Malware And Its Effects On Society

Malware in these days is no longer created by just curious hobbyists or amateur hackers, but by experienced internet criminals to help them achieve certain goals. These goals can include stealing

Malware, or “malicious software”, has taken different forms and names for years. Spyware and viruses are just a few of the common titles attributed to this devastating means of cyber attack, the main purpose of which is to ultimately compromise a rival's computer infrastructure. State-sponsored attacks have typically been perpetrated by means of malware. Spear-phishing is one particularly popular means of malware, where by a target is fooled into opening a corrupted email or file, only to unwittingly download a compromising piece of malware onto their computer (XX). Once this malware is installed, control of the computer is placed in the hands of the hacker, allowing them to hack other networks while proving impossible to track down (XX18). China has been a prime culprit for spear-phishing attacks, often following current events to target respective dignitaries. For instance, the 2010 G20 Summit saw thousands of spear-phishing campaigns against officials, with email titles labelled in relation to the Summit itself (XX). Countless departments, institutions, and governments have fallen victim to spear-phishing campaigns, at the count of millions of dollars and priceless information

The threat is incredibly serious—and growing. Our nation’s critical infrastructure, including both private and public sector networks, are targeted by adversaries. American companies are targeted for trade secrets and other sensitive data, and universities for their cutting-edge research and development. Citizens from anywhere across the globe are targeted by fraudsters and identity thieves, and children are targeted by online predators. Just as the FBI transformed itself to better address the terrorist threat after the 9/11 attacks, this means enhancing the Cyber Division’s investigative capacity to have strong sharp focus on intrusions into government and private computer like network to.hospitals, school districts, state and local governments, law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, Drug Enforcement Administration, National Security Agency, Naval Criminal investigative Service and Department Of Defense, small businesses, large businesses these are just many who have been impacted by ransomware, a threat type of malware that encrypts, or locks, valuable digital files and

Cyber threats have increased dramatically over the past few years, with large companies such as Amazon, Netflex, PayPal, Wikipedia and most recently Equifax, experiencing high profile breaches. Traditional tools, defenses and responses have been strained with keeping up with the level and sophistication of an very organized and ubiquitous hacking community, which has coalesced into organized crime syndicates that the FBI and law enforcement continues to battle.

Times have changed what was known as organized crime has been replaced by Cybercrimes (Heists: Cybercrimes with Ben Hammersley). Cybercrimes have risen dramatically in recent years and have become a major issue the United States and company’s face today jeopardizing as well as threatening the critical infrastructure of America (Cyberwar Threat, 2005). Sadly, the status quo of cyber security is very unstable with the advancements and growth which has put most individuals and businesses into an enormous threat (Agustina, 2015).

Computer viruses have been around just about as long as the personal computer has existed. With the advent of the Internet, the ability of viruses to rapidly spread has increased substantially. Despite this increase in capability to infect large numbers of computers across international borders, the definition of a computer virus has not substantially changed over

The nature of the cyber threat has changed dramatically over the past 25 years. In the early days of the personal computer, hackers were mostly motivated by the lulz, or laughs. They hacked computer systems just to prove that they could do it or to make a point. One of the very first computer viruses to infect IBM PCs was the Brain virus, created in 1986 by brothers Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq, aged 24 and 17, of Lahore, Pakistan. Their virus was intended to be innocuous in nature, to stop others from pirating the software the brothers had spent years developing. Brain worked by infecting the boot sector of a floppy disk as a means of preventing its copying and allowed the brothers to track illegal copies of their own software. The brothers, upset that others were pirating their software without paying for it, included an ominous warning which appeared on infected users screens:

Two of the common known attacks on computing systems are the deployment of computer viruses and malware.

Prevalent to the current trend now is the dependency of the society on Information technology and communication systems. Every aspect of human life is one way or the other linked and controlled by information technology tools. The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized as its unavailability could lead to a form of disaster or the other. Pivotal infrastructures like finance, healthcare, education and security are driven by information technology. However, information technology and its benefits are accompanied by vulnerabilities and risks that can be exploited by people with the necessary technical skills. Individuals like ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyber Terrorist’ can cause disruption to information systems, commit financial fraud and also attack computers and networks. These attacks and disruptions could result to violence against people and properties. In some cases, death, serious injuries and severe economic loss could occur as a result of these attacks.

By the year of 2016, investments in online security are expected to reach $86bn (Contu et al, 2012). Although this might seem a large sum of money, it is considered necessary since there is an increase in online risks from all over the world. Professional hackers develop malware on a global scale and on a 24/7 basis. Hackers have five objectives when spreading malware over the Internet: to infect/distribute, to steal, to persist, to control and for intelligence (Morris, 2010).

The fight against hackers and cyber crime is a global problem and nationally and internationally, the threats they caused have been recognized and acknowledged.

Network viruses are another favorite method of cyber criminals. As we all know, viruses can bring a network to

In simple terms a virus can be defined as software, which is unwanted and executes arbitrary code on systems. It acts as a small software program, which has the capability of exploiting other software programs in order to piggyback[1]. The terms viruses and malwares are used interchangeably, however, in technical terms, the viruses are a subset of malware and so are trojans, worms and rootkits.

Cybercrime has become a fast growing concern for the 21st century as businesses, institutions and individuals grow into an interconnected web of computer networks. Online business transactions, along with the sharing of personal information, are vulnerable to a host of disasters that can reap economic and social havoc. Some sources say that today, cybercrime costs more than $1.0 trillion to society--Global Industry Analysts, Inc. forecasted the world cyber security market to reach $80 billion by 2017 (Gale, 2011).

Viruses are generally often to steal information from computers that are infected. Most aren't successful. Either way, Viruses set out to harm your computer and it can also be a way for a computer virus to steal credit card numbers, passwords or account numbers and other sensitive data.