Differences between malware, virus and spywares

[LunarWolf]

Can someone tell me what is the differences between that 3?

Trojans and worms come under where?

[Sai Charan]

Check out these links -

Difference between virus, spyware, malware, adware & trojan

Difference Between Spyware And Viruses

Difference Between Adware & Spyware

[shan]

read these

http://www.mcafee.com/us/threat_center/glossary.html
http://www.viruslist.com/en/glossary

[LunarWolf]

Ok. Thanks guys. Question answered.

[Raymond]

Malicious software is generally known as "virus". All softwares designed to harm systems, cause them to crash and steal private information are called "virus". Viruses are divided into many different types in terms of purpose of usage, working principles and spreading methods. These are; Spyware, AdWare, Rootkit, Trojan, Dialer, Browser Hijacker. You will find descriptions about them below.

Virus: It is a general name given to softwares which infect computer in many different ways and cause systems to act strangely.Viruses are malicious softwares which can infect executable file systems.

Trojan: Trojans open a back door in your computer with root/admin account (authorized account) and allow it to access your computer remotely. (I like to play with these types the most)

Worm: Unlike viruses not through executable file system, it is a malicious type that spreads via e-mail, IRC, P2P (PeerToPeer).

Adware: Adware is any software which automatically displays advertising material to a computer. Some adwares when infected your computer can change your desktop wallpaper with their advertising material or browser. These ads can sometimes contain harmless content but also it may contain pornographic and harmful content. While spreading ads, AdWares can slow down your system.

Spyware: It intends to gather data from your computer. Spywares, typically bundled as a hidden component of freeware or shareware programs, infect your computer with different kinds of methods and tries to carry out information theft or lead to a system instability.

Rootkit: Rootkits are kind of tools. They obscure their presence on the system through trojan, worm and spyware and help them hide into the systems. They can not harm systems alone.

Keylogger: Keylogger is a malicious application that infects your computer as a software and logs all keyboard actions (keystrokes). Every key you pressed is saved and stored in order to be sent to a centre. These records can be stored locally in a place in your computer or accessed remotely.

Phishing: It is a kind of online fraud. It aims to steal financial information by infiltrating into individuals' e-mail account. In this method, generally an exact fake copy of e-mail accounts that were sent by banks or legal companies are used. These mail accounts are seen to be as informative and since they were considered to be an official web site of a legal company users unknowingly send their credit card details by filling forms in these e-mails.

Remote Installer: It is a program that can be installed secretly. Once it is installed into your computer it connects to a remote server and download additional programs or files.

Dialer: They dial up a number by using your computer's modem. Most of them call secret numbers and will probably cause your telephone and internet bill to cost you much.

[heart reaper]

great post ray. good info.

[shan]

he likes playing with trojans(private) what do u play (eg: rugby-steal private information from one pc and transfer it to another pc)

[heart reaper]

I play with worms and trojans. All on my own comps. And not on anyone else.

[Ceyfer √]

additional infos +

Pharming is a hacker's attack aiming to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus website, like phishing pharming aims to gather personal information from unsuspecting victims; the difference is that pharming doesn't rely on e-mail solicitation to ensnare its victims. Instead, this attack method essentially tinkers with the road maps that computers use to navigate the Web, such that large numbers of users can wind up giving personal data to a bogus site even if they've typed in a legitimate URL.

Pharming is technically harder to accomplish than phishing, but also sneakier because it can be done without any active mistake on the part of the victim.

[Raymond]

Trojans are very advanced stuff and trojan developers always try think of new methods to bypass detection. Unlike virus that just destructs the computer which I find meaningless.