What Is Malware And How Can You Protect Yourself?

While you have no doubt heard the term “malware” before, we’ll take a closer look at some common questions surrounding malware—and show how you can better protect your devices and your personal information.

What is malware? The prefix “mal” is Latin in origin and means “bad, ill, or wrong”. Hence the term “malicious” software or “malware”. It’s specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain access to your computer and its operating system.

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How does it get on my device? We’re all susceptible to getting malware on our devices. It doesn’t matter if it’s your work computer or a personal device you use exclusively at home—you could be at risk of accidentally downloading something harmful. There are several ways malware can get on your device. A few of them include:

• Phishing emails. These are emails that contain an attachment or link to a website that will automatically trigger a download to your computer with some kind of malware.
• USB flash drives. You need to be careful what you put into your computer. Never take a USB flash drive from somebody you don’t trust because it could contain software that will upload malware to your device.
• Fraudulent websites. It’s become common for websites to have a popup disclaimer informing you they’ll be tracking your activity on their site and will leave a cookie on your computer even after you’ve clicked away. A cookie is a file that’s downloaded to your computer that is essentially like your digital footprint on the world wide web. Malicious websites, however, can use this to their advantage to start scraping your computer for personal information or causing damage to your hardware.

What are the signs to watch for? You might not always know there’s malware on your device. It’s not like in the movies where a pixelated skull and crossbones take over your screen, announcing that you’ve been hacked. Most malware is designed to silently work in the background of your operating system, so you’re none the wiser to nefarious activities going on. However, there are things you can look out for to identify malware:

• Problems with shutting down, restarting, crashing, or super slow functions.
• Reduced battery life (due to malware running in the background and taking up much of your device’s energy).
• New and unexpected items like random icons, a different home screen, a new toolbar on your browser window or desktop, etc.
• A sudden influx of intrusive popups and endless ads when you’re online.

How do I get rid of it? If you’re at all worried that you have malware on your computer, it’s best to stop all activities that involve usernames, passwords, or shopping. If your device has antivirus software, make sure it’s up to date. If not, download it right away. Use the software to perform a scan of your device. A scan will often identify it, isolate it, and immediately begin the malware removal process.

If the virus has wreaked havoc on your device’s operating system, you might need to go to great lengths to fix it, which may include calling in a professional. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance you’ll lose any unsaved items on your device that haven’t been backed up to the cloud—so it’s a good idea to regularly backup your device in case this happens to you.

When it comes down to it, malware is software that can destroy your entire device from the inside out. Be vigilant in what you do online to keep everything from your personal device to your personal information safe.