Security
The ransomware cyber attack that has so far affected around 300,000 computers in 150 countries could have been much worse. In fact, it still could be. The spread of the malicious software (malware), nicknamed WannaCry or ...
May 18, 2017
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Security
There is a common thread that connects the hack into the sluicegate controllers of the Bowman Avenue dam in Rye, New York; the breach that compromised 20 million federal employee records at the Office of Personnel Management; ...
May 5, 2016
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Security
As part of DARPA's SafeDocs program, JPL data scientists have amassed 8 million PDFs that can now be used for further study in order to make the internet more secure.
Jun 14, 2023
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Security
Two eastern Idaho hospitals and their clinics are working to resume full operations after a cyberattack on their computer systems.
Jun 2, 2023
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Security
The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had disrupted a long-running Russian cyberespionage campaign that stole sensitive information from computer networks in dozens of countries, including the U.S. and other NATO members.
May 9, 2023
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Security
A Ukrainian man has been charged with computer fraud for allegedly infecting millions of computers with malware in a cybercrime operation known as "Raccoon Infostealer," the US Justice Department said Tuesday.
Oct 25, 2022
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Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. The term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, including true viruses.
Software is considered malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware and other malicious and unwanted software. In law, malware is sometimes known as a computer contaminant, for instance in the legal codes of several U. S. states, including California and West Virginia.
Malware is not the same as defective software, that is, software which has a legitimate purpose but contains harmful bugs.
Preliminary results from Symantec published in 2008 suggested that "the release rate of malicious code and other unwanted programs may be exceeding that of legitimate software applications." According to F-Secure, "As much malware [was] produced in 2007 as in the previous 20 years altogether." Malware's most common pathway from criminals to users is through the Internet: primarily by e-mail and the World Wide Web.
The prevalence of malware as a vehicle for organized Internet crime, along with the general inability of traditional anti-malware protection platforms to protect against the continuous stream of unique and newly produced professional malware, has seen the adoption of a new mindset for businesses operating on the Internet - the acknowledgment that some sizable percentage of Internet customers will always be infected for some reason or other, and that they need to continue doing business with infected customers. The result is a greater emphasis on back-office systems designed to spot fraudulent activities associated with advanced malware operating on customers computers.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
