Back in the day, cybersecurity wasn’t really that much of a concern, and it was much simpler to protect a computer from catching a virus that just by installing an antivirus was enough to stop your computer from getting infected. Even more naïve is the fact that viruses were created for fun, or to demonstrate the hacker’s skills, but there wasn’t a financial intention. In the world that we live in today, the combination of internet and greed has changed everything. Hacking is not only a profession but sometimes a very lucrative one, and criminals are systematic, thorough and ruthless with their attacks.

The term malware is a contraction of malicious software. Simply put, malware is any piece of software that is designed with the intent to damage, disrupt or gain unauthorized access to devices and inflict harm to data and people in multiple ways.

The most common types of malware.

1. Viruses

2. Worms

3. Trojans

4. Hybrids

5. Ransomware

6. Fileless Malware

7. Adware

8. Malvertising

9. Spyware

As scary as it may seem, all businesses are being targeted by hackers all the time. The available knowledge and the automated tools available on the internet make this easy.

Anything that has been designed to steal your data or hurt your computer systems is now called malware, and there are several different ways that you can be targeted. What’s more, cyber criminals have increasingly turned to fileless malware as an effective alternative form of attack making it all the more difficult for traditional antivirus (AV) to detect because of the low footprint and the absence of files to scan.

Being aware is the first defensive weapon.

Wellbeing about your IT security is crucial nowadays, and we see cyber-attacks on businesses virtually every day. For that reason, cybersecurity is carefully addressed internally at Zakini, and every business we look after is well prepared and protected.

Every day, the AV-TEST Institute registers over 350,000 new malicious programs (malware) and potentially unwanted applications (PUA).

The consequences of an attack can be devastating and they could cause the termination of your business. Here’s our guide to the nine most terrifying kinds of malware.

1. Viruses

Malware comes in a baffling variety of forms, each with its own method of delivery (attack vector), which is why you need a greater spread of defense than just antivirus software.

Viruses can attack by infecting other files, deleting them, or reformatting them and making it very difficult to clean up. Often, viruses work by replicating themselves or by flooding networks, making it impossible for you to perform even simple tasks.

Clean up can range from difficult to virtually impossible. In many cases, to get things working again you will need to quarantine or delete the affected files. And possibly even rebuild the computers from scratch.

2. Worms

Worms have been around since the 90s. They work by just one person opening an infected email, which will then take down the whole network.

The scary thing about worms is that unlike a virus, you don’t need to take any action to spread it. Worms replicate themselves and actually deploy other software to do their job for them.

You may have heard of the ‘iloveyou’ worm, which came out 21 years ago. It affected 50 million Windows machines across the world in just 10 days. That’s how powerful and unstoppable worms can be.

3. Trojans

Trojans - also known as Trojan horses after the Ancient Greek story – have replaced worms as popular hacking tools. They’re the new weapon of choice.

This type of malware takes advantage of its victim’s lack of security knowledge. It usually arrives in the form of an email attachment - and these are becoming more and more authentic looking, so it’s easy to be caught out.

Once you open the attachment… bang… it’s got you. Trojans can also be pushed onto devices when you land on an infected website.

This kind of malware is difficult to defend against, because they are easy to write and are triggered by humans opening them in error.

4. Hybrids

Look back at the first three kinds of malware we’ve talked about, and how difficult they are to protect against. Now picture the love child of two of these forms of malware quietly arriving to attack your business.

Terrifying. A hybrid is just that – malware with different attributes, such as the disguise of a trojan and the power of a worm. It’s a combo malware that combines two or more different types of attacks. Moreover, it has the ability to propagate without any action on the part of a user.

As you can imagine, with hybrids it can be very difficult to clean up after an attack.

5. Ransomware

Even if listed 5th on our list, ransomware is the malware most feared by IT professionals, and it happens to be absolutely enormous right now. If you have a business, you have information that hackers want. Thus, businesses like yours are the prime target.

It works by encrypting all your data and holding it hostage. You literally have no data at all – no customer records, no files, no emails, nothing. Can you imagine how terrifying that would be? The hackers demand you pay a ransom for them to free your data and give it back to you. This can be thousands of $$$; often asked for in cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin) which is harder to trace.

Most ransomware is a trojan, meaning it relies on someone accidentally triggering it by opening an attachment, or visiting an unsecured website. Sadly, this type of attack is very difficult to recover from - the financial impact can be huge - and that’s without paying the ransom.

Please make sure your documents are backed-up regularly to avoid total devastation. And you and your team are trained to spot the symptoms of an impending attack.

6. Fileless malware

Technically, this isn’t a different category, although it could be included in the group of zero-footprint attacks, but we’ve listed it because it represent a real threat to you and your business. Around half of all malware attacks are delivered by fileless malware, and this is growing all the time.

According to McAfee, “fileless malware is a type of malicious software that uses legitimate programs to infect a computer. It does not rely on files and leaves no footprint, making it challenging to detect and remove.”

Where ‘traditional’ malware relies on files to spread and infect, this form of malware relies on memory, or other fileless parts of your computer’s operating system. Fileless malware leverages the applications already installed on a user's computer, and known to be safe. For example, exploit kits can target browser vulnerabilities to make the browser run malicious code, or take advantage of Microsoft Word macros, or use Microsoft's Powershell utility.

This type of attack is much harder to detect and to stop.

7. Adware

You’re on a website. There’s a pop-up. You click on it. And before you know it, some software is installed on your computer. Or there’s a new plugin to your browser. Or your browser no longer uses your search engine of choice.

Adware is often more annoying than dangerous. But it can slow computers down or make you more vulnerable to other attacks. And anything that’s installed without your express permission is a pest and should be tackled.

8. Malvertising

Don’t you just love a good word blend? As you probably guessed, malvertising is malware hidden behind advertising.

Don’t confuse this with adware. Malvertising occurs when a cyber-criminal pays for an advert on a genuine website. When you click on the ad, you’re either redirected to a malicious website, or malware is installed on your device.

Sometimes even genuine ads are compromised. And even more scarily, sometimes you don’t even have to click the ad to be affected. This is called a drive-by download attack.

9. Spyware

Once again, a very descriptive name. Spyware is used to spy on you. when installed, spyware can monitor the websites you visit, everything you type (this is known as keylogging) and any other information about you and what you’re doing on your device. It’s a good way for someone to find out your login information and passwords.

Spyware is activated when you click on something you shouldn’t, such as an attachment, a pop-up or notification. Or by downloading media from an unreliable source.

Like adware, this is simpler to remove, but by the time you’ve noticed it, there’s the risk you’ve given away a lot of valuable information.

We’ll look into the right tools to protect you

There we have it. The 9 most terrifying types of malware and how they’ll affect you and your business.

The impact that many of these forms of malware can have on a business ranges from simple lost productivity down to total bankruptcy. It’s easy to guess that you don’t want to deal with the fall out of a major attack on your business.

Remember what we said right at the start of this guide: All businesses are being targeted by hackers all the time. You need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your business safe. This starts with creating a culture of taking your cyber-security very seriously.

Consult with us and our trusted IT support team to find out the best blend of software, training and procedures to keep your business safe. There’s a lot that we can do to avoid attacks from happening in the first place.

Don’t wait to take action. We make it easy for you. Learn more about the essential cybersecurity measures here.

Let’s talk about becoming your business safe and fortified. 305 400 0992.