Over the past several years, the threats to your online security have increased exponentially and new threats have emerged, as well as a whole new set of terms to describe them. Clients often ask what the differences are between the various threats, so I thought I'd put together at least a basic glossary of terms.

Viruses: The definition of a virus is that it is must "execute" itself and be self-replicating. By execute, I mean that it must install or run a program on your system. Viruses are most often designed to be destructive in some way, as opposed to spyware, which is primarily used for monitoring activity on your computer.

Trojans: Trojans refer to malware that is disguised as something harmless to get into your computer. The recent UPS virus is a great example of a Trojan. It is not self-replicating (hence not a virus) and it arrives in your email disguised as something harmless, i.e., a notification from UPS of a bungled package delivery. Torjan's typically open a "backdoor" on your computer to let malicious software run without your knowledge, and often reinstall themselves upon reboot.

Spyware: The terms spyware refers to a program that is installed surreptitously on a users system and monitors activity on your computer. Most often, this information is used to target ads to you based on your internet activity; i.e., if you go to a home shopping site, the spyware will redirect you or pop up a new site based on what you were searching for to try to sell you their products. In extreme cases, spyware may also do things like "keylogging," which allows someone to monitor what keys you press, which could expose usernames, passwords and documents.

Phishing: Phishing refers to an attempt to get you to divulge sensitive personal information. This often takes the form of emails that say they are from your bank, paypal account, ebay, etc., and ask you to click a link to confirm your user name and password, update a credit card, etc. Phishing and spyware both put users at particular risk for identity theft.

 

        

 

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