What did you hear about MALWARE?

Hi there!

It’s your girl Bolatito again. I hope you’ve had a great week??

As always, I come bearing cyber gist. Earlier this week, I went to celebrate Eid at a friend’s place when one of the big uncles there called me to a corner and asked me to explain what malware is. In his words, “I read your letter last week and saw the word there”. I took some time to explain in detail to him and thought to do the same here. In case you missed my last letter, I extensively discussed the difference between Phishing and Spamming, click here to read up.

Malware (or malicious software) is a type of software that is harmful to your device when installed. It compromises your device’s security to gain access and then proceeds to either disrupt the functionality of other apps, control the computer, steal sensitive information, or show annoying pop-up ads. Malware comes in different forms, some of the most common types include spyware, trojan horse, virus, and worm, adware, rootkit, and ransomware.

In the coming letters, I will be taking time to discuss each type of malware in detail but here is a simple summary of some of them. ?

Virus – spreads across your device

A virus is a piece of code that inserts itself into an application and executes when the app is run. The virus is the best-known form of malware, it can be used to steal sensitive data and launch other forms of attack. A virus often moves from one device to another by attaching itself to a file, its ability to replicate and spread is its strength.

Ransomware - blackmails you

This software uses encryption to disable a target’s access to its data until a ransom is paid. The victim is partially or totally unable to operate until it pays the ransom, and that doesn’t guarantee the victim access to the locked data.

Trojan – sneaks malware into your device

A Trojan disguises itself as a safe and useful app but has harmful attachments hidden in it. Once downloaded, the trojan can take control of victims’ systems for malicious purposes. Trojans may hide in games, apps, or even attachments in emails.

Spyware – steals your data

The purpose of spyware is to gather sensitive information from a target without their knowledge. They can steal your data like login credentials and payment details.

Adware – spams you with ads

Adware is unwanted software that displays advertisements without consent. Adware can monitor your online activities and gather information on your online activities for further use. An attacker can use adware to spam you with ads to enable them to earn money or sell information gathered from monitoring your online activities to advertising agencies to enable them to send you targeted ads.

Understanding what malware is not sufficient, you need to protect devices from them. Here are some tips to help.

Use a good paid antimalware software (antivirus) on all your devices. Paid anti-malware software is better than the free versions.

A cracked anti-malware software (antivirus) is no good, avoid them.

Do NOT postpone updating your operating systems (particularly if they are security updates on Windows).

Do NOT use unknown devices like pen drives or external storage media on your computer, even from friends or family. Ask them to email the files and if they are very large, ask them to share via 3rd party storage websites like Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. Make sure you have the Dropbox or Google drive client installed on your PC. This will enable your anti-virus software to scan the file before downloading.

Do NOT click on attachments in emails from unknown people, however enticing the subject line and compelling the call to action may be.

Do NOT click on links from emails or other websites, without hovering over with your mouse to check where the URL leads.

Side Gists

We are hosting a 3-leg Linux party for the CyberGirls fellows in Nairobi, Lagos, and Accra. We recently had the one in Nairobi and it was a fun affair with a ‘90s theme, we’ll be hosting the Lagos edition tomorrow. I can’t wait to give you all the details about the party next week.

It is always fun writing to you and I look forward to doing it again next week as we discuss ransomware.

Till then, stay well and remain cyber safe! ??

Yours truly,

Bolatito