Malware | A prominent Cyber threat

Malware | Malicious Software

 Malware defined as :

The computer software that is designed to damage the way a computer works.

-Cambridge Dictionary 

Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network.

-Wikipedia

This guide focuses more on the basics of malware and not the detailed guide. More detailed guides concentrated on several classes of malware will be presented as separate posts.
  
Malicious software is the creation of a cybercriminal in order to make money. These are the software which usually gets into our computer without our consent.  The cybercriminals can steal potential information to scam the victims, they also can compromise these stolen data by selling those to unethical business authorities. Malware can be a useful tool for showing ads to infected computers to gain revenue.

Purpose of malware creation :
To damage a victim's PC.
To steal data from a victim's PC.
To manipulate the device.
To scam people.
To carry out more infection.

Malware plays an important role when it comes to Cybersecurity. There are almost 18.69% of people who are not even aware or are partially aware of cyber threats which come with malware. Nearly 23.38 people worldwide have a general idea about the cyber threats which is caused by malware and remaining 57.77 % of people show high concern regarding cyber threats.

Types of Malware 

There are several types of malware according to their application, usage, and threat connected to it. Here are the broad categories of Malwares.

     
Learn more about Adware: Adware | Prevention, Detection, and Removal.
Learn more about Spyware: Spyware | Prevention, Detection, and Removal.

Learn more about the symptoms of a malware infection:
Malware Infection Symptoms/Indications.

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Spyware | Prevention, Detection, and Removal.

Spyware is a subcategory of Malware which is nothing but a spying software. Spyware is an entity that is almost certain to be a part of any major malware infection. Spyware often leads your computer to a venerability which can be further exploited by their owners. Malware is 2nd biggest threat over the internet where spyware is one of the subcategories of malware.

What is Spyware?

As per the above description, Spyware is malicious software that is designed to gain access to the PC to achieve potential information and creating a gateway for other types of malware to infect the PC. Spyware is designed in such a way that it is difficult to identify and trace, also the resource consumption of Spyware is less in its initial stages which in turn creates more complexity in identifying the Spyware.
Types of Spyware :

• Adware
• Trojan
• Tracking Cookies
• System Monitors
• Keyloggers
• Mobile Spywares

Learn more about Adware here, where an in-depth guide is available on adware which covers Identification, Recovery, and Precautions.

Spyware can often be found bundled with free wares on file-sharing sites, they can also be found under email attachments received from the unknown end.

Purpose of Spyware.

The main purpose of Spyware is to steal private information which includes Passwords, Banking details, Credit and Debit card details, etc. Spywares also study the user's behavior while browsing and their browsing history.
The Spyware owners can use the acquired data to scam people or misuse it, they can even sell the browsing pattern data to unethical business authorities. They can also make revenue by showing ads on the user's computer through adware.

Identification for Spyware.

• New or unknown icons may appear in the taskbar (the bar where the start menu is located).
• Weird search redirects.
• Performance degradation to some extent.
• Running out of space.
• The easiest and fruitful way is to get a free Spyware scanner (Anti-Spyware software) from a legit source. 

How to remove Spyware?

Spyware is very good at disguising so it is much harder to spot a program which is spyware.

But let's say you managed to spot a program which is suspected to be a Spyware, in this case, follow these steps to successfully uninstall that program.

Before uninstalling make sure to terminate the suspected software which helps in making things easier, to do so 

click start menu > type MSCONFIG then services or programs and disable the suspected software.

Now stop the process by going to the task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL > choose task manager) locate and end the process.

Try uninstalling the software by going to the control panel.

You can also try booting up in safe mode by pressing F8 while booting and choosing safe mode. This is efficient as safe mode allows only basic Windows programs to run. Get a good Anti-malware while in safe mode and try scanning the computer to get rid of the Spyware. 

You should also dump the leftover junk by those programs by deleting the temp folder. To access temp folder click start > type %temp% and hit enter.  

Preventive measures.

