Securing the Borderless Network: Security for the Web 2.0 World

Chapter 8. The Bad Guys from Outside: Malware

This chapter includes the following topics:

• Modern Malware Overview

• Finding the Weak Points

• Social Engineering for Success

• Spamming and Phishing Get Targeted

• Profit Motive

Along with acceptable use policies (AUP) and data loss prevention (DLP), malware, or malicious software, is one of the three critical areas that enterprise security policies must address. Malware is pervasive, painful, and expensive to detect and block.

Malware has been part of computing for decades. In the 1990s, it got onto your computer or network when you stuck an infected floppy disk into your drive, or when a clever hacker gained access to your network. Then, with email becoming more prevalent, hackers designed ...