The phantom menace
Adware is a growing problem, aided by social engineering. Here’s how to keep it away.
The world of malware is constantly changing and evolving – who’d heard of nasties like ransomware, cryptomining or social engineering until relatively recently? In its State of Malware 2020 report, Malwarebytes noted some interesting trends. One was that malware is increasingly focusing its attentions on business rather than consumers – presumably because cyber criminals spy bigger gains to be made.
That said, don’t ditch all your anti-virus software just yet – consumer infections were only down a paltry two percent on the previous year. Of more significance is the changing landscape. The biggest source of infections by far are adware – these are programs that don’t carry malware themselves, but try to trick people into either downloading malware or giving up personal details.
The biggest jump in the list is by so-called ‘hack tools’, which are again often legitimate programs that provide hackers with a way into networks. The growth in popularity of both adware and hack tools suggests that security software’s ability to spot and detect more traditional forms of malware means cybercriminals are shifting their focus towards weaker spots in your defences.
Not all newer threats stay the course: cryptomining, whereby malware allowed criminals to hijack some of your computer’s processing power to help them mine for Bitcoin and other digital currency has fallen away in popularity. But even here, new variants continue to emerge alongside existing ones, while traditional forms of infection from worms to trojans, spyware to back doors, remain a persistent threat.
Stay safe
With infections on the decrease you may be tempted that now’s a good time to let your security software subscription lapse and revert to free protection. While it’s true Microsoft Security – built on the back of Windows Defender – is scoring highly in independent malware tests (it’s currently listed as a Top Product on www.av-test.org with more established rivals), it does lack tools to help protect against wider threats. Paid-for solutions like Kaspersky ( www.kaspersky.com.au), Bitdefender ( www.bitdefender.com.au) and Norton ( https://au.norton.com) offer a more comprehensive set of tools to protect
against a wider range of threats.
One of the biggest holes in
Windows’ security is its built-in firewall. The irony is, the Windows Firewall can provide comprehensive protection, but by default it only monitors inbound traffic from other networked devices and the internet to your computer. Any connections originating from your PC – such as software you’ve installed (including software you may have been tricked into installing) – are ignored.
The solution is to either install a dedicated firewall with two-way protection – a standard feature in all paid-for products as well as the free standalone Comodo Firewall ( https://personalfirewall.comodo. com/) product – or add two-way protection to Windows Firewall itself. This is done by installing the Windows Firewall Control ( www.binisoft.org/ wfc), which allows you to create rules for outgoing traffic to prevent applications and processes from accessing the internet.
After installation, WFC is set to continue allowing all outbound traffic by default – to start filtering it, launch the program, switch to the Profiles section and select Medium filtering (recommended). Also tick the failsafe Automatically set box. Now switch to Notifications and select Learning mode to switch monitoring on. All digitally signed and trusted apps will be given network access automatically, but you’ll start to see pop-up notifications for other apps. If they’re trusted (not all safe apps are signed), click Allow this program; if you’re not sure, Block for now and ask me later.
Go further
It’s not simply malware you need to be concerned about, but all aspects of your online life. Now is the time to tighten the security of your online footprint by using a password manager (we recommend Bitwarden – www.bitwarden.com) and two-factor authentication (manage your codes with Authy – https://authy.com) to lock down your online accounts. Take the time to generate new, lengthy (14 characters should be sufficient against any brute-force password attack) and random passwords for your core online accounts and switch on 2FA where possible.
Also consider a VPN – particularly when connecting through insecure wireless networks. This scrambles your connection so the data transmitted can’t be intercepted. Try Windscribe ( https://windscribe.com), which has by far the most generous free package out there, offering 10GB per month.
Finally, help ensure all your software stays updated with the help of Patch My PC ( https://patchmypc.com/ home-updater-overview).