Viruses, Spyware and Adware

Viruses, spyware and adware are not only bothersome but cost you time and money. They take up valuable bandwidth on your Internet connection and cause lost productivity for network users. It’s bad enough that we have to manage the attacks of spam, viruses and worms and now we have adware and spyware to contend with and the necessity to protect our privacy.

Viruses, worms, and the like often perform malicious acts, such as deleting files, accessing personal data, or using your computer to attack other computers.

Types of Infection and Intrusion

Viruses - A virus is a small piece of software that piggybacks on real programs. For example, a virus might attach itself to a program such as a spreadsheet program. Each time the spreadsheet program runs, the virus runs, too, and it has the chance to reproduce (by attaching to other programs) or wreak havoc.

E-mail viruses - An email virus moves around in email messages, and usually replicates itself by automatically mailing itself to dozens of people in the victim's e-mail address book.

Worms - A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself. A copy of the worm scans the network for another machine that has a specific security hole. It copies itself to the new machine using the security hole, and then starts replicating from there, as well.

Trojan horses - A Trojan horse is simply a computer program. The program claims to do one thing (it may claim to be a game) but instead does damage when you run it (it may erase your hard disk). Trojan horses have no way to replicate automatically.

Adware - is software that displays advertisements on your computer. These are ads that inexplicably pop up on your display screen, even if you're not browsing the Internet. Some companies provide "free" software in exchange for advertising on your display. It's how they make their money.

Spyware - is software that sends your personal information to a third party without your permission or knowledge. This can include information about Web sites you visit or something more sensitive like your user name and password. Unscrupulous companies often use this data to send you unsolicited targeted advertisements.

XamNet offers a solution through our VSA program service to help reduce the attacks and vulnerabilities associated with viruses, spyware and adware. We understand the necessity of protecting your data and environment. By safeguarding your business with our automated process and suite of products, your business can be protected from the pesky and malicious attacks of unwanted intrusions.