Malware is a collective term used to represent virus, worms, spyware and other malicious programs out there on the Internet. In simple words, any software program that is intended to cause direct or indirect harm to the computer system is referred to as a malware.
Some malware programs cause serious problems such as destroying the system files, causing disruption to the computer operation or gathering sensitive information while others may only have a light impact such as redirecting websites to pornographic content or annoying the users with pop-ups and banners.
In the normal routine, we have often seen every malicious program being referred to as a virus, but this is not correct! In fact, as mentioned earlier, there exists several malicious programs where virus is one among them. Now, many of you may may be wondering to know what’s the difference between them. Well, this article gives a detailed information on different types of malware that exist, how they work and how they differ from each other:
1. Computer Virus:
As we all know, this is the type of malware that has become highly popular and is one of the most widely discussed topic in the field of computer security. A virus is just a computer program that is designed to take unauthorized control of the infected computer so as to cause harm to the system’s data or degrade it’s performance.
Mode of operation:
Computer viruses operates by attaching themselves to an already existing file or program and replicates itself to spread from one computer to another. In most cases, they tend to infect executable files that are parts of legitimate programs. So, whenever the infected file is executed on a new computer, the virus gets activated and begins to operate by further replication or causing the intended damage to the system.
A virus cannot perform it’s task of harming and replication unless it is allowed to execute. This is the reason why viruses often choose an executable file as it’s host and get attached to them. Viruses are mainly classified into two types:
