Keyloggers
are a large threat to any type of computer users but
anti-spyware software makers have announced users must beware of more
than just keyloggers.
Trojan horses are a
common way for hackers to gain control into your computer to steal your
personal information. A Trojan horse is a small program that may be
inadvertently downloaded and hide in your files. Just like the original
Trojan Horse that was built by the Greeks, the
Trojan Horse Virus for your computer is actually something that is evil
and bad concealed within something that seems good and positive. A
Trojan Horse is a destructive program that masquerades as a harmless
application. So harmful, in fact, it can ruin your computer by causing
widespread damage that may be irreversible. Unlike viruses, Trojan
Horses do not replicate themselves,
but they can be just as destructive. The Trojan can be tricky.
Statistics tells us that the most serious threats are so-called 'Trojan
Horses'.
You're probably familiar with the Trojan horse tale. When the city of
Troy was captured the Greeks put a huge wooden horse on the outside of
the gates as a peace offering. The horse was brought into the city
walls at which time it was discovered that it was filled with Greek
soldiers who very quickly destroyed Troy.
Malware is a malicious software designed
specificslly to infect and
disrupt a computer system. Malware can take the form of a virus, worm,
Trojan, pieces of spyware, or pieces of adware, and can cause plenty
of trouble if they are not discovered, quarantined and removed from the
intected computer. Malware is known by many names, adware, malware,
trackware, scumware, thiefware, snoopware, sneakware. Malware is the
nice term for malicious software.
Even SPAM might be considered associated with malware, though not
malware itself, since it can be the means by which hackers get those
other types of programs onto your system. Not long ago, spyware and
malware were spread mostly through email and
file-sharing, and system infection was prevented by spam blockers and
email scanners.
Dialers operate whilst the victim is actively
surfing the Net by
dropping the current connection and then performing an automatic
reconnection via a premium rate number.
Worms are descended from viruses and are even
nastier. In short, a computer worm is a self-replicating computer
program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems
and it may do so without any user intervention. Worms are the worst
since they can function without human aid. It can be hidden in an email
attachment from an unknown sender, a movie
download from a suspicious website, or an application sent from someone
you don't know.
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