Malware: The Silent Killer Of Technology

The background of the Malware

The modern population of the whole world has been highly dependent on the technology and technical devices. The internet medium is the main platform of communication in this technology oriented world. Besides the high level of facilities in the world of communication through the internet technology, lots of dangers also came in the life of technology dependent people (Petsas et al., 2014). The use of internet technology in not a new concept, it has been using by the population of the world since a long time period. The internet threats like the malwares and phishing attacks are also disturbing the use of the internet technology from long time ago (Kruegel, 2014).  

Malware refers to the malicious software programs that are able to harm the normal flow of the process and data of a computer or other smart devices connected to the internet. The malwares or the malicious codes are able to perform different types of operations like stealing, encrypting or deleting important data from the affected system without any concern of the users (Reina, Fattori & Cavallaro, 2013).

Since there has been email, there have been phishers or malicious activities. From the colossal “Nigerian Prince” trick of the last section of the 90^th century to more perplexing lance phishing procedures utilized today — phishing by means of email has been the single most noteworthy danger to any association due to the possibility to uncover corporate information, correlated financials, managing an account points of interest, and private representative data (Gandotra, Bansal & Sofat, 2014). While email is an apparatus that all organizations depend on to run day by day operations, it can likewise put everybody at hazard. Malignant code for cell phones is regularly seen as a myth because of equipment and programming restrictions. Be that as it may, history has demonstrated that cell phones are additionally powerless against this sort of danger. A standout amongst the most infamous cases is Cabir, a malware for Symbian that utilized Bluetooth as the primary spreading vector (Alam  et al., 2015). The source code of this malevolent code was discharged on the Internet by the 29A gathering in the year of 2004 prompting new variations of this malware and beginning another time in the weakness of cell phones. The emerge population of the smart phone uses and the hi-tech updates of the mobile phones regarding the internet uses are the major reasins of malware attacks in the mobile phones too.

There are several types of malware classified according to the unique traits and characteristics of affecting the computer systems. Virus and the malicious programs all are the common types of malware that can execute itself into the computer system and are able to infect the other processes or systems within the system or the network in which the systems are connected. A worm is another kind of malware, which has the ability of creating self replica without any kind of host programs (Kirat & Vigna, 2015). These spread into the system without any human interaction or the instructions from the malware developers. Trojan horse is another popular malware, which is generally designed for appearing as a legitimate program. After the one time installation, Trojans are able to execute the malicious functions for which they have been developed (Liang et al., 2013). Another important kind of malware is the Spyware, which is a kind of malware which is designed for collecting the important data and information from the system without any knowledge of the owner of the system.

Different types of Malware

Different sorts of malware incorporate capacities or components intended for a particular reason. Ransomware, for instance, is intended to contaminate a client’s framework and encode the information. Cybercriminals then request a payment installment from the casualty in return for unscrambling the framework’s information. A rootkit is a kind of malware intended to get executive level access to the casualty’s framework. Once introduced, the program gives danger performing artists root or advantaged access to the framework (Nath & Mehtre, 2014). A secondary passage infection or remote get to Trojan (RAT) is a noxious program that subtly makes an indirect access into a contaminated framework that enables danger performers to remote get to it without alarming the client or the framework’s security programs.

There are various types of ways of spreading the malware and infect the devices or networks. The malwares can be physically delivered to the computer systems or networks through the USB devices or other plug and play devices. Another method of spreading the malwares is the drive-by downloads, which operated via the internet. In this scheme the malicious software are automatically downloaded into the systems connected to the internet without informing the user of the computer system. These are started when a client visits a malignant site, for instance. Phishing assaults are another normal kind of malware conveyance; messages masked as real messages contain vindictive connections, or connections can convey the malware executable to clueless clients (Han et al., 2015). Advanced malware assaults frequently highlight the utilization of a summon and-control server that enables risk on-screen characters to speak with the contaminated frameworks, exfiltrate delicate information and even remotely control the traded off gadget or server.

With the rapid update of the technology and networking systems, new types of malware attacks are also introducing as new threats of the internet and computer system uses. In future, more updated malware can attack the computer systems. In order to resist these, the given recommendations should be adopted.

Properly evaluate the associated risks: “Where does your delicate information live? Who approaches?” Take stock of these things and know how changes (i.e. up and coming new controls) will influence them. It additionally knows which phishing strategies your clients are most vulnerable to. Utilize this consolidated knowledge to create a procedure — a blend of individuals, process, and innovation (Nath & Mehtre, 2014).

Properly train the users of the computer systems: The representatives are your last line of barrier against phishing and malware, yet 78% of associations don’t legitimately prepare workers to recognize and manage phishing dangers. Giving interior security preparing can support the general adequacy of your security frameworks (Kirat & Vigna, 2015).

Select the correct security: Finally, proper shield is required for keeping the network of the association safe from phishing endeavors and malware attacks with a quality security arrangement, particularly when moving email framework to cloud applications, for example, Office 365 or Hybrid Exchange (Sujyothi & Acharya, 2017).

Conclusion:

Malware or the malicious software is a major threat to the present technology dependent world. The various types of malware codes are affecting the computer systems and networks, affecting the normal processes of the systems and networks and stealing the important information from the systems or the networks. Cybercriminals are using the malware for various types of crimes. Ransomware is a major threat to the networks where the attackers can encrypt the data and block the system or the network. Day by day the technology is being updated. The types of attacks and malware activities are also getting updated. In this context, the users of the computer systems and networks should take proper precautions for resisting the malware attacks. The given suggestions would definitely help the users to efficiently resist the malware attacks in future.

References:

Petsas, T., Voyatzis, G., Athanasopoulos, E., Polychronakis, M., & Ioannidis, S. (2014, April). Rage against the virtual machine: hindering dynamic analysis of android malware. In Proceedings of the Seventh European Workshop on System Security (p. 5). ACM.

Reina, A., Fattori, A., & Cavallaro, L. (2013). A system call-centric analysis and stimulation technique to automatically reconstruct android malware behaviors. EuroSec, April.

Gandotra, E., Bansal, D., & Sofat, S. (2014). Malware analysis and classification: A survey. Journal of Information Security, 2014.

Alam, S., Horspool, R. N., Traore, I., & Sogukpinar, I. (2015). A framework for metamorphic malware analysis and real-time detection. computers & security, 48, 212-233.

Liang, S., Keep, A. W., Might, M., Lyde, S., Gilray, T., Aldous, P., & Van Horn, D. (2013, November). Sound and precise malware analysis for android via pushdown reachability and entry-point saturation. In Proceedings of the Third ACM workshop on Security and privacy in smartphones & mobile devices (pp. 21-32). ACM.

Han, K. S., Lim, J. H., Kang, B., & Im, E. G. (2015). Malware analysis using visualized images and entropy graphs. International Journal of Information Security, 14(1), 1-14.

Sujyothi, A., & Acharya, S. (2017). Dynamic Malware Analysis and Detection in Virtual Environment. International Journal of Modern Education and Computer Science, 9(3), 48.

Nath, H. V., & Mehtre, B. M. (2014, March). Static malware analysis using machine learning methods. In International Conference on Security in Computer Networks and Distributed Systems (pp. 440-450). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Kruegel, C. (2014, August). Full system emulation: Achieving successful automated dynamic analysis of evasive malware. In Proc. BlackHat USA Security Conference.

Kirat, D., & Vigna, G. (2015, October). MalGene: Automatic extraction of malware analysis evasion signature. In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security (pp. 769-780). ACM.