With data breaches happening with increasing frequency, cybersecurity has steadily climbed to the forefront of the public consciousness. Many of the successful attacks that make into the news are perpetrated by attackers using malware. We briefly touched on what malware is in our previous post The Cybersecurity Threat Landscape, but the topic bears exploring further.
Malware and Its Many Forms
As we’ve learned, malware is malicious software that was designed to harm data, devices, and/or people. Attackers who employ malware have used it for extortion, ransom, political gain, and to simply wreak havoc for its own sake. With over 250,000 new malicious programs registered every day, it’s important to know the various types so that users can protect themselves against these attacks.
The following is a list of some of the most common types of malware:
Virus: Like their biological namesakes, viruses attach themselves to clean files and infect other clean files. They can spread uncontrollably, damaging a system’s core functionality and deleting or corrupting files.
Trojans: Inspired by the Trojan Horse, this kind of malware disguises itself as legitimate software or is included in legitimate software that has been tampered with. It tends to act discretely and create backdoors in your security to let other malware in.
Spyware: With a straightforward name, spyware is malware designed to spy on you. It hides in the background and takes notes on what you do online, including your passwords, credit card numbers, surfing habits, and more.
Worms: Worms infect entire networks of devices, either local or across the internet, by using network interfaces. It uses each consecutive infected machine to infect more.
Ransomware: This highly popular malware is designed to lock away your files unless a ransom is paid to the attacker, often in digital currency such as Bitcoin.
Adware: Though not always malicious in nature, particularly aggressive advertising software can undermine your security just to serve you ads — which can give a lot of other malware a way in. Plus, pop-ups are really annoying.
Botnets: Botnets are networks of infected computers that are made to work together under the control of an attacker. In 2016, a botnet was used to cripple many popular online services, resulting in an outage that was felt around the world.
Ingram Micro Offers Best-in-Class Cybersecurity
When malware strikes, IT resellers and end users need a trusted source to turn to for guidance and leadership. Ingram Micro is the leader in the security space and has a security practice that is the best in the business. With our market leading portfolio, dedicated resources, and our Professional & Training Services – we have the right solutions and services to help our partners to reach trusted security advisor status. And with National Cyber Security Awareness Month in full swing, there is no better time for IT resellers to discuss security solutions with their customers.
Did you know that over 11,000 U.S. solution providers purchased security technologies from us in 2016, and that it is one of the highest growing categories in the business? This provides IT resellers with a great opportunity to drive security sales, retire cloud quotas, and attach Expert Services including: penetrations tests, wireless network assessments, and ransomware preparedness tests.
Additional resources and collateral around our award-winning security practice can be found here:
https://us-new.ingrammicro.com/c/solution-security-services-home.aspx
http://www.ingrammicroadvisor.com/security
Take advantage of National Cyber Security Awareness Month and let’s build secure businesses together.