Malware
Software designed to harm, steal, or take unauthorized control of a system.
Malware is the umbrella term for hostile software; the exam expects you to distinguish the families — virus (needs a host file + user action), worm (self-spreads over networks), trojan (disguised, no self-replication), ransomware, rootkit, spyware, adware, and bots. Modern malware is increasingly modular, fileless (living only in memory), and “living off the land” — abusing legitimate tools like PowerShell — which defeats signature-only antivirus and is why behavior-based EDR has become essential.
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