But how to convince legions of Android users to download this potentially malicious software?
Three Britons have been arrested on suspicion of distributing malicious software known as "ransomware".
Schichtel's customers installed their own malicious software on the PCs to aid their own cybercrime efforts.
In addition, malicious software is emerging that seeks out and empties the virtual wallets of bitcoin owners.
Malicious software is slowly migrating from the PC on your desk to the smartphone in your pocket.
Since smartphones use a variety of different platforms, someone writing malicious software needs to pick and choose.
"If you look at the numbers, you see that malicious software for Macs is very limited, " he says.
Researchers used newly discovered malicious software samples to further pull back the curtain on the elusive cyber weapon.
Accepting the download lead to a malicious software installation and payment screen, a scam commonly referred to as scareware.
And while personal information is one casualty from malicious software, personal harm could occur with new programs being developed.
When key partners and system staff are using the Internet or email, they are most vulnerable to malicious software.
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Malicious software that hijacks cellphones to compromise bank accounts or send costly premium text messages may be dangerous.
But many of the home-grown services face issues with malicious software contained within apps, some of which are pirated versions.
Schneier questions whether Chrome--or any software--can effectively keep malicious software "in the sandbox" while still allowing applications to run smoothly.
They've worked to teach users to spot and avoid the "phishing" sites that spread malicious software and steal bank codes.
Web-based malicious software, unlike other malware, is designed to implant itself on users' machines when they visit a certain Web site.
Over the past two years it said it had detected 26 phishing and 50 malicious software attacks which were not automatically blocked.
Still other perpetrators copy apps and inject them with malicious software that causes a victim's phone to automatically send costly text messages.
Targeting point-of-sale devices with malicious software is standard practice, as the wave of retail hackings over the last few years have shown.
Unfortunately, such software is far from a protection but is sometimes the very vehicle for carrying malicious software into the companies systems.
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The bug allows malicious software to reset a Android to its factory default settings and permanently delete any data on it.
Malicious software infecting the computers of electric utilities could cause turbines at power plants to spin out of control, potentially destroying them.
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Computer worms are malicious software applications designed to spread through computer networks.
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Mijangos allegedly then used the malicious software as a foothold to download additional viruses, including a keylogger that recorded his victims keyboard strokes.
In this particular attack, 11 million computer systems were said to have been compromised by multiple variants of malicious software known as Yahos.
In addition to data-intensive web applications, Shalom sees applications like fraud detection, 3-D animation, and blocking malicious software as some of the beneficiaries.
American laptop users are also doubly inclined to download music and movies to corporate machines, making them more likely to unwittingly install hidden malicious software.
Researchers at SANS and security firm Websense, in San Diego, notified the Chinese Internet service provider and domain registrar hosting the computers with malicious software.
Specifically, he said that they used malicious software sent via an email that enabled them to intercept his emails for a three-month period in 2006.
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Ransomware is malicious software that hackers use to lock you out of your PC and demand money from you before you can use it again.
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