The Many Faces of Malware: A Tour of Real-World Samples

pcmag.com:

Unless you’re a wretched victim of ransomware, you’ve probably never had a close-up view of a virus, Trojan, or other malicious software. Even if you ignored common wisdom and visited dangerous websites or clicked treacherous links, your antivirus software probably wiped out any offending program on sight. So, you might wonder, just what does malware look like? Would you even recognize a malware program if you saw it?

In truth, a lot of malicious programs don’t look like anything at all. A virus, for example, tries its best to hide from view while infecting other files and computers. A bot sits quietly on your computer until it gets orders from the command and control center to spew some spam or participate in a DDoS attack on a major website. Trojans, by contrast, appear to be useful, legitimate programs, putting up a pretty facade to hide background activities like stealing your personal data. And when ransomware hollers for your attention, it’s bad news.

In the process of gathering and analyzing new samples for my hands-on malware protection tests, I've seen all these variations. I start with thousands of malware-hosting URLs, download their nasty payloads, and put them through their paces. In the course of testing, I play the fool, launching unknown files, clicking through to let them install, and giving them any permissions they request. This article showcases some of the oddities I’ve encountered in my latest quest for the best worst test samples.

If a ransomware attack targets your computer, you won’t know until it’s too late. The ransomware stays out of sight, quietly encrypting your important files. Once the dirty work is done, the malware totally demands your attention with its ransom note. The perpetrators