![]() They also have no extra features, poor customer support, and can be quite annoying in their attempt to upsell you to the paid version. Our own experience has shown that even though free Internet antivirus programs are successful at fending off some threats, they tend to lack vital protection in key areas such as ransomware protection and anti-spyware. No, a free antivirus program does not provide adequate protection for your needsĪs with most things - you get what you pay for - and in the case of antivirus software, this is definitely true.įree antivirus programs do offer better protection than having no antivirus program at all, and may be sufficient Internet security for some people.īut when it comes to proper protection, the results of AV-Test and other leading cyber security laboratories have proven that in the long run, free antivirus programs by and large score way less well than their paid alternatives. That is where we come in – to help you make sense of it all! Some are more user friendly than others, some are lighter on system resources and some offer packages for many devices at a decent price. There are those with lots of added features such as password managers, parental controls and gaming modes and those that only offer anti malware features but really good ones at that. Some are better for Mac computers and some are only for Mac computers. Yes, there are huge differences between the different offers. Shopping for a decent anti-malware software? Find out the main differences between each provider. ![]() Some are made by hackers just because they can (as an intellectual challenge to see who will detect the new virus and fix it) and some are made by governments (the best example being the now infamous Stuxnet worm that was created by the US and Israeli governments to target Iranian nuclear facilities and which caused their centrifuges to self destruct). Ransomware or phishing attacks are usually of this type. Most are made by criminals for financial gain. Just a few reasons of why people create computer viruses… It is often presented in a manner than seems official and intimidating, to encourage you to take action and will provide cyber criminals with your username and passwords so that they can access your accounts (your online bank account, shopping accounts, etc.) and steal your credit card numbers. This can trick you into giving them information by asking you to update, validate or confirm your account. They're sent by criminals to steal personal and financial information from you. It is basically fake emails, text messages and websites created to look like they're from authentic companies. Phishing: A method most often used by cyber criminals because it's easy to execute and can produce the results they're looking for with very little effort. Payment to the cybercriminal is typically made with an untraceable cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. Ransomware: A type of advanced malware that is rising in significance, ransomware extorts users to pay a sum of money in order to regain control over their operating system/private files. You could also lose all your information due to an attack on your hard drive, have your files altered, or your sensitive information stolen. ![]() These viruses are often used to intimidate you with scareware, which is usually a pop-up message that tells you your computer has a security problem or other false information. Malware infection: Malware is one of the more common ways to infiltrate or damage your computer via computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, and adware. It could be possible for malicious users to use your computer in one of these attacks. That increase in the volume of traffic overloads the website or server causing it to be slow for legitimate users, sometimes to the point that the website or server shuts down completely. The attack happens when the malicious user tells all the zombie computers to contact a specific website or server over and over again. If you are infected by a botnet virus, your computer will send spam emails with viruses attached to your contact list or be used as part of a denial of service attack against other systems.ĭDoS attacks: A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when a malicious user gets a network of zombie computers to sabotage a specific website or server. Often users are infected without even knowing about it. They are remotely controlled by the virus creator. The most significant online threats can however be summarized as follows:īotnets: These are a collection of software robots, or 'bots', that operate as an army of infected computers (also known as ‘zombies'). With cyber criminals making more money than the global drug trade in 2018, the complete list of online threats covers way more than we could possibly describe on this page. Here’s what you need to know about the scariest threats online
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