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Criminals are getting sneakier. These days, computer viruses, Trojans, rootkits and other unfriendly software (collectively known as malware) can be foisted on our systems without our even noticing.

In the early days of malware, the idea was simply to show people that their systems had been compromised; a virus was sometimes nothing more than a thumbing of the perpetrator’s nose at his victims (what else would explain a virus that just made the letters you typed tumble to the bottom of the screen?). But as time went on, malware went from mischievous to malicious, and destruction became the name of the game.

Today’s malware authors aim for secrecy. Their goal is often to hide on your system and steal as much information as possible – banking passwords, credit card numbers, confidential files, and anything else of value. Or they may want to use your computer to launch attacks on others.

It’s embarrassingly easy to become a pawn in the bad guys’ games, as security vendor McAfee shows us in a little exercise known as the Malware Experience.

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