Malware Analysis: Drive-By Download

Let's admit it.  We all may have been fooled by those intriguing ads along the sides of our favorite or most visited websites.  But do we ever actually click on them?  In most cases, those ads may be implanted with malicious codes to malware our computers.  These sneaky viruses are called drive-by downloads.  Drive-by downloads are unauthorized programs that automatically download and install onto your computer without your say so.  It is one of the fastest growing threats in the internet.  All you need to do is to destroy your computer is to click once on that program.  According to the video that talks about drive-by downloads, drive-by downloads happen almost noticeably.  Our eyes are fooled when we see the malicious html download normally; however, there are some obvious ways to detect that our computers have been a part of a drive-by such as: unusual apps in your program bar, your web browser's homepage changed, unfamiliar toolbar appears in your Web browser, your browser has a new Bookmarks that you didn't make, pop-up windows display ads, and unusual files in different directories on your computer.

First and foremost, I think it is pretty funny how this malware is called drive-by downloads.  I found the video about drive-by downloads very informative.  It is a great video to allow people to become aware of these malicious acts and it is helpful by giving tips on how to prevent and detect a drive-by download.  It goes to show that everyone needs to invest in an antivirus and anti-spyware software.  No matter how "safe" you are on your computer, drive-by downloads can still happen to anyone at any time.