8 popular myths about malware
Malware is as popular as ever, and so are the myths that surround them. We discuss 8 popular myths that people still believe about malware.
Malware installed itself on my computer
It probably didn’t.
If we get a malware infection, we often don’t like to give too much thought about how it got there. It can be too tempting to vaguely attribute the infection to hackers, or a rogue website that put it there. Not our fault – it was the online crooks.
But the reality is that you most likely installed it. Not intentionally, of course. But you most likely were tricked into committing a security faux-pas. For example, maybe you opened an email attachment thinking it was an invoice. Or you downloaded a file from a website that said it would allow you to play a video.
Crooks use all sorts of ploys to trick victim’s into infecting their devices. But it’s still the victim that has to download and install the malware. It’s still the victim that has to compromise themselves. This means if you find yourself infected with malware, it was you who put it there.
There are rare exceptions. For example, serious zero-day vulnerabilities in software you use could theoretically allow malware infections to occur without the victim compromising their security, but serious flaws like that are not found often, much less actively exploited by crooks. It’s far more likely to be poor security habits committed by the victim.
I’ve got a computer virus!
If you have malware, there’s a good chance it’s not a computer virus.
Colloquially, a computer “virus” has slowly become a catch-all term for anything that it is malicious. Meaning it has become synonymous with malware. They’re not the same thing!
In fact, a virus is a type of malware.
We can partly blame Hollywood for this, since whenever they deal with malware, they’ll usually refer to it as a virus, even if it’s not a virus. It’s also confusing because we refer to “good” software as “antivirus” software, even though that software is nearly always designed to look for and remove all (or most) types of malware, not just viruses.
As such, when you get malware, it may not be a virus.
A computer virus is called a virus because of the way it spreads between computers. A virus will attach itself to an otherwise legitimate file, and when that file is copied to another computer, the computer virus will go with it, and execute when the legitimate file is executed.
However, these days, much malware does not spread like that, and as such cannot be strictly classified as a computer virus. Other forms of malware classification that are arguably more popular than a computer virus can include spyware and ransomware.
Of course, we already know that as soon as someone suspects they’re got a baddie on their device, they’re automatically going to call it a virus. It’s definitely a losing battle.
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Your computer will blow up because of malware
Malware can cause many problems for a device, and it certainly can run-down the hardware in a computer over a long period of time by, for example, taking up a lot of processor and memory resources. But many alarmist rumors often claim malware can “blow up” a computer or cause it to catch fire, which is just not technically feasible.
Mac computers are immune to viruses
It’s certainly time for this hoax to die, because it’s not true. Okay, most malware out there today is designed to work on Windows based computers, and won’t work on Apple’s Mac computers. That’s for two reasons; Macs are – by design – more secure than Windows computers. And they are also less popular.
That has led to the fallacy that there is no malware that can work on Macs. That’s not true!. A variety of malware has been designed to infect the Apple ecosystem, including adware and spyware.
So yes, Mac users also need to practise sound security habits.
Phone calls warning of malware infections
If you get an unexpected phone call from anyone telling you that you are infected with malware, hang up. It’s a scam. They’re trying to trick you into installing – ironically enough – malware. Or pay for services that you don’t need.
Or both.
We discuss this scam in more detail here.
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Pop-ups mean you have malware
In the early days of the Internet, pop-ups could very well mean you had malware on your computer, or more specifically, adware. Adware is malware that causes unsolicited adverts to appear on your computer or could divert your browser to visit spammy pages.
Adware is considerably less popular now, and pop-ups don’t mean you have malware. Any webpage can initiate a pop-up to appear on your device, and it doesn’t mean you’re infected with anything.
However if you get pop-ups on all sorts of websites, even ones you trust, or you get pop-ups even when you don’t have your browser open, this could mean you have a malware infection.
Antivirus gives me all the protection I need
Obviously we recommend antivirus at all times. (Our recommended software is here.) However, while antivirus can catch a number of different threats, no software can offer 100% protection from poor security habits. That is to say, good security is a two pronged approach. Have good security software and have good security habits. This offers the best protection.
Malware is causing my social media profile to spam friends
Social media platforms, especially Facebook, are susceptible to a variety of scams. One such symptom that something has gone awry is when your account is sending out spam to your friends.
This could mean you have a malware infection, but it’s more likely to be something else. In most cases where Facebook users have winded up sending spam, it’s because they’ve installed a rogue Facebook app (no, that’s not malware) and given it permission to post from the account, or they’ve handed their password over to crooks, possibly through a phishing scam. If your Facebook account is sending out spam, uninstall any apps and change your password. If none of that helps then try and do a malware scan.
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