Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Web Page Viruses Five-Fold Increase

The word Malware is a comparatively new term, but it's meaning is not being lost on a number of people and companies as the number of web page viruses show a five fold increase in 2007.

It is a particularly worrying development for many businesses, as employees often disregard IT department rules and download web pages, and applications, from networking sites and emails, that they might be more suspicious of at home.

Recent studies have proven that most Malware, over 80%, is being distributed via web applications.

And for those that don't yet know, Malware means a particularly nasty piece of software that sits on your computer and when activated, can relay all your key information to someone else via the internet.

Malware programmes are the modern day Trojan horses. Masquerading as other types of software, or hidden within innocent downloads, Malware will gradually take over your computer and create an ideal portal for cyber thieves. Sitting on a host computer, it will communicate back to its controller all the information of say a person's online banking details.

And as Malware is becoming more and more sophisticated, it's becoming harder for even IT professionals to cope with their existence. Firstly, they have to be found and with a modern day computer boasting a huge number of files and applications, Malware can easily hide for some time. And then when found, it can take a great deal of skill and patience to remove. In fact, most computers have to be stripped down of all software and literally rebuilt from the bottom up. Times consuming and expensive.

So, how do you protect yourself against Malware? Firstly, never, ever, download an application that you can't trust. And there's no point being pompous. Anyone can get caught out by Malware. What you think might be just an innocent download, especially from one of the harmless looking social network web-sites, might just be hiding the software that fleeces you of all your money without you even knowing.

Also, watch out for those innocent looking spam emails which are quite cleverly enticing people to link to dubious web-sites and even download bits of software. It used to be that a promised photograph of a celebrity caught in the act would be enough to entrap innocent users; now the spammers are more subtle. Which company has not recently been receiving emails with plausible confirmations of airline tickets, or supposed courier delivery problems, that turn out to be something entirely different.

In the end, treat your computer like an impregnable fortress. Buy the best anti-virus software you can afford and if in doubt, do not download an application and do not open an email unless you are expecting it, or know of it's origins.

It's a shame of course, but the blunt truth is, that until people stop falling into the trap left by some very skilled hackers, cyber crime is going to continue to florish.

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