GC: n

CT: Malware creation is on the rise due to money that can be made through organized Internet crime. Originally malware was created for experiments and pranks, but eventually it was used for vandalism and destruction of targeted machines. Today, much of malware is created to make a profit from forced advertising (adware), stealing sensitive information (spyware), spreading email spam or child pornography (zombie computers), or extorting money (ransomware).

S: Norton – https://nr.tn/2AdZ0me (last access: 17 January 2019)

N: 1. From “mal-” (word-forming element of Latin origin meaning “bad, badly, ill, poorly, wrong, wrongly,” from French mal (adv.), from Old French mal (adj., adv.) “evil, ill, wrong, wrongly” (9c.), from Latin male (adv.) “badly,” or malus (adj.) “bad, evil” -fem. mala, neuter malum-, from Proto-Italic *malo-, from PIE *mol–o-, probably from PIE root *mel– (3) “false, bad, wrong.”) and “-ware” (from software in the computer sense).

2. Computer software that is designed to damage the way a computer works.

3. Malware is an abbreviated form of “malicious software”.

4. There are various types of malware, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware, or any type of malicious code that infiltrates a computer.

5. Remediation of modern malware is becoming increasingly more difficult due to several factors.There are significantly more varieties of malware being found in the wild that exploit zero-day vulnerabilities. “Zero-day” modifies the word vulnerability to mean that the vulnerability is not known to potential victims, and so victims have had no days to prepare for it. Malware has also now been designed with polymorphic capabilities. Polymorphic malware changes certain characteristics
of itself upon each instance or infection. In addition, malware evolves.

6. According to data collected up to September 20 in 2017 by PandaLabs, in 2017 alone there was a total number of 285 000 new malware samples every day.

7. Cultural Interrelation: We can also mention the series Mr. Robot (2015) created by Sam Esmail and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) created by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston.

S: 1. OED – https://bit.ly/2QVrNjI ; https://bit.ly/2HfhlUw ; https://bit.ly/2QSKeWc (last access: 17 January 2019). 2. CD – https://bit.ly/2SYXMBm (last access: 17 January 2019). 3. Kaspersky – https://bit.ly/2sAMEig (last access: 17 January 2019). 4. Norton – https://nr.tn/2AdZ0me (last access: 17 January 2019). 5. NIST – https://bit.ly/2T0deNH (last access: 17 January 2019). 6. Panda – https://bit.ly/2CCfkhG (last access: 17 January 2019). 7. IMDb – https://imdb.to/2RyJTNG ; https://imdb.to/2SeoncT (last access: 17 January 2019).

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CR: antivirus , computer science, computer virus, computer worm, cybercrime, encryption, Internet , phishing, software , spyware, Trojan horse.