• Avoid exploring any emails by unknown sources.
• Avoid clicking on any pop-ups or ads or any unknown messages. You can also use ad-blocking services.
• Try to avoid downloading stuff through third-party websites.
• Hover your mouse on the download button present on the websites to inspect if you are being sent to the right webpage.
• It is recommended to have real-time protection security solutions with features like malicious website protection which makes sure you don't end up to the place full of malware where you are venerable to catch one.
• Inspect the link before downloading via Virus Total or any other trusted sources. 

Learn more about spyware.

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Adware | Prevention, Detection, and Removal.

It’s a human tendency to want to know what others are doing or what they are up to, and depending on the scenario, it can be classified as harmless intend, standard business practice, harsh necessity, or an invasion of privacy. Adware can be the least offensive subset of malware, though still quite intrusive, annoying, and sometimes disruptive as they lead other malware to invade the computer.

What is Adware?

Adware is a type of malicious program (or a kind of malware) that quietly collects information about you, such as sites you visit, input keywords, browsing the history, browser add-ons and search results, while at the same time feeding you ads, and it does all of this without asking for your consent. This stolen information is again used to show advertisements but much refined based on the user. If a program or software consents you about displaying ads, that program cannot be considered as an adware. 

As per Wikipedia, 

"Adware is software that generates revenue for its developer by automatically generating online advertisements in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during the installation process." 

What does Adware do?

Adware can be much more complex than we think, the adware can perform these tasks:

• Endless Pop-ups.
• Data breach (passwords and bank details).
• Spying.
• Man-in-the-middle attacks.
• Deteriorating the PC’s performance.
• Consume space.

Where do they come from?

As far as the spread of the adware is concerned, we can categorize it in two broad segments. The first one being the cybercriminals who crave for money and another being the companies that use unethical business practices.

Why they do what they do?

Ads can be the easiest source on which they can make money online so, cybercriminals use this tool to gain money. Another motive can be to extract potential information through a user’s browsing data, this can include bank details, passwords, etc. Adware can also be used to study the online browsing scenario and gather data unethically.

How to identify an adware infection?

You can know if you are under adware infection if you are experiencing these :

• Ads within the software.
• Pop-up ads on the desktop.
• Unintended browser windows showing up.
• New toolbar.
• New browser homepage and bookmarks.
• Change in search engine.
• Performance issues.
• Unusual redirects.

You can also check if your PC is infected with malware. 

How to remove adware?

Adware can be bundled with the freeware on the internet
most of them do ask if you want to install a browser toolbar or some type of program during the installation phase. This adware can be removed if we remove the bundled software, to do go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program > Select program you wish to uninstall.
Adware can also come through the browser's add-ons or extension, you can get rid of them by simply removing the suspicious add-on or extension which you can usually under browser settings.
Adware can also change the browser policies which in turn redirects the internet traffic over ad servers. You can remove those by using RegistyEdit
Go open registry go to start > type Regedit 
Now delete these two :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Google
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google
You can also check the startup pages of the browser if multiple windows or tabs open up full of ads. Also, you can go through the search engine settings of the browser
If this doesn't help your PC might be infected by any advanced adware created by any cybercriminal/hacker. In this case, manual operations don't work efficiently my suggestion would be going for a free adware removal tool. Here are some if you want to get rid of those annoying adware

• Zemana AntiMalware
• HitmanPro
• Malwarebytes AdwCleaner
• Adware Removal Tool by TSA

Remove unwanted ads, pop-ups & malware

How to prevent an adware infection?

• Avoid suspicious websites.
• Don’t believe any ads and pop-ups that claim to have found a malware infection on your PC.
• Scan suspicious links or files in Virus Total.
• Think twice before immediately downloading and installing any new software—especially freeware
• Download a quality cybersecurity software for your PC
• Don’t click any links or download attachments from suspicious emails.
• Don’t click on any online ads you might see.
  

  I hope I fulfilled your curiosity about this topic and if you are facing some issues regarding the same feel free to comment down I will try my best to respond as soon as possible. 

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