Happy weekend community as always I hope that everything is going excellently, in this article I want to emphasize a common and simple but important issue to clarify since many times due to lack of certainty we do not correctly distinguish the differences between what are Virus, Malware and Ransomware and their operations, that's why I wrote this article to clarify some doubts and may be useful for all of you.
First we will define exactly what is the Virus and how they attack in the system or server that have as main objective.
Virus
A virus is defined as a threat that is programmed or designed totally destined to start installing automatically going unnoticed, it is an intruder that attacks directly the files and the boot disk multiplying to make a greater attack, the viruses cause considerable damage The main purpose of viruses is to spread throughout the system.
The virus has a well-known or common way of attacking:
- The propagation modules: They specialize in managing the way in which the infection that is directed to the files will propagate and thus execute in a hidden way without the user being able to perceive the presence of said attack and thus take total control of the system.
- Attacks: It aims to stay active during attacks by adding additional infections to the files at certain times with a minimum timed time.
- Defense system: Meets the main objective of protecting the virus at all costs in order to prevent the virus is eliminated and it should be noted that in case of being under threat looks for ways to prevent the elimination of the virus and its detection weather.
Once defined what are the Virus now the definition of Ransomware and how to attack in the system.
Ransomware
A Ransomware is a software of malicious nature that once it has penetrated into the system the cyber aggressor or hacker initiates the encryption of files causing the user to lose total control of the files and data stored encrypting the system leaving it completely blocked for the purpose of that the cyber aggressor asks for a ransom for a sum of money based on crypto currency and thus protect their identity but it is never guaranteed the return of the information because it is a known trap and it is at the user's risk to accept or not pay for the ransom, always It is recommended not to pay for the rescue of the information.
Ways to attack the Ransomwares:
- Full system lock: Once the Ransomware is installed in the background, it completely blocks the system, rendering it useless.
- File encryption: When the files are encrypted usually in time intervals the encryption is multiplied to the point of reducing the chances of recovering the information.
- Pop-up window: Once the Ransomware takes over completely within the system and encrypts the files the cyber aggressor warns the user that he must pay a sum of money to recover the information in a certain time otherwise the information will be will lose in its entirety.
Finally the definition of Malware and how it attacks in the system.
Malware
A Malware is a malicious code that is responsible for causing severe damage to the system making the performance is less and less, the attacks of the Malwares can be varied by destroying a certain amount of data up to and infecting executable files of daily use
Ways to attack the Malwares:
- The Adwares: They are executed as advertising but go unnoticed many times in spite of being an open code through pop-up windows, when they are executed they go into the background within the system.
- The Backdoors: Run in the background as Adwares but with the difference of being an innocent application to simple appearance allowing the cyber aggressor to infect and access networks of different servers to extract information or destroy.
- Pishing: It is very common and is basically responsible for stealing personal data, bank accounts and even documents with valuable information from companies.
- Spams: Through unwanted emails that are simply perceived as files of other companies which when executed by the user are deployed inside the system infecting it in the background.
Now we can notice with more clarity how the Virus, Ransomwares and Malwares work, each with a function similar to the other but with somewhat different objectives that lead to the same purpose the destruction, theft and encryption of files of users and companies, so we can understand more accurately and know what action to take in case of being attacked by some of these programs or open codes of a destructive nature.