Cybercrimes have been on the rise and it has become a worrying trend. In this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of work is been done online and people working from home can only mean that much more people spend their time online. A malware attack is commonly termed as malicious software. It is a cyberattack that does authorized actions on a victim’s system.

Types of Malware Attacks and How to Prevent Them

Malware attacks are social attacks that are developed to target software programs and target customers via social networking sites.

Spyware

This is a common type of malware attack. It is designed to gather information such as bank details, credentials, internet activity, and details. It targets users and monitors, tracks, and gains access to their sensitive information or a company’s confidential data. The type of information that this attack looks out for from target users is their personal identification information, passwords, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and HIPAA- covered data.

An internet user can avoid spyware by trying their best not to click on pop-up windows or links that show up when one is surfing the internet. Norton is the best antivirus as antivirus software programs are good options to address this malware attack.

Adware

This malware attack begins with Ad – Adware and as the name suggests this malware attack shows up in form of advertisements. A lot of marketing is done online and one may click on it thinking is one of those advertisements, yet it is a malware attack. It is again necessary to be very careful as an internet user of what we click on. Don’t click or rather avoid clicking on those pop-up windows, however enticing they may look or read.

You can prevent yourself from an Adware attack by being cautious about websites that seemingly look untrustworthy. Secondly is to try and avoid clicking on the pop-up ads as they may end up destroying your computer’s functionality.

Trojans

These malware attacks come in the form of special coupons, offers, and gift cards. They try and mimic legitimate programs and make the target user click on them. Trojan attacks tend to use a fake antivirus software program that tells a user that their device has been attacked yet it has not. On a user falling for the trick and doing as instructed, they end losing their data, being leakage or some form of theft happens.

Ways to keep away from trojan attacks are never running programs or opening email attachments one is not sure about. Measures that can be taken to protect your system against Trojans are: configuring your firewall to reject malicious traffic, install antivirus software, Norton is the best antivirus and finally it is highly recommended to have whitelist applications that are allowed to run on your systems.

Ransomware

This is a type of malware attack that encrypts system files or data files using an encryption key that only the attacker knows. This attack affects the user by him or her losing access to their data and systems. This attack tricks the end-user to click on links that appear legitimate. They use people that a user can identify so that a user is convinced that is safe to click on it. On clicking on the link, this type of malware encrypts the user’s files within few minutes and locks them out.

Prevent Ransomware attacks by having a backup of the data in your computer and have high-level encryption that creates regular backups of your data.

Viruses

This is a malicious computer program that modifies legitimate host files. This type of malware attack can infect script files, web applications, documents, and other programs.

Viruses can be prevented by keeping your computer systems updated and use whitelisting applications.

Worm

This is similar to a virus that can install slow bandwidth, backdoor programs, and even delete data files until the drive is empty. to a virus, in that, it can infect other systems.

To prevent worm, ensure your computer’s operating systems and applications are up to date.

Malvertising

It uses a legitimate ad or ad network to deliver malware to target users. Cybercriminals use this to do banking trojans, ransomware, and cryptomining scripts.

One can prevent this attack is by getting good antivirus. Also, install an ad blocker to reduce the chances of you getting the pop-up ads.

Conclusion

Malware should be watched out for by internet users to keep their computers and information on the internet safe. This article highlighted seven types of malware and how to prevent them. The malware attacks mentioned herein are spyware, adware, trojans, ransomware, viruses, worm, and malvertising.