Malware - Spam's Executable Brother

In the wake of the WMF exploit - a number of systems under my administration became afflicted with various pieces of malware. Malware is a general term that describes malicious software of all kinds. The most common type displays unwanted pop-up advertisements on your system. Also common is software that modifies or redirects search results so that they point to pages paying affiliate commissions to the distributor.

The WMF exploit wasn't specifically tied to any piece of malware. However, it did provide a vector for such software to install itself. All that was required was viewing a website or e-mail message with a specially miscoded image. Microsoft initially downplayed the threat - suggesting that if people only browsed websites they trusted, they wouldn't have any problems. What a bunch of douche bags.

The motive for installing such software is almost always to provide financial gain to the party that distributes it. The recipient almost never wants it, but the sender or author always claims to have paperwork indicating that they consented to receive it. Just like spam.

Again, like spam there don't seem to be clear laws that ban malware in general. At the same time, it seems likely that most kind of spam and malware violate at least some aspect of the law.

Highly effective spam filtering and malware detection applications exist. Many inexpensive or free applications exist. There is even a built-in spam filter for Outlook. However, neither technology can boast 100% accuracy. Like anti-spam technology, anti-malware applications can "false positive" - removing components of perfectly legitimate software applications.

Distributors of both anti-spam and anti-malware applications have ironically used both mediums to advertise.

The preferable way to deal with both malware and spam is preemptively. If you avoid giving your e-mail address to people or websites you don't trust, you can reduce the risk of getting spammed. Likewise, if you avoid using freeware applications with questionable authors, and keep your security patches updates, your odds of getting infected with malware decrease.

Malware can sometimes be difficult for end-users to detect. Users usually know when they need a junk e-mail blocker, however they may want to consider using some kind of malware detection application even if no problem is apparent.

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