the system administrator (most of the times yourselves). And so that there aren't any misunderstandings I'm explicitly saying as from right now it goes from stealing some data (don't take this lightly) it can be very damming, up to crashing the device or maybe just stealing some bandwidth, because by now I'm guessing you all know your being monitored 24/7. If you didn't know… well though break now you do.
Adware
Those won’t do you much harm (most of them). They aim to profit from Ads, hence the name, also they are SOOOO BORING!!! Well at least for me but they are, also relatively harmless. The most they will do is to slow down a bit your CPU due to increased activity caused by some of them. They tend to come either in some game/software you downloaded or in a page. You’ll see it better on the page (damn that was cleaver!!) but the 1st is really the most harmful.
Spyware
I guess the name says it all… but just in case you’re wondering spyware is made to spy on you (big surprise right?). This kind of malware will hide in the backgrund and monitor, and monitor… Monitor what? Anything and everything… from your actuall monitor and camera to your keyboard. Those little bastards can harvest everything you own… banking details, credit card information, snapshots, film you, know what keys you strike when and by what order (say what?! Yes very popular nowadays keyloggers). They’ll come to you in several ways and if your reading this and use social networks… stay away of those inquiries and google docs you don’t know where they came from, its more or less like wearing a used condom, you NEVER DO IT.(And best (and by best I meant worst) of all they’ll send it all to a remote user who can then log in at will he can also install other applications on your CPU. So you better watch out!
Ransomware
Ransomware the one goal and one goal only is… make the buck!! Pay up or else! Lets see that green raining… etc, etc. Well nowadays its not the green but the BTC or so they say some even say that lasts year price surge was only due to the increase of ransomware (ROFL). I honestly feel for those who actually do think that way. According to the FBI the value of the ransomware attacks was over 1 billion (and they’re not wrong…) according to other sources it was over 75 billion just in 2016.
What to do if…
Your internet connection is running slow(you know this because you checked your speed and that’s a good way to get malware as well so used trusted soureces) : different kinds of malware can get your bandwidth for their own agenda. Some use your device to help launch DDoS attacks, while others can use your device as a platform to replicate themselves and infect (so you’re the fall guy in this scenario) even more users to harvest personal data (another good reason to be protected since this is a industry worth $65 Billions and with great margin for growth). But, just like with CPU speed, there can be lots of causes that would make it act like this. So after ruling out a bad internet connection, background downloads, and anything else that would eat up your bandwidth — double check your speed. If it’s still slow, you might want to dig a bit deeper.
If you browse without an ad-blocker (which is not the brightest idea), encountering those annoying pop-up online shouldn’t be much of a surprise. If you start getting them while working offline, however, you’re in trouble. In the best-case scenario, you’ve simply downloaded a piece of software (don’t count on that always assume the worst) that uses invasive tactics to get you to pay up. However, such unexpected pop-ups can ua sign that your computer is infected with malware so keep your eyes open for the signs. Attention because most of the times the pop will say that you’re swarming with virus and you really should run a sweep with that REALLY HANDY program they happen to be offering for near to nothing or sometimes really nothing if you panicked now you’re as good as dead. Say goodbye to your privacy, you just been hacked. Now they’ll be admins not you, they completely own your machine and should you have the misfortune of trading on it… it can be bad… (atm you are all wondering if i’m stupid or something for giving the ideas to the hackers… but there’s a reason for the massive growth on cyber crime in the last year). Moving on…
When your friend receives that weird message that you never sent him… I trust that a given point in time everyone passed through this one… either because you logged into your mail account in a public toilet (meant library) or if you didn’t oh boy… either way infected machine… call the cleaning crew. (I think it’s better to send you to the basics… don’t take it the wrong way, start again)
If your device is crashing way more than it should… it highly likely that you’re under attack! (go ahead take cover). Because some malware programs gain root access to the device the malware might clash with some of the basic functions which will make it crash (or not). So try and remember what have you installed recently because it might be the issue (or not). Either way its an high alert situation.
I see a program or app I didn't install? It’s not that uncommon for programs to come packaged or bundled. So when you’re installing a program you might be actually installing several. For sure you have noticed that toolbar you never asked for or ofc on your smartphone all that crapware (yes that’s actually a thing look it up) that both ISP and Android/iOS make you eat. On smartphones the software comes pre-installed. If you have and Android I don’t know but I’ll guess you have Google installed and a bunch of other programs both pre installed and then those installed by the ISP. Always fun! All this to say sometimes you install a program and you’re really installing 2 or 3 and they start eating you up. (sorry about the mess)
I get redirected while browsing… Always keep your eyes on the ball specially when the page is loading (this is more for smartphones than laptops. If either the website you’re visiting or the computer you’re using are infected, malware can redirect you to suspicious sites and/or ads. So be extra careful, if you think the device might be infected… just don’t go anywhere sensitive (bank, paypal, CEX, etc). Even if its not if the artists are good enough they could impersonate the other site and grab your info by…. by the info… and it would be very bad for you.
So that’s it for now…
Next time which I can honestly assure you I don’t know when it will be we’ll be fighting back, because its not that hard but for now… and if you’re already following the advices I gave you on the security front… you should be good. I really hope you liked the post but even best was if it made an impact. If it saved you some money (that would leave me really happy). Staying safe is browsing safe.
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