ABSTRACT
This chapter explores many different types of malware, how a computer can be infected, and what malware does once it gets onto a computer. The malware landscape has expanded drastically, and antivirus is simply a marketing term that has persisted because its familiarity resonates with many people, and a relabeling would cause confusion. To use a simpler description, malware is simply computer code that is executed on a computer, resulting in unintended and malicious consequences for the victim. The chapter discusses many different ways in which a computer can become infected with malware. The two classifications of malware that have been considered thus far viruses and Trojan horses both require some sort of human interaction for victim computer to become infected. Malware writers have recognized the limits of the different types of malware that spread through human action and have consequently evolved their tactics to develop types of malware that are not reliant on humans or tethered to host files.
