the.com/malware
software with ambition, working overtime to ruin a day it was never hired for.
means Software written deliberately to damage, disrupt, or sneak into a computer or network — viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, and their relatives.
from A late-20th-century blend coined as computer security became its own battlefield: 'mal-' (the Latin 'malus,' bad, the same gloomy root behind 'malice' and 'malfunction') bolted onto 'software.' The 'mal-' prefix had spent centuries flagging things gone wrong; here it simply moved into the machine.
- first virus
- 1971 Creeper just printed 'catch me if you can'
- ransom economy
- attackers demand crypto, sometimes offer customer support
- creepy origin
- early worms were research experiments gone feral
- hidden cost
- global damages run into trillions yearly
- sneaky delivery
- often arrives disguised as a helpful update
stuxnet — computer worm that disabled 1,000+ iranian nuclear centrifuges in 2010
wannacry — ransomware that infected 200,000+ computers across 150 countries in may 2017
zeus — trojan horse that stole over $100 million from banks and businesses 2006-2010