Internet Security Blog

As we previously discussed, spyware is “any type of software that spies on you by tracking your internet search history, capturing passwords/logins, or logging your keystrokes (also called a “keylogger”). Some forms of spyware tie into adware to tailor themselves to a given user’s habits…

In the first part of our post on computer viruses, we talked about what a computer virus was, how it infected your system, and the possible effects of such an infection. In effect, the bad news. Here’s the good news, avoiding infection via computer virus and protecting your system is easy if you follow some simple guidelines…

Viruses are “any type of software that replicates itself by attaching code to other programs or data.” More specifically, computer viruses (often just shortened to “virus” and commonly, though incorrectly, used to refer to any malware infection) are bits of computer code or programs that rapidly replicate when they are run.

We previously defined a rootkit (sometimes spelled as “root kit”) as “any type of software that is difficult to detect and remove since it operates on the same “level” as the computer’s operating system.” This is a highly simplified definition as rootkits are far more complex than most other malware. The word root kit comes […]

Rogue security software is any software that tricks the user into thinking their machine is compromised or infected in some way. Some types actually encrypt the infected system’s hard drive making recovery near-impossible via external methods…

Bots and botnets are any software that automatically perform(s) a specific action or actions. While this might not seem too dangerous at first, some bots can have very sophisticated programming! Put more simply, a bot is only limited by the imagination of the programmer and his capabilities.

A browser hijacker, as we’ve noted before, is “any software that infects a user’s internet browser and alters his internet traffic requests.” Less broadly it can alter a web browser’s settings in harmful, dangerous, or irritating ways. This can take the shape of changed home pages, altering search requests, having pop-ups and other ads, etc.

Computer worms (as we’ve discussed before) is “any type of software that destroys data on a computer’s hard drive by ‘eating’ it.” But what does that mean exactly? A computer worm is a form of malicious software (aka “malware”) that replicates itself to spread to other computers or devices. It does this by “hitching a […]

Malware (a portmanteau of the words “malicious” and “software”) is blanket word for any sort of software that disrupts the normal functions of your computer, steals your personal information, and/or leaves you vulnerable to other, external operations of a malevolent nature. But what is it exactly? Malware is a bit of a loaded term since […]