Malware and it’s components. Why do we need to know about it?

We use computer, tablet, and smartphone. In there software is an essential part of it. We use various software to make our work easy, organised. A software can be from system itself or we can download and install it in our machine.

Now, in general we trust those software, that it will only help us not harm in our machine. So is it really true that all software are good? No, not all software are good.

Software made by human. We know not all human are not good intentionally or unintentionally. Same for the software too. So to these bad softwares we can say these are malicious software. From there the malware term came.

There are thousands of malware but they came in a category. These category for identifying who they are.

1. Virus: A harmful piece of code which can inject its own code into the software. So when that program gets executed, virus starts to replicate itself. Only thing to remember that a virus needs an infected program or hosts to move and replicate.

2. Worm: Same like virus but it does not need a host to spread and replicate. It can replicate and spread in very fast manner.

3. Trojan: In the ancient Greek story its said that the city troy was fallen by a fake horse. People of troy believed that it was a gift and trustworthy but it was not. Inside of it there were full of enemy soldiers. It was a deception. Now what if same thing happens to a user machines. A user gets a link or software which shows it is safe and work perfectly. Even that software can work perfectly but a virus or worm is embedded in that. So user execute that software and attacker gains access to that user’s machine. It’s based on social engineering which is a way to get a targeted information or get access of an user’s system.

4. Ransomware: This is a type of malware who can encrypt user files. By that attacker can want a ransom in exchange of the decryption key. That ransom should be in bitcoin money or via credit card. We can hear many types of ransomware attacks. One is the wanna cry. In 2017 a group named shadow broker released that there is an exploit for window’s SMB version 1, developed by National Security Agency of United States of America. That exploit has a name-> eternal blue. There are numerous attacks by wanna cry. Latest news is the attack of maze ransomware attack to the tech giant cognizant. This maze ransomware is almost same like wanna cry but in maze it can spread throughout the network, encrypts the data so the user cannot access those files. Moreover this maze ransomware can copy the data. Just think about the organisation that was attacked by this kind of malware.

5. Scareware: Now this is not exactly a malware. It shows that user’s machine is infected or somehow user should download a software in his/her machine. By that downloaded malicious software, attacker can gain the access of that user’s machine.

6. Backdoor: As the name says, a way to enter in a machine without authenticate. It creates a channel between the victim and the attacker machine. Generally for backdoor, attackers use Trojan. So here again social engineering is very important.

7. Rootkit: It is a collection of malware to get in a system easily. A kit to access the root of the system.

8. Spyware: As the name says, a malware who spies in a system. It looks for any important, juicy information like bank passwords, card details.

Now we should know about the basic components of a malware.

1. Exploit: The main code itself which will exploit the system against system’s vulnerability.
2. Payload: A piece of code which can get a shell/access of the victim system to command and control after exploiting.
3. Dropper: A program who install malicious programs silently.
4. Downloader: Same like dropper but it can download malicious programs too. Just remember every downloader is a dropper but not all dropper is a downloader.
5. Obfuscator: A program or software which hides these malicious codes, programs by encryption.
6. Injector: It’s job is to inject code on a running process of the victim’s machine.
7. Packer: This helps bundle together all these programs into a single file.

In today’s world data is the new money. So, everyone should know and aware about malwares, Because in our system we save our personal, official data, even login credentials. Again, here system means computer, smartphones, tablets anything. One can use an antivirus but with awareness it will be the best way to protect one’s system or machine.

Thank you for reading this blog. This blog was the very basic level of understanding about malware and why everyone should know about it. Keep update yourself and i am going to help you in that.

Let’s make our personal and official system safe with a good awareness...!!!