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Glossary of Terms

What is Malware?

Malware, short for “Malicious Software”

Malware is harmful software or firmware that infects computers, servers and networks. Once infected, the malware takes control of network devices with the purpose of data exfiltration, from full intellectual property theft to keystroke logging or even taking control of a system’s functionality, like that of a web camera.

Common Types of Malware

  • Ransomware: Ransomware is spread via deceptive links and phishing emails, this malware encrypts your system and/or files, encrypting them down until a ransom is paid.
  • Bots: Some bots are harmless and some bots are engineered to be evil, like in the case of IoT botnets, a collection of machines formed to launch DDoS attacks. Bots can also be used for equally destructive exploits in spambots, a program designed to send spam and phishing attempts.
  • Viruses: This form of malware replicates itself, infecting other machines. It’s goal, like Coronavirus or the flu virus, is to replicate itself as far and wide as possible. The viruses multiply via infected websites, removable storage media, emails and other methods.
  • Additional malware types: rootkit, adware, software bugs, spyware, worms, and trojans.

Learn more about combating the surge of modern malware and ransomware

Investigating the Mirai Botnet

Mirai, a clever malware that takes advantage of lax security standards in connected smart devices to build massive botnets that are able to deploy DDoS payloads.

Read the White Paper

How A10 Networks Assists with Malware Protection

Effective malware protection requires full visibility into your network’s encrypted traffic, so attacks can be stopped at the network edge. A10 Networks Thunder® SSL Insight (SSLi®) enables TLS decryption/SSL decryption and SSL inspection to detect malware and other exploits hidden in encryption network traffic.

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