The World of Malware: An Overview

Malware, short for malicious software is a program code that is hostile and often used to corrupt or misuse a system. Introducing malware into a computer network environment has different effects depending on the design intent of the malware and the network layout. Malware detection and prevention systems are bypassed by malicious files in computer systems as malware become more complex and large in numbers. This paper presents an overview of the world of malware with the intent of providing the underlying information for the intended study into developing malware detection approaches.