Have you ever had a stella weekend planned with a party Friday night, maybe some clubbing Saturday night, and then you close it out with a few beers and a barbie (BBQ for those non aussies) with your mates on Sunday – only to then wake up on Monday feeling sick with a flu?
If so, then you my friend know the pain of tanking your immune system in exchange for a weekend of fun.
Our bodies are normally well protected from all the nasty bacteria and viruses looking to wreak havoc on us – but with a few days of excess alcohol consumption, lots of junk food, poor sleep, and maybe even *ahem* some “party enhancers” your immune system weakens and you are suddenly an easy target for all the pathogens being spread around the nightclub.
Well the same story rings true for your computer, if you have weak defenses and spend time browsing some of the sketchier parts of the internet, then it’s only a matter of time before your pc catches something nasty.
On the bright side though, this is a fairly easy problem to fix so let’s get into it.
How do you protect your computer against malware?
To start off with, we need to ensure that our computer’s “immune” system is nice and strong so that it can defend us from threats without us knowing or having to take action.
Do do this we have to focus on two things:
- Our device
- And our doorway into the internet, also known as a browser
Let’s get into it
Device safeguards against malware:
- Update, update, update – ensure that all of your devices and applications are kept up to date as these patches often fix security vulnerabilities that put you at risk
- Ensure that your antivirus is enabled (For Windows use Defender Antivirus and for Mac use XProtect)
- Ensure that your firewall is enabled
- Backup your computer – if you accidentally catch a nasty case of ransomware you want to be able to wipe and restore your files and not be at the mercy of some HACKer
- Keep your admin account separate from your main account – this way if an attacker or malware gains access to your account it will have limited permissions and be unable to install more malware, open a command line, make changes to your antivirus or firewall, etc
Browser safeguards against malware:
- Use an adblocker – threat actors often use ads as a way to get you to click on dodgy links that deploy malware
- Disable notifications – similar to ads, threat actors can use notifications to trick users into clicking on malicious links (if you need notifications for work apps like gmail or teams you can whitelist these sites in your browser settings)
- Disable saved passwords (you should be using a password manager instead – if you want to know more join my email list to receive “Hard to Hack” a free guide which covers using a password manager)
- Disable autofill for forms – this one really pains me because I hate typing in my name, address, etc when ordering products online but hackers have developed ways to steal your PI using this feature without you ever knowing (see this github repo), so better safe than sorry I guess
Ok, so now that we have strengthened our computer’s defenses (it’s immune system) we now want to think about how we can limit our exposure to malware to minimize our chances of running into something that can overwhelm or bypass our defenses.
Maybe you are thinking “what the hell is the point of doing all of the above if I still have to worry about getting viruses?” and the answer to that is two fold:
- New vulnerabilities in operating systems and applications are discovered every single day and there will always be a lag between when that vulnerability is discovered by the bad guys, when it is discovered by the good guys (if it ever is), and when it is fixed with an update – so it is best that you just don’t put yourself at risk in the first place.
- If the blockbuster movie Troy taught us anything it’s that even the mightiest of defenses cannot protect us from ourselves. And so it is with protection against malware, even if we put all of the above protections in place, by doing something stupid we can still end up with a potentially disastrous infection.
And so with that being said, here are a few principles of good internet hygiene:
- Don’t download and use illegal / pirated software
- Don’t open unsolicited (sent to you without you asking – think random emails or texts) links or files
- Don’t visit dodgy websites (I briefly talked about some signs that you can use to tell if a website is dodgy in my last post)
- If you are unsure about a link or file scan it with an online tool (virustotal is a good one) or scan it with your antivirus (for files and apps)
And there you have it folks, implement these simple controls and principles and you will massively negate your chances of getting your computer infected with malware.
But even with a solid defense and good hygiene you never know what can happen to throw a spanner into the works, so it’s best to be aware of signs of malware in your system.
What are the symptoms of malware and how do you know if you have been infected already?
Diagnosing malware from symptoms is far from an exact science and many sophisticated types of malware produce no symptoms whatsoever, but it’s still worth knowing some of the common signs of malware infection so that you can maximize your chances of taking action before it’s too late.
Common “symptoms” of malware:
- Computer is running slow for no apparent reason – someone could have installed crypto mining malware on your system or something else that is resource intensive
- Antivirus is disabled – this way you can’t remove the malware already in your system and more malware can be installed without you knowing
- Increased internet traffic for no apparent reason – maybe someone is using your computer as part of their botnet
- Getting weird error messages – might be a sign that the malware is trying to run processes that are failing in your system
- New toolbars appear in your browser – honestly not sure if this is even a thing anymore but used to be super common
- Random ad popups start appearing – could be adware that is trying to trick you into clicking on malicious phishing links
- Your browser starts redirecting you to weird pages – likely trying to phish you or get you to install more malware
- Computer is malfunctioning – the malware is poorly written, not optimized to your system, or maybe just designed to break everything
- You can no longer access certain files or folders – this might indicate that you are a victim of a ransomware attack
- Random applications or files have appeared out of nowhere
Now with that being said, what do you do if you think you have a malware infection…
How do you get rid of malware on your computer?
Considering that we live a lot of our lives on our devices nowadays catching a bad case of malware can be a scary thing. It could mean losing your photos, videos, music collection, art work, uni work, business IP, or in other words dozens if not hundreds of hours of our lives and perhaps even hundreds if not thousands of dollars out of our bank accounts.
So if you catch a case of the old computer flu and you want to know what to do, follow the below:
- Disconnect your computer from the internet immediately
- If you have backed up all important files, wipe your computer and restore from your backup.
- How to do this on Windows
- How to do this on Mac
- If you do not have a backup of your files continue to the following steps
- If you have sensitive / important information on your computer and haven’t backed it up or can’t risk it being stolen by your attackers you should bring it to a professional to get their assistance. If this isn’t possible or you don’t believe it to be necessary, continue on to the below steps.
- Run your native anti-virus and do a complete scan
- If you are using Windows run an offline scan with Defender
- If you are using a Mac your best option is to use the Disk Utility tool and run First Aid – check out this video for a great breakdown on how to do this
- Download Malwarebytes and run an on demand scan
- Clear your browser cache
- Reboot your device
- If you still believe that you have a malware infection then I would advise going to see a professional to help you remove it or wipe your system and start again
Hopefully the above can help you if you get infected with malware but unfortunately there are many cases where the malware is impossible to remove or your files are beyond recovery, so it’s best to always maintain strong cyber defenses and good hygiene.
If you would like to further guard yourself against hackers sign up to my email list below to get my free guide “Hard to Hack: Three simple steps to staying safe online”.
And with that said, may the Almighty Computer Gods preserve thee devices for many years