The notion of a self-reproducing computer program can be traced back to initial theories about the operation of complex automata. John von Neumannshowed that in theory a program could reproduce itself. This constituted a

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Malware is sometimes used broadly against government or corporate websites to gather guarded information, or to disrupt their operation in general. However, malware can be used against individuals to gain information such as personal identification

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These categories are not mutually exclusive, so malware may use multiple techniques.
Trojan horse
A Trojan horse is a harmful program that misrepresents itself to masquerade as a regular, benign program or

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Since the beginning of 2015, a sizable portion of malware has been utilizing a combination of many techniques designed to avoid detection and analysis. From the more common, to the least common:
1. evasion of analysis and detection by fingerprintingthe

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Antivirus / Anti-malware software
Anti-malware (sometimes also called antivirus) programs block and remove some or all types of malware. For example,

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• Botnet
• Browser hijacking
• Comparison of antivirus software

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Vulnerable software
A vulnerability is a weakness, flaw or software bug in an application, a complete computer, an operating system, or a computer networkthat

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