Epic Net have many solutions to provide protection against malicious software becoming a problem to you or your organisation. Some of these solutions reside on the PCs, and some reside in the computer room

It is well understood by security experts that a blend of solutions, both protecting the individual computers and protecting the Internet perimiter provide the strongest levels of protection. This is often referred to as “multi layered defences”. To further bolster this architecture we often recommend blending different vendors products to both compliment each other as well as minimise any “window of opportunity”, as the time different vendors respond to new threats differs each time.

All solutions at ePic Net are both endorsed by us, and tested to work with each other.

A Brief summary of the terminology behind each of the threat categories is below

Adware
Adware is a term used for programs that deliver advertising content (usually either in a web browser window, or some form of pop up window). This can sometimes be targeted advertising based upon other information gleaned from the infected computer (eg web browsing habits etc).
An example of a recent threat involved modifying Windows files so that when a user tried to access “yahoo” or “google” websites, the infected computer was presented with very similar looking website to the original, but the content of any search was related to products the Adware author wanted you to see.
Often adware becomes resident as being part of shareware or freeware and “legitimately” installed as part of the conditions of use for the host program. This is usually part of the terms and conditions that you may be made to accept during the shareware software installation.

Spyware
Spyware is a term used by programs that have the ability to scan systems or monitor activity and relay information to third parties.
Spyware can often gather information from your computer about passwords, personal information, habits, other installed applications and anyother piece of information the Spyware author may feel of value to himself.
Like a virus, spyware usually tries to be covert and frequently attempts to remain unnoticed, either by actively hiding or by simply not making its presence on a system known to the user.
Spyware usually becomes resident in the same manner as adware or viruses as described above

Dialers
Dialers are a term used for a program that will modify your internet settings to make you dial a premium rate telephone number instead of your usual ISP. The user is often tricked into accepting this program becoming resident in the belief that they will be able to access some enhanced Internet experience (eg. Free access to adult related material).
As well as protecting the computer by recognising these programs and stopping them, In the UK, BT can be contacted to block access to these telephone numbers.

Hacking Tools
Hacking tools are a term used to describe programs that are freely available on the Internet and can be used by a hacker to attempt to gain unauthorised access, or some other unintended application use on another computer.
One example of a hack tool is a keystroke logger – this is a program that tracks and records individual keystrokes (eg passwords and credit card info) and can send this information back to a third party.

Viruses
A virus is a term used for a program that tries to replicate itself to other files and computers that it comes into contact with. Examples of viruses are :-
Modifications of other executables (hosts) so that they now include the virus and when the host is accessed, the virus becomes resident and modifies any further executables, disks or computers that they come in contact with.
Boot sector viruses, infect disks and ensure they become resident each time a computer starts.
Modifications to documents that have macro programming ability such as Microsoft Word or Excel documents, these behave like executable viruses, but use a different file type hosts. These used to be quite effective as the very nature of people in a corporation involved sharing these types of documents.
The term virus really describes the replication method, the effect of the virus differs from virus to virus, some do nothing others can try to vandalise the computer in some way by rendering it disabled of affected in some way.
Virus is also a general term used by many to describe the other types of malicious code being described on this page.

Worms
A worm is a term for a program that automatically distributes copies of itself; for example, from one computer to another, or by automating the sending of emails with copies of itself. Worms usually have malicious content, either directly or can “drop” other malicious code, eg viruses, keystroke loggers etc. The worm may often use an application vulnerability to try to execute itself and perform its tasks without any user intervention at all.

Trojan Horses
A Trojan Horse is a term for a program that pretends to be something different than it really is (eg screensaver etc, usuall remaining passive and well behaved until a predefined trigger event happens, such as a date, or a particular website is accessed, and then it may execute its payload - usually malicious).
They have no replicating technologies directly themselves, and either rely on the content of the desirable section of the program to warrant people swapping them, or are included with worms or viruses as a means for the virus/worm author to increase the intensity of the malicious payload.

This list is by no means exclusive and often an attack can be a blend of some or all of these technologies.