IT Security: The Nastiest Malware Trends - Internet Security: IT Security

5 Years ago, "malware" simply referred to viruses. Today, hackers and spammers have developed all sorts of ways to invade computers. Here's the worst of it.

by IT Security Editors
January 12, 2007

Five years ago, the term "malware", if used at all, simply referred to viruses. Over the last few years, however, hackers and spammers have developed all sorts of new ways to invade your computer. Today, Malware, or malicious software, simply means any unwanted code or program that embeds itself on a computer without the user's knowledge.

Malware is growing quickly. McAfee Avert Labs expected in 2006 to have recorded their 225,000th unique computer/ network threat, finding 50,000 threats between Jan and Nov of 2006 alone [2]. The motive for creating malware has been profit or spying in most cases, and as profits from creating malware have grown, paid professionals have begun to make new and ever more dangerous forms. The return on creating malware has been high in large part because so many victims do not know what to look out for; individuals often still think of malware in the same simplistic forms of five years ago. This guide covers some of the newest trends in malware, and it will give you a better understanding of what sorts of threats you and your computer face.

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