32% of PCs Infected with Malware

Protect yourself, why?

We are always told to protect ourselves against viruses and rogue programs and be careful what emails we open, etc, etc, etc, but it begs the question, why? What harm can it do?

We should all be aware of and know how to protect ourselves from malware.   What is malware and what does it do?  Malware is a computer written code, designed to damage a personal computer, mobile device, laptop, tablet computer system, computer network or to take partial or full control over its operation.  Some of the main different types of malware include trojans, worms and viruses.

The percentages of malware that was created in 2012 were very high figures indeed; Viruses 9%, Worms 11%, and Trojans 76%

Recent statistics show that in 2012 malware specifically written for mobile operating systems has increased 1200%!

How can malware infect your computer and exactly what does the different types of malware do to your system?   Some common ways to become infected are receiving data from thumb/pen drives, Facebook, software downloads, opening rogue emails and software installation.  Trojans infect by pretending to be a real program.  Worms infect by overwriting data as it moves through your system.  Viruses infect computers by replicating itself and spreading further.  In the past year, more than 27 million malware strains were created; this means a new malware code was created at an average of 74,000 pieces per day.

What does malware do? Malware steals documents, copies contacts and kills computers!

I don’t mean to scare you but the figures speak for themselves.  32% of Personal Computers worldwide are infected by malware, so please take the following precautions: install an anti-malware and anti-virus program and scan your computer at regular intervals; backup your important data regularly; update your computer to the latest versions of your software; keep your operating system updated with the latest patches available and please do not open any emails if you do not recognise the sender as it could be and probably is, malware.

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[Image via techweekeurope ]