The weekly technology column from those gurus of geek at Plymouth’s at Orange Crate
The idea of listening to a presentation talk at 7:30am is probably just as horrific as the idea of actually delivering it. So I suppose I can forgive my audience this morning for not being the most lively bunch. Add to this a content disturbing enough to put most people off their full English breakfast and you have a potential for an interesting 10-minute slot!
When I say disturbing, it wasn’t meant to be that way – after all I’m an IT consultant not a forensic pathologist or a crime scene investigator (a man can dream…). Following the usual company overview of services and products, the crux of the presentation took the format of an ‘education slot’ dealing with the threat of malware. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where the fear set in.
Let’s take a look at some statistics: In April 2008 there were 1.1 million malware threats on the internet, and 711,912 of these were only recognized in the last year. This suggests that 64% of malware was created in 2007, a massive exponential growth which is predicted to continue. Granted, stats are just stats, but even if these are only partially accurate it is a concerning trend. Add to this the reality that malware activity in email rose by 500% from December 2007 to June 2008, and you begin to see why my audience were beginning to look uncomfortable.
The unfortunate truth is that everyone is a potential target for some level of malware infiltration. But the good news is that it doesn’t cost the Earth to protect yourself and your computers from the dangers of the on-line world. First up though, let’s have a look at what those dangers are…
The term ‘malware’ gets thrown around a fair bit these days, but I’m now convinced that many people don’t know what it really means. Short for ‘malicious software’, it is an all-encompassing term used to describe such nasties as viruses, worms, adware, spyware, trojan horses, and other nefarious pieces of software code.
Each of these sub-divisions are recognized by the different kind of damage or intrusion they are responsible for and unsurprisingly, none of them are welcome visitors. Viruses are so-called because of their infectious nature. They can be ‘caught’ by downloading or transferring infected files from the internet, emails, usb pen drives, cd’s, or over networks. Among other things they can infect other files, corrupt sections of your hard disk, and generally ruin your computer. Like biological viruses, some can also mutate, making them harder to track down and quarantine.
Worms are similar to viruses but, in general terms, infect networks. They can eat up bandwidth, slow down performance, and have similar effects to viruses. Trojan Horses are becoming more and more prevalent at the moment. They share their name with this particular piece of Hellenic ingenuity due to their being disguised as something desirable when they are actually just the opposite. Notoriously destructive, some ‘trojans’ can be responsible for installing background applications on your computer that will download further malware, driving your pc to an unusable state.
In terms of their aims, adware and spyware are slightly different although just as malicious. Some are just annoying – by settling itself into your machine and monitoring your on-line behaviour a piece of adware can gather information which it then uses to bombard you with ‘relevant’ advertising, often in the form of pop-ups or email. On the other end of the danger scale, certain spyware can even go as far as monitoring your keystrokes, potentially acquiring user names and passwords in the process. Such illegal software is occasionally known as ‘crimeware’.
If all of this wasn’t frightening enough, there are also people out there in cyber-land who want to rip you off (believe it or not!). Most people have, while surfing the net, been presented with a pop up box telling them their computer is ‘infected with a virus’ and that they should ‘click here’ for a ‘free scan’. And a surprising amount of people do, then go on to pay for a piece of useless software that they are consequently encouraged to download.
So perhaps you can see why people were scurrying for advice on pc security after my little 10-minute horror story? Next week I’ll let you in on some easy tips that will help you avoid the worst of it, and come out smelling of roses rather than Trojan Horse manure.
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