If you are feeling in a charitable mood, and want to make life easier for hackers, crackers and other variations on the words that rhyme with packers, you should store all your passwords in a plain text file, word document or excel document, and call it something like "passwords".  This will greatly assist anybody who gains access to your files to remove as much money from you as possible.    read more

An exploit kit is a software toolkit which gets injected into a site that is either malicious (created for the purpose of infecting PC’s via things such as spam e-mail links) or hacked (a trusted site that has been compromised) and silently installs itself while you are using your computer. read more

While all of these types of malware are concerning, there are several preventative measures you can take to ensure you stay safe both online and offline. Primarily, ensure that you have a quality antivirus installed on your system and keep it up to date. Keeping up with things such as your Windows updates is very important as sometimes Microsoft releases system and program security updates. If you are intending to surf the web, make sure your chosen internet browser is up to date as you can become infected just by visiting a page which contains malicious code. read more

A rootkit gives a hacker or remote user access to all of the folders on your computer, both data and system folders and files. While it is not directly destructive to your computer like a virus or designed to spread like a worm, rootkits are used to gain control of your desktop by hiding deep within your computer which can be far more devastating. They can infect the BIOS, which is an important part of your system that is independent from the operating system you are running which can make them very difficult to detect and remove. Rootkits also run at the same permission levels as a system administrator and antivirus programs which can cause additional problems with detection and removal as the computer cannot tell which program has the greatest authority. read more

Malware is a broad term which can be described as any type of damaging software or program which is made to deceive and harm a user. The easiest way to remember this that malware is short for “malicious software”. Many people confuse the term “virus” for a generalisation for anything unusual or harmful on their computer. Viruses, trojans, spyware, worms and rootkits are all malware. Each piece of malware is designed to do something different such as steal personal and confidential data, irritate the user by disabling certain functions or simply do nothing but reproduce and lay dormant. read more

Ever been caught with malicious and other potentially unwanted software on your PC? These will more than often  try to install themselves when you connect to the Internet or install some programs from a CD, DVD, or other media. If the software is makes it to your desktop it may execute immediate or at a later date when you least expect it causing potentially a host of issues. read more