When you are dealing with most malware, you pretty much know how they are going to act on your system. Even the worse of them seem to follow a pretty steady pattern that will help you to get rid of them. But there is one piece of malware that even security researchers hate to hear the name of. When you know that you have one of these on the system, it is going to be a long day of trying to get it out. The piece of malware that we are talking about is known as a Rootkit and it is one of the most damaging pieces of malware out on the internet right now. We will go over the basics of what a rootkit is and look at what kind of damage it can do to your system. We will also look at the tools that you need to do to get it off of your system.
What is a rootkit?
A rootkit is program that is able to get into the kernel level of our system which means that it is able to hide from scanning programs that is on your computer. For those programs to be able to sniff it out they need to be at kernel level as well. For the people who might not know, the kernel level of the computer is the part where a lot of the sensitive things that your computer can do, happens. It is basically the part of the operating system that communicates with the hardware of the machine. You do not want user level access programs to communicate with the hardware directly so the kernel is the break off point. While we know a lot more about rootkits now than we did before, they can still be a pain to get rid of off of your system.
The damage that it can do
A rootkit, once it is in your system, can give the attacker unlimited power over your computer. They are able to assume the rights as a power user and they will have the same administrative rights that you have, maybe even more. This is because they are able to access the kernel. This is the main objective for any rootkit attacker that is trying to get into someone’s system. When an attacker is able to get this deep, most of the time, they will turn your computer into a simple node. This means that anything illegal that they want to try and hide, they will do on your computer. This means that if someone is going to get into trouble, it will be you.
How can I get rootkit off my system?
In the past it was very hard to get an infection like this off of your system. Formatting the system was the only way that you can get it off. Now there is plenty of software out on the market that will help you get the rootkit off of your system. Download one of these programs and hopefully you will be back to normal.
A rootkit is one of the more serious threats on the internet. If you get one on your system, take care of it right away.
a security back door is a very dangerous thing in the world of software. Most people probably do not even know what that means but if you make your living creating software or protecting computer systems then you know very well what a back door is. It is a hole in the software that is put there intentionally by the person who created it. Sometimes the hole is put there for legitimate reasons and at other times the holes is put there maliciously. Let’s have a discussion on how dangerous of a hole a back door in the software is and how you can tell if the software that you installed on your computer system has one.
A back door explained in a little more detail
While we gave you a little bit more detail on what a back door is earlier on in the article, I feel as we should explain it a little bit more for the people who have never had exposure to the term before. A back door is less of a hole and more like a piece of code that only the creator of the software knows that it is there. This code allows you to have access to the software after it has been deployed somewhere else. You are able to get different pieces of information about the status of the software. Some of that information is related to the users system that the software is now installed on. Sometimes, if the software is built by a team of people, only one person on the team might know that the code is there. While most large software teams have code reviews to check and see if something like this is happening, the process is not one hundred percent fool proof. As we said before, some companies place the back door on their software on purpose. This is either because they use it as a security measure to help the client or they are required to by the government. Sometimes the government feels that if a piece of software has too much power then they need a way to get in. You would be surprised at some of the software that has a government sponsored back door in it.
The security implications of a back door in software
It is probably obvious to you why a back door in you software could be a problem. At anytime, the creator of the software that you installed has access to your system. You can never know if the person has good intentions or bad. And it doesn’t matter; nobody should have access to your computer unless they have your permission. Another way that a back door can hurt you is the fact that if it is found by a black hat hacker then they now have access to a very serious security hole in your system. Even if the back door was placed in there by the company for good intentions, the fact that the hackers have found it can mean trouble to you.
If you want to know if your software has a back door in it, try to look it up in Google. Most people do not have the expertise to examine their software themselves. If you hear about problems with a back door then it might be best to uninstall it.
When you talk about security these days, you really have to add Windows 7 to the discussion. I know that it seems really weird to do so but Windows 7 is one of the most secure consumer grade operating systems on the market right now and you would be doing a disservice to you and your customer base if you did not discuss it. The security when it comes to the Windows operating system is really top notch compared to how it was in the past and the rest of the security community is starting to realize it. But if you are talking about purely the security aspects of Windows 7, is it truly able to be called a game changer? Is the security of the system any different than the other consumer grade operating systems that are on the market right now? In this article, we will take a look at that question and we will analyze to see if it is truly a game changer. If it is not, then does at least stay with the competition on that front.
The new security offerings that come with Windows 7
When we take a look at the system, we are looking at things that the Windows operating system did not have in the past. This is why so many security professionals like this version. They feel as if the system has caught up to the rest of the pack. There were so many things that were missing in the earlier iterations of Windows. When it came to security people were starting to wonder if Microsoft lacked the necessary tools on purpose. The one thing that changed their mind is when Windows started to offer a real firewall on the system. The firewall’s that the Windows operating system had in the past was barely functional. It would only monitor a certain section of the traffic that came in your system and not all of it. This changed with the last version of the Windows firewall. Now there is no need to download and install a third party’s firewall unless you just like it better.
Another thing that has changed recently for Windows is that Microsoft is now offering a fully functional antivirus suite on their web site. All you have to do is to go to their web site and download the product and the next thing that you know is that you are now protected. The people who make the antivirus suite also work with the operating system kernel creators so that they can make sure that their product is able to offer you full protection.
The last thing we will point out is that the premium version of Windows 7 now offers a new and improved version of Bitlocker. Bitlocker is a technology that allows you to lock down the hardware on your laptop. If the person who accesses the laptop does not have a proper password and username combination, they will not be able to use the machine. This is a huge leap forward when it comes to the security of your machine. Bitlocker is truly a game changing feature when it comes to the Windows operating system.
Is Windows 7 a game changer when it comes to the security of the operating system? In some ways yes it is and in some ways it is not. What we can say is that it is able to stand head to toe with everyone else on the market right now.