Malware - viruses, worms, Trojan horses: High Tech Crime Brief

Malware refers to malicious software. Software is potentially malicious if it can be used to harm either the computer on which it is hosted or another computer. Software may also be considered malicious if it is designed to install itself on a computer without the permission of the owner of that computer, particularly if it does so in a way that may compromise the security of the computer. Malicious may be loosely interpreted. A piece of software may be considered malicious even though it may have been launched with the intention of providing an arguable benefit. For example, the Nachi worm was intended to install updates from Microsoft's website. A wider term is unwanted software which includes spyware and adware.