Guest Blog: Understanding Exploited Websites and How to Prevent Infection
The internet is an intricate thing. Once you get involved with it, remaining ignorant of the issues that surround it is no longer an option. You’ll have to face the fact that just as there are plenty of benefits in the web, there are also plenty of threats that lurk in it. Regardless of the role that the computer and the internet play in your life, you are bound to be affected by the simplest changes it undergoes. Why endure the discomfort to being caught unaware when you can establish your defences now?
A particular issue that you have to be knowledgeable of is the attack on web back doors. This has a direct impact on your internet usage because the state of a website can compromise your computer security.
What is a Back Door?
The term ‘back door’ is most popularly correlated with cyber criminals and malware. When you ask some people how they are able to download ebooks and other media files that are supposed to be paid for, they often answer that they got it through accessing a website’s back door.
Simply put, a back door is a safety measure installed by programmers to their creations for troubleshooting and emergency cases. It is a means by which they can regain admission to their program without having to deal with penetrating any line of security. Unfortunately, hackers learned how to exploit this hole in the wall and take over entire websites.
Some back doors, however, are created through a direct assault by a hacker or a malware. Any sighting of this back door can be taken advantage of using rogue programs that are designed for that specific purpose.
Why are Exploited Back Doors Harmful to Ordinary Users?
Websites are the lifeline of the web; without them, the internet’s functionality is eradicated and the internet loses its pool of sources. Exploited sites are sometimes hard to differentiate from unexploited sites, primarily because hackers make themselves known over a period of time. If a website’s followers are immediately alerted of aninvasion, there is little chance that the hacker can still make successful assaults on prospective victims.
Their usual course of action is to inflict the site with malicious files that are disguised under names, tags, and phrases that are normally seen in the site. Since most people are not capable of
distinguishing legitimate media files from infected ones, they have to entrust antivirus software with that task.
How can Antivirus Software help me?
Just as there are malware specifically designed to infect computers, there are also antivirus software created to block harmful codes. The evolution of these two entities has direct relation; software engineers commit the progress of antivirus in regards to the changes that malware undergo. Antivirus is therefore well equipped to handle rogue programs of different calibres when your computer suffers from an assault.
This is constantly proven whenever you download a media file from a website that you’ve never used as a source before. Without knowing its exploited state, you became vulnerable to allowing the file to run in your computer and let loose its horde of malware. An effective antivirus program will detect the threat before you download it. Even though you are given the option of continuing and you choose to do so despite the risks, you are made aware of what you’ve put yourself into. This is why it is important to have active participation on your computer’s security and not rely it solely on the top antivirus program.
How does it Protect me?
The importance of getting authentic and proficient antivirus software cannot be stressed enough. They may be the only thing hindering your computer from experiencing a meltdown. Imagine the
enormous amount of hazards in the web that are adamant to cause mayhem in your virtual life.
In this specific arena, antivirus software protects you by scanning the website and the links you are pursuing and determining whether they are safe for you to explore. Have you ever experienced initiating a download of a media file that stops midway? Right click on it to find out the reason why. Among the first in the list is the possibility that your antivirus detected malicious codes lurking in the program; hence the download has been disabled.
Some antivirus software block the entire computer screen with a prompt before giving you entry to a website. There, the antivirus presents you with the risks you’ll encounter by choosing to access the site. We recommend that you do not enter a blocked site regardless of the validity of your agenda. Find other sources that your antivirus can trust and stick to them.
Author Bio:-
James is a Network Security Expert and presently he places in NYC. Along with this he has a passion of writing technology blogs. He always tries to write something that helps his users in updating their antivirus software for computer security.