Computer worms used to be the worst malware that could infect a computer some time ago. Worms are pretty dangerous: they can replicate themselves, spread to remote computers and corrupt files. Worms are similar to viruses, but they can perform additional actions besides the destructive function both viruses and worms have. However, malware creators seem to abandon worms little by little.
All types of malware are getting more sophisticated, but those that can steal personal information are flourishing these days. According to report by PandaLabs, trojans and adware shares 49 percent of computer infections, while worms infect approximately 8.31% only. The same report revealed gradual weakening of worm type of malware: worms damaged 18.14 % computers in November last year, then the rates of worm infections decreased to 9.46 % in May 2007. These tendencies have a bright side: statistically there are less malwares out there that are capable of erasing data or corrupting files. On the other hand, there’s not much to rejoice at as trojans and adware circulating online bring financial losses and identity thefts.
November 13th, 2007 at 9:53 am
It is not trojans and worms that are dangerous to once privacy. Keyloggers! Small programs that intercept your keystrokes (all of them, including passwords, credit cards’ numbers etc). I considered them to be some ‘distant threat’ but one day I discovered that people from competitive office were strangely aware of my plans and business affairs. I installed a program (best I could find) called PrivacyKeyboard. And what do you think happened? )) It found a keylogger called .. Ardamax, as far as I remember. So my suspicions turned to be true.. Now I’m taking care of my privacy in a lot more careful way.