What is Malware? Easy-to-understand Explanation | Total Security

I don't think there are days when you don't connect to the internet in your daily work or personal life. Do research on your work, access applications to get the job done, enjoy shopping, or access YouTube to watch videos.

The Internet has become an integral part of our business and personal life and has brought many benefits. However, on the other hand, it poses various dangers. One of them is "terminal infection by malware". When a computer or smartphone is infected with malware, it may cause financial and mental damage such as the unauthorized operation of the terminal or exploitation of internal information.

What is malware in the first place? To raise security awareness, it is important to first understand the basics of malware. In this article, we will explain the basics in an easy-to-understand manner, so please use this as preliminary knowledge to prevent malware.

What is Malware?

Malware is a coined word that is a combination of the two words "malicious software".

There is a myriad of the software inside the personal computers and smartphones you are using, each of which works to achieve your goals. Some of this software was developed with bad thoughts, doing bad things, and having a negative effect on your computer or smartphone. That is malware. The expression "infects with malware" is used because the term "virus (computer virus)" was often used originally.

Strictly speaking, malware is a general term for malicious software, while viruses are software that rewrites parts of a program and self-proliferates, and are a type of malware.

How to Prevent Infection From Malware?

It goes without saying that no company wants to be infected with malware. And in order to prevent infection, it is also important to first know the "malware infection route". There are four main malware infection routes: 

(1) websites on the Internet,

(2) malware-infected emails,

(3) free software downloads, and

(4) free app downloads.

Websites on the internet

There are countless websites in the world of the Internet. Among them are a wide variety of websites, from safe to insecure. Unreliable websites are likely to contain malware without the administrator's knowledge and can be infected just by accessing them.

Malware infected email

Most of the malware that is widespread these days uses email as an infectious medium. A file with malware embedded in it is attached as a normal email, and if you execute that file, you will be infected. The text of the email has also been refined, and there are increasing cases of infection by clicking on the attached file, thinking that it is a work email.

Freeware download

Free software that is not provided by the company or whose developer is unknown is at risk of being infected with malware. Even if it is convenient, if you download free software and use it casually, you may be infected with malware.

Free app download

Some free apps provided for smartphones also contain malware. As with free software on your computer, you need to be careful when downloading free apps.

Considering the above routes, it is important not to touch suspicious sites and emails. Some companies may call for such information in security training or use email training services. However, it is becoming more common these days to take action against sophisticated attacks or even go unnoticed.

How to Protect Your Company From Malware?

Then, is there no way for companies and organizations to do it? That's not true. As malware becomes more sophisticated and sophisticated, software to prevent it is also appearing. One of the answers is " Total Security".

Total Security installs a dedicated agent on a terminal such as a personal computer to continue collecting and analyzing activities. Then, the existence of the attack is detected from the behavior. In other words, whether it is a new type of malware or a sophisticated cyber-attack, it is possible to collect activity on the assumption that it will be attacked and to recognize the malware with a high probability. In addition, advanced antivirus products are equipped with AI/machine learning, which makes attack detection extremely accurate.

Total Security-powered analysis can also reveal whether malware is part of a major attack.

What is important in security measures is "knowing" and "building an appropriate security system". Please take this opportunity to think about your security measures against malware.