What is Malware?

Any software written to harm, exploit, or gain unauthorized access to a system — short for “malicious software.”

Malware is an umbrella term covering viruses, worms, trojans, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, and more. It is delivered through phishing, drive-by downloads, malicious ads, supply-chain compromise, or infected media.

Analysts triage unknown files by computing a cryptographic hash and checking it against threat-intelligence feeds before detonating it in a sandbox.