Why malware has flourished

There are several reasons why malware flourished, the first one is computers’ growing ability to communicate, and ‘they communicate very well’ due the arrival of the Internet. As Internet gain it popularity, various communication mechanisms were created like e-mail, instant messaging, various Internet protocols and the World Wide Web, and malware then hitched a ride on these communication mechanisms and grew.

And second reason why malware grew is, there many similarity in our computing environments when compare them more than a decade ago. Now, most of our computing environment uses Microsoft Operating systems. All the incompatibility barriers are reduced further, as our common applications are Microsoft Office suite and Internet Explorer. Malware then takes advantage of the security weakness found in operating systems and applications, and use those weaknesses and together, with the aid of the common computing environment, they are now can easily infect home and corporate computer systems.

The third one is that the tools, we use to defense malware are reactive rather than deciding advance what to do. Malware defense tools like anti-virus and anti-spyware are most effective against known attacks. When new malware emerges, there is a time frame that security vendor need to come out a remedy and get it distributed. It is this time frame that malware has gain the upper hand in spreading and infecting the computer systems. Although firewall can block the communication channel of the malware but most of the computers do not install this security software. Other technologies are developed to tackle new and unknown malware but they are still in the working progress and are often cause problem with the ‘good’ program and applications.

The finally and the most trouble one is money. It is the financial gains that drive people to write malicious program to steal sensitive information not only at personal level but also co-operate level. Personal information like online bank account ID and password and co-operate information like business information and intellectual property are the information that these criminal syndicates targeted. Other like adware program delivery target ads to your computer are also one of financial benefit gains by the disreputable organizations.

As all the above points show that malware is a serious problem that will continue to plague your computers at home and at the office. Fortunate, knowing the threats will give you necessary information to tackle them and protect yourself.