Software In News

Detecting and zapping computer malware

22.05.12

Juraj Malcho (JM): The answer to this question is actually a ‘window into history’. Malware is a shortened word for malicious software, i.e. any code designed to do something malicious. But this term started to be used only relatively recently. The first malware were computer viruses. This is a term that has resonated everywhere and has been used generally to refer to the entire category. However, technically it is incorrect; a virus is just one specific kind of malware, even though it was the first kind. A computer virus has a parallel in biology – a virus needs a host to survive. This means that a virus is a piece of malicious code that infects user’s files in a computer and here it survives and spreads further. Then there was a period of worms, which also have a parallel in biology. A worm, in contrast to a virus, can exist on its own and crawl – i.e. spread in the IT context. Then there were Trojan horses, malware with hidden intentions (hence Trojan horse), which can provide full control of the infected system for the attacker to steal sensitive information or otherwise harm the computer system. The classification system could be even more detailed but this is important only for experts, not for ordinary computer users. What is important is that all these are now fused in some way into something that we call blended threats.

Source: The Slovak Spectator