Computer security remains a serious issue for both professionals and the casual enthusiast. Whether one seeks to protect a corporate server, a valuable workstation with sensitive data, a home computer used for personal accounting and taxes, or the kid’s laptop used for social networking and game playing, there are several common security threats. Nefarious hackers have used different approaches to try to penetrate computer defenses and circumvent firewalls. These include computer viruses, piggyback applications related to Trojan horses, and other pieces of undetectable malware. This article reviews the phenomenon and discusses some ideas you can use to protect yourself.
Piggyback applications are similar to Trojan horses in that they are packaged with a desired program and are often, but not always, designed to be undetectable. Sometimes the programs are openly disclosed on installation with the user explicitly granting them access, and sometimes they are covertly included and surreptitiously install themselves alongside the desired application, but without user permission. The programs can be used for different tasks, including keyboard logging, password scanning and upload, providing a base for denial of service attacks, or anchor nodes for spam delivery. Fortunately, many security programs can detect such applications and allow a user to remove them or quarantine them.
A computer virus is a very small piece of code that is often embedded in an executable program, such as an .EXE or .COM file. However, the design of the computer virus has evolved to the point that they can now manifest in many other file types, including word processing and spreadsheet documents, dll and similar libraries, and even archives. The goal of these programs much like the infectious bugs that we associate with colds and sickness. They can spread through social engineering approaches, such as packaging them with a widely disseminated email, perhaps in the current times – a news bulletin about the Haiti situation, or by technical engineering in which case they would spread as a function of their programming and by exploiting holes in network security. As with other types of malware, the programs can be used for various nefarious purposes or sometimes are just exercises to see what the hacker can do or to feed the hacker’s ego, but without any clear instrumental goal.
Here are some things you can do to protect yourself from nefarious applications. Never install a program you obtain from a user or website that you do not trust. Be sure to read every word of the installation process as you install applications that you like; do not be afraid to uncheck boxes that say they will be installing a companion program. Keep your security and malware software up to date with the latest updates. Scan your task manager report for unfamiliar programs, comparing process names with google searches of the process name. And finally, run programs that can detect and log code that is installed into memory on startup. Good luck staying safe out there!