Malware attacks are on the rise, which means every PC owner needs to be on the lookout for threats. The first thing you can do to defend yourself is find out how malware makes its way onto computers in the first place. We’ll take a look at the five most common ways malware can infect your computer.
1. Scam emails
Phishing emails (Opens in a new tab) These are messages sent by malicious actors that try to trick you into taking a certain action. Phishing often targets employees of large companies. A hacker posing as a supervisor or executive could potentially trick an employee into giving up their passwords, giving a bad actor access to the corporate network.
However, phishing emails can also be directed at individuals as a way to get them to download malware onto their devices. These emails may contain a link or attachment that automatically downloads malware when clicked.
The best defense against phishing emails is to be careful when checking your inbox. Never click on links or attachments in emails from a sender you don’t know.
Unfortunately, attackers can, too Impersonate someone you trust (Opens in a new tab), as a friend or colleague. If anything about an email seems suspicious, like being pushed to open a link or receiving a document you never requested, contact the sender directly to confirm if they actually sent the email.
2. Connected devices
Storage devices such as USB drives, external hard drives, and SD cards can all contain malware. Once an infected device is connected to a new computer, He can jump easily (Opens in a new tab) from the external drive to the computer. The transfer is usually very fast and invisible, so you probably won’t even realize your computer has been infected.
You can simply avoid the peripherals entirely, but that’s not practical for most people. Instead, it’s a good practice to only connect USB devices that you trust or know where they were used previously. If you have an external hard drive that you use for your files, use it only for your computer and avoid connecting it to other devices.
Another option is to use Windows Defender to automatically scan connected devices after you connect them and before they are fully connected to your system. This requires making changes to your Windows registry. Here are the steps:
- Open Windows Search and enter “regedit”, then open the Registry Editor
- Use the address bar to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows Defender
- Right-click Windows Defender and select New > Key. Set the key name to Scan
- Right-click on the clear key and select New > 32-bit DWORD. Set the DWORD name to DisableRemovableDriveScanning
- Double click on the DWORD and set the value to zero
Now, every time you plug in a USB-connected device, Windows Defender will automatically scan it for malware.
3. Malicious websites
Visiting an infected website is one of the most common ways that malware can get onto your computer. Most malicious websites are scam copies of real websites. They may have a similar domain name, with only one letter changed to fool you. They may also look very similar to the real website that imitates you and encourages you to download malware by clicking on a link.
Malware can also come from legitimate websites that have been hacked. In many cases, the website owner may not be aware that the website is infected, and any device that connects to the website is potentially infected.
The good news is that most modern browsers are built-in Malicious website databases (Opens in a new tab), which will automatically prevent you from connecting. However, this only helps if the website you are trying to visit is known to be malicious.
A more comprehensive way to defend against malicious websites is to use a Secure Web Gateway (SWG) (Opens in a new tab)like circumference 81 (Opens in a new tab).
SWG automatically analyzes every website you connect to for suspicious traffic and automatically blocks the connection if the site carries malware. SWG also limits the types of data that can be transferred to and from your computer, which can prevent malicious executable software from being downloaded without your knowledge.
4. Hacked software
Unfortunately, not every piece of software is perfectly encrypted to block attackers. Software can have holes in its code that hackers can exploit, and anyone who has this software on their computer could be vulnerable. This is why major breakthroughs like SolarWinds attack (Opens in a new tab) and the Log4j attack (Opens in a new tab) It can affect many companies at the same time.
Software providers usually start working on a patch as soon as they discover that their code is vulnerable to attack. This patch is usually released in the form of a software update. You will only be protected if you install the update.
Therefore, it is a good idea to enable the program on your computer to check for automatic updates. You may also want to run your own manual check for updates for all of your software, including your operating system, every few months. If updates are available, install them immediately.
Another thing to remember is that it can take months from the first exploit and malware spread for the software provider to spot the attack. This is the main reason why running is necessary Antivirus software (Opens in a new tab) on your computer. Even if you don’t know how a piece of malware got into your system, your antivirus can isolate it and prevent it from causing harm.
5. Peer-to-peer downloads
Peer-to-peer file sharing systems, incl torrents (Opens in a new tab)Mostly as a way to download music, games, books, and more. Unfortunately, file sharing sites present a huge opportunity for malicious actors to spread malware. It’s very hard to know if a file you’re downloading is really a new song, a piece of malware, or both.
Even antivirus software cannot scan a shared file for malware before downloading it and potentially infecting your system. Many people who use torrent sites choose to download shared files onto an old computer that they don’t mind having it infected, and then run an antivirus program to scan each file before transferring it to a newer device.
Alternatively, you can use a file Built-in sandbox feature (Opens in a new tab) in Windows Defender. This enables you to download files to an isolated environment where they can be scanned for malware before interacting with the rest of the system.
conclusion
Malware can make its way onto your computer through phishing emails, connected USB devices, malicious websites, hacked software, and peer-to-peer downloads. It is up to you to be proactive and Avoid downloading malware (Opens in a new tab) in the first place. You should always run Antivirus software (Opens in a new tab) So you can detect any malware on your system and prevent it from causing harm.