Leading Online Threats That You Must Know About
Have you ever given a serious thought upon the security of information? Do you know that by connecting via the internet you expose your PC and the data stored thereon to thousands of viruses and malware? If not, then you are putting your system and data at a great risk caused by various online threats. It is important to know and understand the mode of infection, intensity of threat and the nature of such threats so that you can secure your PC well.
In this article you get brief information about the major online threats lurking on the internet to infect your PC. Lets know about them one-by-one.
Below mentioned are the online threats every PC user must know about:
Malware
Malware is in fact a program or file that has been developed with the malicious intention of causing harm to the data or PC used by a particular user. Computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, hijackers and adware are some of the examples of active malware today.
Adware
Adware is a malicious program that is developed with the aim of creating advertisements and pop-ups on a web page. However, not all adware are malware because there are some genuine advertisements created with the purpose of marketing. So advertisements created with legitimate purpose and for providing upfront information are not considered malware.
Spyware
Spyware is a program that secretly monitors your online activities and gathers information on the basis of that. They are considered malicious programs that are developed solely with an intention of collecting the users information without his consent and then sending the information to other computer(s).
Spyware are highly prevalent these days and are considered to be one of the most dreaded threats. They can monitor your browsing and downloading habits, record your login credentials and then circulate them for achieving malicious objectives.
Trojan
All the species of malware exist as a malicious program and the Trojans are no exceptions. Trojans are designed to appear as a genuine or innocent program but they are not in reality. They are developed with an ulterior motive to harm your data and system by injecting viruses or backdoors into your PC.
There are hundreds of types of Trojans that are currently available. These Trojans are extremely dangerous and can be prevented only if you know about them and employ the right kind of protection to stop them from infecting your computer.
Virus
Computer virus is also a malicious program which has the capability of replicating itself into various copies of it, if it is run. It can infect other programs and files available on the target PC, if the user runs it on his system. These programs are malicious and extremely dangerous as they can have disastrous effects like wiping the hard drive, uncontrolled replication of themselves, displaying a joke repeatedly etc.
However, these programs are system specific and devoid of the capabilities to spread themselves onto different PCs on their own. In general parlance, virus is incorrectly understood as a general term for all online threats including Trojans, worms, rootkits etc but it is not true as it has its own features and mode of infection.
Worm
Computer worms exist in form of malicious programs that are capable of spreading themselves to other computers. While spreading to other PCs, worms use either mass-mailing technique or the Internet to infect remote computers by using their vulnerabilities. Worms send malicious codes to all the users available in the contact list of the target user.
Use an antivirus program to prevent these threats
Each of the threats discussed above can create issues for a PC user by destroying programs and data without letting the user know about it. The first line of defense to contain all these threats is to use an effective antivirus program. While using an antivirus program you must ensure that the program is updated to use all the latest definitions.
If you are not currently using an antivirus program then you should first scan your PC with antivirus program and clean the system from all the infections. Once the system is cleaned from infections, you should consider installing an effective and updated antivirus to prevent all such threats.
In this article you get brief information about the major online threats lurking on the internet to infect your PC. Lets know about them one-by-one.
Below mentioned are the online threats every PC user must know about:
Malware
Malware is in fact a program or file that has been developed with the malicious intention of causing harm to the data or PC used by a particular user. Computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, hijackers and adware are some of the examples of active malware today.
Adware
Adware is a malicious program that is developed with the aim of creating advertisements and pop-ups on a web page. However, not all adware are malware because there are some genuine advertisements created with the purpose of marketing. So advertisements created with legitimate purpose and for providing upfront information are not considered malware.
Spyware
Spyware is a program that secretly monitors your online activities and gathers information on the basis of that. They are considered malicious programs that are developed solely with an intention of collecting the users information without his consent and then sending the information to other computer(s).
Spyware are highly prevalent these days and are considered to be one of the most dreaded threats. They can monitor your browsing and downloading habits, record your login credentials and then circulate them for achieving malicious objectives.
Trojan
All the species of malware exist as a malicious program and the Trojans are no exceptions. Trojans are designed to appear as a genuine or innocent program but they are not in reality. They are developed with an ulterior motive to harm your data and system by injecting viruses or backdoors into your PC.
There are hundreds of types of Trojans that are currently available. These Trojans are extremely dangerous and can be prevented only if you know about them and employ the right kind of protection to stop them from infecting your computer.
Virus
Computer virus is also a malicious program which has the capability of replicating itself into various copies of it, if it is run. It can infect other programs and files available on the target PC, if the user runs it on his system. These programs are malicious and extremely dangerous as they can have disastrous effects like wiping the hard drive, uncontrolled replication of themselves, displaying a joke repeatedly etc.
However, these programs are system specific and devoid of the capabilities to spread themselves onto different PCs on their own. In general parlance, virus is incorrectly understood as a general term for all online threats including Trojans, worms, rootkits etc but it is not true as it has its own features and mode of infection.
Worm
Computer worms exist in form of malicious programs that are capable of spreading themselves to other computers. While spreading to other PCs, worms use either mass-mailing technique or the Internet to infect remote computers by using their vulnerabilities. Worms send malicious codes to all the users available in the contact list of the target user.
Use an antivirus program to prevent these threats
Each of the threats discussed above can create issues for a PC user by destroying programs and data without letting the user know about it. The first line of defense to contain all these threats is to use an effective antivirus program. While using an antivirus program you must ensure that the program is updated to use all the latest definitions.
If you are not currently using an antivirus program then you should first scan your PC with antivirus program and clean the system from all the infections. Once the system is cleaned from infections, you should consider installing an effective and updated antivirus to prevent all such threats.
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