Malware

Malware, or malicious software, refers to code designed for malicious purposes, such as viruses, trojans or spyware.

The term can refer to any program that may cause harm to a computer, steal information, or allow an attacker to gain control over a computer without the owner's knowledge.

Malware can be disguised as genuine software, and may unintentionally be delivered from well-knwon websites that are trusted by users.

Often, attackers may fool users into installing malware by disguising it as salacious content.

Malware that takes over a system may then be used to propagate the program to other users, or make the system part of a botnet - a network of 'zombie' computers that can be used to send out spam or carry out denial of serice attacks on internet targets.

Computer viruses and worms are the most common forms of Malware. Although it can also take the form of trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, scareware (which pretends to have found a virus on your system) or rootkits.