Purpose

• The purpose of malware is to cause damage to or infiltrate a user's computer for the purpose of mining personal data for illegal activity such as financial crimes.
  
  

Creation

• The creation of malware is in a constant state of change. While malware detection and elimination software work to detect and eliminate malware, new malware files are created and introduced daily.
  
  

Types

• Spyware, keystroke loggers and data-stealing malware are just a few of the types of files that run in the background on a user's computer unbeknownst to the user until it can be too late.
  
  

Uses

• Malware can provide the malware creator with private information such as financial passwords and account numbers or even access to their work passwords and other secure information.
  
  

Protection

• There are many commercial products that are designed to scan and detect malware. Their so-called definitions are updated regularly to enable them to detect new threats.