March 27, 2024

Top 10 dangers on the internet

Malware, or malicious software, infiltrates and gains control over a computer system or a mobile device to steal valuable information or damaged data. There are many types of malware, and they can complement each other when performing an attack.

What is a botnet?

A botnet (short for robot network) is made up of computers communicating with each other over the internet. A command and control center uses them to send spam, mount distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks (see below) and commit other crimes.

What is a rootkit?

A rootkit is a collection of programs that enable administrator-level access to a computer or computer network, thus allowing the attacker to gain root or privileged access to the computer and possibly other machines on the same network.

What is a worm?

A worm replicates itself over a computer network and performs malicious actions without guidance.

What is a Trojan Horse?

A trojan poses as or is embedded within, a legitimate program, but it is designed for malicious purposes, such as spying, stealing data, deleting files, expanding a botnet, and performing DDoS attacks.

What is a File Infector?

A file infector infects executable files (such as .exe) by overwriting them or inserting infected code that disables them.

What is a Remote-access trojan (RAT) ?

A backdoor/remote-access trojan (RAT) accesses a computer system or mobile device remotely. It can be installed by another piece of malware. It gives almost total control to the attacker, who can perform a wide range of actions, including:

  • monitoring actions
  • executing commands
  • sending files and documents back to the attacker
  • logging keystrokes

What is ransomware?

Ransomware stops users from accessing their devices and demands that they pay a ransom through certain online payment methods to regain access. A variant, police ransomware, uses law enforcement symbols to lend authority to the ransom message.

What is scareware?

Scareware is fake anti-virus software that pretends to scan and find malware/security threats on a user’s device so that they will pay to have it removed.

What is spyware?

Spyware is installed on a computer without its owner’s knowledge to monitor their activity and transmit the information to a third party.

What is adware?

Adware displays advertising banners or pop-ups that include code to track the user’s behavior on the internet.

Nick Wijnands

Hello, my name is Nick. I have a passion for Computers and i love to share my knowledge and write about it. If you have any questions, dont mind to ask them. Happy Reading.

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