How To Get Past Malware Attacks

By Author: Brooke M. Perry
Total Articles: 84
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Online browsing is the best way to find something or looking for the most popular choices in any category. However often we come across websites that are fun to look at or visit but are in fact hide malware. Often it happens that the security of the system is compromised and then begins infiltration by numerous viruses and other infections that are extremely threatening. Malware is the most common of all online threats that can happen at any time. Recently a popular website by the name of “cracked.com” has emerged in technology news as a website that is loaded with malware. Let us find out more about it and understand how to get past malware.

What is cracked.com all about?

Cracked.com is a website that is known for providing drive-by download opportunity to users and in turn delivers malware to whoever visited it. All this surfaced when an online security agency discovered this site infecting systems with malware.

This website as told works on the method of drive-by-download, this means that any user who visits this website will be infected by malware. It happens due to the system vulnerabilities that ...
... this website is designed to manipulate. This website is designed with a malicious code that plays upon system vulnerabilities on the software of a user. It is different from other online attacks as unlike other common attacks where a user clicks a link for accessing a file, the drive-by just downloads malware without user input. Even if a user visits the page, the system will be infected with malware. This website was notorious for infecting systems at large that it has to be taken off by Google. This all had been happening since Nov 4th 2013 that continued till ten days. Now however, this website is said to be free of this coding.

The most essential thing to learn from it is the manner in which it attacked and propagated. Let us now find out how it was done.

How Drive-by works

A website that is designed by hackers with intent to harm users weave in malicious JavaScript code. This code is capable of sending a request to a malware page from another website that is actually owned by attackers. There are various programs that are used for attacking and playing upon the vulnerabilities of a browser. Java, HTML/JavaScript files and PDF are used for the purpose of manipulating and compromising the security of a browser.

The only way a user is able to tell that something is wrong when a message of low memory is displayed. This happens when Java plug-in is launched automatically by the program and it has started infecting system.

Often a technique similar to Nuclear Exploit Pack or things like Androm botnet that are complex malware and easily enter the system, are deployed by attackers.

What to do?

There are certain things that need to be kept in mind when it comes to malware infections and security of software. A few simple checks and updates are all required to keep your PC up and running without much hassle.

If you have visited any malware infected website, a suspicious website or a drive-by like cracked.com in the last 10 days then you need to update your antivirus signatures immediately.
Another important but the most common thing to be done is to scan your system on regular intervals. Even though this sounds like the most common task but often forgetting to do so can wreak havoc on your system.
Using major antivirus suites is something that is most essential to save from online threats. Antivirus like McAfee, F-Secure, BitDefender, Trend Micro and Kaspersky Lab are some of the highly rated antivirus suites.
If you already have security software then you need to regularly maintain security patch updates. This comes handy for avoiding malware. Each time, you will get a warning if you are about to access an infected website. Your browser will display a message or your security software will ask you to steer past the website.
Do not in any case hit the “Proceed ahead” button even after receiving a warning.

Keeping all the essential points in mind will help you to get past malware attack in most of the cases. If however you are still under malware attack then it is important to seek professional help and get it removed immediately before you lose your personal data.

About the Author: Hi! I am Brook M. Perry, a pro lific blog writer and keen author of articles related to pc security supportand solution for issues related to computers and mobile devices. Being associated with the reputed computer virus removal service provider Qresolve, I have resolved thousands of tech issues for our customers from worldwide. online computer support.My areas of interest are virus removal, PC security, endpoint security system, router support etc. You can follow me for my useful computer support articles on Ezine and other article-oriented websites.