But what is malware? Essentially is ANY software that has been explicitly designed to get in to, damage or destroy a computer system. The word comes - like many computer terms - from two separate words that have been joined together. In this case it is “malicious” and “software”. If you look up the word malicious in a thesaurus you will find it means “hateful, spiteful, wicked, cruel and bad”. In fact, malware is often called badware as well, so if you hear that term you will know what it means! The legal term for malware (mostly used in the US) is “computer contaminant”).

Malware comes in all shapes and sizes and is considered so because of the intent of its creator.

A worm can be counted as malware. This is different from a virus because it does not have to attach itself to anything - either a file or a programme. It then replicates itself across a system and cause harm - if only because it takes up all the space (or bandwidth). A virus on the other hand generally tends to change or corrupt files you may have on your system. One of the most famous was the Mydoom worm which sent junk mail out to infected systems. Although the author was never found most people thought that it started out as an action against one company - SCO - but since then it has been attributed to online crime gangs rather than someone with a grudge against one company.

Worms can sometimes be created with good intentions! For example, the Nachi worm, was an attempt to download patches from Microsoft to fix vulnerable elements in systems. However, it did create a lot of traffic on networks and was know - and hated for - rebooting machines and trying to fix things without asking the permission of the computer owner or user first!

A Trojan is also something to watch out for! This is a piece of software which looks as if it does on certain thing but in fact does something else entirely. Its hidden element may well be a computer virus. For example, you may see a great screensaver (free! Yippee!) on the internet. When you run it, the screensaver may well then unload hidden viruses. One sub form of a Trojan is the Remote Access Trojan (or RAT for short) which allows its creator to access your system from their own. Then, they can do anything they want!

You may well have discovered at one point that you have sent an email to all the people in your address book - and have received lots of angry emails back. But you can't remember sending the email! This is because your computer may have been turned in to a ZOMBIE! A zombie computer often sends spam email out and this is done because your system has been infiltrated by a Trojan.

A rootkit is another piece of malware you should be on the lookout for! This is a program created to take control of your system (root is an old Unix term - we would say “Administrator”). So, if your system is compromised by a rootkit, this means that users who have not been authorized will be able to use your system as administrators.

Spyware is similar to rootkit in as much as it can take partial control of a computer without the user knowing or consenting. The name suggests that it is used simply to monitor what you do but it can go far deeper than that, Spyware can access and collect all your personal information. If you have ever had your home page changed without you doing it, then it is more than likely you have some spysware on your computer. Spyware is not a worm or a virus - at the very least because it does NOT tend to replicate itself. Rather than modifying or deleting your files, spyware is designed specifically to exploit your computer for financial gain. This can be from stealing your card numbers, delivering pop-up adverts that you didn't request.

And finally, please do not think that your Instant Messaging service is immune to malware! As internet based Instant Messaging becomes m ore and more popular, the malware guys will turn their attention to this. The Web 2 generation regularly use features on IM such as file transference and webcams which make their system prone to attack…. 2008 may be the year of the “IM Attack!”

How to avoid malware? Protect your computer properly!