My Company is Infected With Malware…How Did it Happen?

We’ve all heard “Virus Alert” by Weird Al. Just me? Never mind. The important take away from the song is this: malware and other viruses can be scary. But how does it get from the attacker onto your computer, and from there, how does it spread through your company?

There are a couple of different ways. The most common is via the web. It can be from a malicious ad that you click on, a redirect that takes you to somewhere you didn’t expect to be, or even just from clicking on the wrong link in your search results. The attacker uses exploits – chinks in the armor of your browser or computer – to slip malware onto your device. That malicious script, the part that gives them access, is called “the payload”. It’s what gives the attacker the access they need. Most modern antivirus and browsers will keep you safer by warning you if you visit a truly malicious website, or if you try to run a sketchy download, but it’s best to only visit trusted sites and avoid downloads from unfamiliar places.

Speaking of sketchy downloads, another huge attack vector is email attachments. In fact, a big tech YouTuber just had his channels hacked and deleted because someone in his company opened a PDF that they thought was a brand deal. PDF, word, and excel files (not just these, but they’re they most common) can contain scripts that download the malicious payload from the bad guys’ servers or be the malware themselves. There is always a chance that the file that you’re downloading is malicious, even if you know the sender of the email.

Another way that a malicious attack can happen is actually physical. An attacker can put the payload onto a physical device, like a USB flash drive, that installs itself once you plug it into your computer. If you’ve ever been told not to plug in drives you find laying around, that’s why!

What happens once an attacker gets control of your device? They can move from device to device through your network and access things they never should have been able to! But they have to get their foot in the door before they can get that access. Your job as a user is to do everything you can to stay safe and keep them out. We have videos on scams and malware attacks, so check those out our Learning Center if you need some extra credit. And do me a favor and don’t open any emails with the subject Stinky Cheese, okay?