The expansion of the internet and information technologies has created such a vast digital world that we can even observe its parallels to reality. While everything is faster, more convenient, and efficient, we still have our ordinary citizens, heroes, criminals and villains. Of course, as the biggest companies centralize most resources on the web, governmental obligations and the push for more internet influence on our lives enforces these businesses to strive for easy and safe use of technology. Still, the web is gigantic, and it always finds new ways to threaten internet users that benefit from powerful information systems.
If we stick to the most popular websites, the only encountered abuse is the misuse of private user data, but it does not come close to active security threats created by hackers. Malware classifies all types of viruses that can infect your computer and internet connection. Just a few decades ago, the malware was mostly used to terrorize and harass uneducated internet users, either out of malicious intent or to disrupt other web surfers. Today, mischievous tactics how cybercriminals have progressed to new levels, targeting weaknesses in hardware and networks of growing or already successful companies. Still, if not careful, a casual internet user can also encounter viruses with various degrees of danger and complexity.
In this article you will learn how malware affects your computer and what tools you can use to prevent it. We will focus on the main differences that separate a healthy computer from an infected device and what software can prevent the appearance of malware. For example, you can buy an HTTP proxy to protect your internet connection with a different IP address, and upcoming traffic will have a hard time infiltrating your network due to a protective layer. If you decide to buy HTTP proxy, it will give you many benefits that will enhance your browsing experience: you can connect to geo-blocked websites and avoid exposure of your real address to suspicious website owners. These changes make your connection much more secure, and with a legitimate provider masking your data packets, the likelihood of being affected by malware falls dramatically. If you take your software health and internet security seriously, learn more about applications of security tools and why you should buy HTTP proxy.
Why hackers create malware
With enough work and effective applicability, viruses, trojans, and other types of malware can be very profitable if they manage to infiltrate your computer or better, the entire workplace environment of a profitable company. Every hacker strives to effectively implement ransomware – malicious software that gets access to targeted computers and devices and the information stored in them and blocks the entry to the original user at the same time. Then, with creative forms of pressure and blackmail, cybercriminals threaten owners with information destruction and leakage if owners refuse to pay the ransom. Ransomware is devastating because hackers can never hold up to their end of the bargain and keep harassing the company until it finds ways to regain control. By then the damage is already done – private company information can be all over the web or sold to interested parties.
Hackers create malware to exploit internet users. Cybercrimes can be even more effective than theft because they involve trickery and technical intricacies that may never look suspicious to an average web user but damages range from disruption of your computer system to serious financial consequences.
Learn to protect yourself from malware
The anti-virus software market is in a steady decline and there are valid reasons for it: their detection rate is lower than before, and Windows operating system has a stable defender that provides the same protection as a built-in tool. To combat malware effectively, we must focus on prevention instead of damage control.
Both companies and private users should avoid suspicious downloads of files. Just like it is beneficial to be a defensive driver on the road, try to be a defensive web surfer. If visiting an unknown website is not a necessity, it is better to avoid it. More importantly, clicking on any hyperlinks on websites you know nothing about can lead to malware infection.
To protect your connections and more forceful implementation of malware, you can use proxy servers as your doormen that control incoming and outgoing traffic. With an extra layer of protection, cybercriminals will have a much harder time infiltrating your network, which can lead to the infection of malware.
Consider changing your operating system. If you rarely play video games, swapping to Linux OS and choosing a distribution that suits your needs will help you take control of your system and avoid most types of malwares. The transparency of Linux OS makes it a much more secure system because any potential threats get fixed very quickly. Windows is a more popular OS that cannot be impacted by external users. Because of these factors and differences in structure, most of the malware created by hackers target systems that run on Windows.