Are you confident that you are not under attack every time you open your computer? You probably heard in the news that a new worm has attacked the Pentagon and CIA. If these high-security offices were attacked, what’s the assurance that your computer won’t be attacked as well? You must be wary and be careful about security threats. But what are really these computer threats?
Security and computer threats are collectively called malwares. Malware comes from the words, mal, which is a prefix that means “bad”. Ware comes from the word “software” which is a program that executes commands in the computer. If you put the two words together, malware simply means a bad program that has negative effects on your computer. Malwares actually come in different forms. It is best to know these forms so you’ll know the countermeasures that you need to do.
Viruses are the most common forms of malware. Viruses can delete files, change your files to a different format and flood your memory. To protect yourself from the viruses, you need to install a reliable and updated antivirus program. Antivirus programs are usually expensive so you might need to shell out an amount for a licensed antivirus program.
Exploits are also considered malwares. They are executables that try to replace common computer functions. For example, Microsoft usually asks their users to update security updates. Exploits can take over this function. Actually the security updates are updates to security that have been opened by exploits being discovered regularly.