Vectors of infection
Viruses, Malware, Trojans; no matter what you call them, they seem to be everywhere. They get on your computer without you knowing, making it difficult to use. They drastically slow down your computer’s performance, steal your personal information, or stop you from being able to use your computer entirely.
In short, they are a huge pain! But how do they get there? There are the obvious answers of course; unsafe adult sites and attachments on emails from infected friends. But these malicious programs aren’t just limited to these vectors of infection.
Unfortunately, there are many ways that these infections get into your system. From security holes and glitches in common software, to secretly infected popular sites. Below are only a few examples of how they get on your system, but it should help paint a clearer picture for you.
Adobe Flash Player – Many websites today use Flash as part of their website design. From animated banners that go through a sites popular topics, to embedded videos, flash is everywhere. On sites with malicious intent, or even just a banner advertisement that make it onto another trustworthy website, Flash can be implemented to attack your machine. This delivery method is rare of course, and as soon as Adobe is aware that their flash player is being used in such a way, they patch and fix the bug. But usually such exploits in their software aren’t known about until at least a few people are already infected.
Clicking on popups that say your computer is infected – Some of the sneakiest malware programs out there are a category known as Rogue Scanners. They are fake antivirus messages that popup on some websites, claiming that your computer is infected. You are given the options of usually clicking something like OK or Fix Now. The moment you do, your computer gets infected, as you are being tricked into installing the malware onto your computer.
Not applying every patch for your computer when it’s released – Especially patches released by Microsoft or Apple. This isn’t so much a vector for infection as it is a reason these infections actually work. It is extremely important to keep your computer up to date. The updates sent out by companies are usually fixes for security holes discovered that malware creators take advantage of. Moreover, they also contain important system tweaks and enhancements to make your computer run more smoothly.
Pirated software, and software cracks – We’ve all been tempted by it. You need Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, but can’t really afford the rather high price tag for the software. You go to your favourite Bit Torrent or pirated software website and download a copy for free. But once you install it, you find yourself swimming in popups and your computer is slowed down to a crawl. This scenario is more common than people realize. Pre-infecting a piece of paid software, or distributing this software with a virus infected “crack” is a win/win for malware producers. Distributing viruses this way is cost effective, and you can’t even go to the software company for assistance.
Like I previously said, these are only examples and there are other exploits out there. So what can you do to protect yourself? Make sure you have the best antivirus protection you can get, and practice safe browsing habits. We recommend ESET’s NOD32 for instance, as it is one of the best on the market and has very little impact on your computer’s overall performance. Nothing guarantees your security 100%, but there are many steps you can take to keep yourself safe. Stay tuned here for next time, when we discuss some of those safe browsing habits.
