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What Is Malware? Malware is malicious software that has now become a dangerous aspect and an integral part of threats from the Internet. Organizations and end-users become targets via browsing of the net, attachments to emails, using the cloud and other vectors including the mobile devices. How Malware Works Malicious software and code can tamper with and change the contents of a system. It can capture sensitive data while infecting other systems on the network. Modern malware has evolved beyond the behavioral and signature-based detection of most anti-virus tools and may have the capability to disable the tools monitoring the system. System administrators use Anti-malware tools, comprising anti-spyware and anti-virus tools to defend against the threats from malware. Extent of Damage Caused By Malware Depending on the targets of the virus, the damage to an infected computer on a network can vary: from sending out spam, to a complete breakdown of the network or critical data loss. Cost is one way of measuring the detrimental effects of malware. The cost to the global economy is as much as $1 trillion a year from cybercriminals using malware to steal personal data such as credit card information. That means the individual business must spend an average of $3.8 million in reacting to, containing, and cleaning up after a malware attack. Per incident, the average loss for a customer affected by malware works out to be about $1,000, and this figure excludes the fear and loss of trust that accompanies a cybercrime. Malware lodged in your website can blacklist your site by search engines such as Google. It may take up to 13 days on average to be removed from the blacklist. During this time, customers see warnings that your site is unsafe, forcing them to move toward your competitor's business. That means nearly two weeks of lost sales because of decreased traffic. . Apart from the involvement of cost and loss in sales, malware attacks can be more damaging as the reputation of your business may be hit seriously. Even one lost potential customer (seeing the blacklist warning) may spread the word that your site (read business) cannot be trusted. With tools such as Twitter and Facebook, it takes only seconds for this mistrust to spread to thousands of people. Therefore, even if you were at best only a victim of malware attack, you risk losing sales and reputation. Best Practices to Thwart Malware Attacks Aside from taking a holistic approach for the overall security of the network, different classes of threats require different defenses. Specifically for malware, protection of the web-server is the predominant approach. The latest trend is toward adding a protection layer that works at the website level. Anti-malware scanning from a cloud-based service is emerging as the most powerful and effective supplement to web server security implemented in the traditional manner. James scott princeton corporate solutions service conducts regular scans to detect hidden malware in web pages facing the customer and alerts the website owners if any malware is found. Features include changing scanning speed and frequency, using databases to keep track of threats, varying reporting capabilities, dynamic updates and integration with related tools. This post is an excerpt from 'The CEO's Manual On Cyber Security' by 6 Time Best Selling auther James Scott. James Scott is a writer, lecturer and CEO of Princeton Corporate Solutions References: 1. The SANS Institute, Twenty Critical Security Controls for Effective Cyber Defense. Available from: <http://www.sans.org/critical-security-controls/>. [2013].
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