Summary
Malware (a portmanteau for malicious software) is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. Researchers tend to classify malware into one or more sub-types (i.e. computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, rogue software, wiper and keyloggers). Malware poses serious problems to individuals and businesses on the Internet. According to Symantec's 2018 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), malware variants number has increased to 669,947,865 in 2017, which is twice as many malware variants as in 2016. Cybercrime, which includes malware attacks as well as other crimes committed by computer, was predicted to cost the world economy $6 trillion USD in 2021, and is increasing at a rate of 15% per year. Since 2021, malware has been designed to target computer systems that run critical infrastructure such as the electricity distribution network. The defense strategies against malware differ according to the type of malware but most can be thwarted by installing antivirus software, firewalls, applying regular patches, securing networks from intrusion, having regular backups and isolating infected systems. Malware can be designed to evade antivirus software detection algorithms. History of computer viruses The notion of a self-reproducing computer program can be traced back to initial theories about the operation of complex automata. John von Neumann showed that in theory a program could reproduce itself. This constituted a plausibility result in computability theory. Fred Cohen experimented with computer viruses and confirmed Neumann's postulate and investigated other properties of malware such as detectability and self-obfuscation using rudimentary encryption. His 1987 doctoral dissertation was on the subject of computer viruses.
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related publications (4)

Malware in the SGX supply chain: Be careful when signing enclaves!

Rafael Pereira Pires, Pascal Felber

Malware attacks are a significant part of the new software security threats detected each year. Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX) are a set of hardware instructions introduced by Intel in their re
2020

The Limits of Composable Crypto with Transferable Setup Devices

Serge Vaudenay, Miyako Ohkubo

UC security realized with setup devices imposes that single instances of these setups are used. In most cases, UC-realization relies further on other properties of the setups devices, like tamper-resi
ACM2015

Traffic Anomaly Detection and Diagnosis on the Network Flow Level

Marc Philippe Stöcklin

Monitoring traffic events in computer network has become a critical task for operators to maintain an accurate view of a network's condition, to detect emerging security threats, and to safeguard the
EPFL2011
Show more
Related people (2)
Related concepts (176)
Computer virus
A computer virus is a type of malware that, when executed, replicates itself by modifying other computer programs and inserting its own code into those programs. If this replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be "infected" with a computer virus, a metaphor derived from biological viruses. Computer viruses generally require a host program. The virus writes its own code into the host program. When the program runs, the written virus program is executed first, causing infection and damage.
Malware
Malware (a portmanteau for malicious software) is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, deprive access to information, or which unknowingly interferes with the user's computer security and privacy. Researchers tend to classify malware into one or more sub-types (i.e. computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, rogue software, wiper and keyloggers).
Computer worm
A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. It often uses a computer network to spread itself, relying on security failures on the target computer to access it. It will use this machine as a host to scan and infect other computers. When these new worm-invaded computers are controlled, the worm will continue to scan and infect other computers using these computers as hosts, and this behaviour will continue.
Show more
Related courses (7)
COM-418: Computers and music
In this class we will explore some of the fundamental ways in which the pervasiveness of digital devices has completely revolutionized the world of music in the last 40 years, both from the point of v
MGT-493: Information security & digital trust
The goal of this course is to provide the students with a global knowledge on the principles of information security and privacy required to build digital trust. It includes the threats raised by info
CS-438: Decentralized systems engineering
A decentralized system is one that works when no single party is in charge or fully trusted. This course teaches decentralized systems principles while guiding students through the development and tes
Show more
Related lectures (47)
IT security basics
Covers the fundamentals of IT security, including complex passwords and malware prevention.
Email Security: Best Practices
Delves into email security statistics, filtering techniques, Cisco Email Security Appliance, authentication, web application access control, vulnerabilities, and antivirus infrastructure migration.
Safe Surfing II
Emphasizes the importance of safe web browsing practices and how to avoid online threats.
Show more