Malware Wiki

Mission Statement.

The MalwareWiki project is an attempt to create a concise yet comprehensive database of malware information, removal instructions, mitigation techniques, and general information for research purposes. This is a general resource, open and free for everyone. Our goal is to keep the database as up to date and accurate as humanly possible. This wiki is in no way affiliated with Wikipedia and is instead intended to provide more interactive and helpful information regarding Malware as opposed to simply providing a definition and description.

What is Malware?

Malware is short for malicious software. The prefix "mal" in Spanish means bad. As the name suggests, malware is software that is programmed to carry out tasks with malicious intent that are often harmful to the computer system, the owner, users of the computer system or all of the above. Though most malware is designed to damage or disrupt a computer system or network of computers, some malware can be deployed in a manner that doesn't cause any apparent harm to the computer owner but instead uses the computer's resources to carry out tasks for the programmer without the system owner's permission. The software can be delivered as a single package or a combination of scripts, code snippets, and compiled sources.

Malware is a catch-all term used to define a wide variety of ill-intentioned software. The most common forms of malware are viruses, trojan horses, spyware, backdoors, worms, and malicious adware. There are a few emerging sub-classes such as crimeware, scareware, and botware which is used to create massive botnets to carry out Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Using the Wiki

It is not necessary to sign up to read articles and wiki pages. Only to create and edit them.

How Can I Help?

For security purposes, you must be a registered member to create and edit information on this site. If you haven't already, create an account or log in to your account then visit the Getting Started page to learn more about basic page editing and site features.

What Do I Do?

We're looking for registered members to create malware related pages and edit incorrect information in the wiki. Once you've spotted a page that needs editing you can register to edit it or, if you know of malware that isn't in our database, you can create it.

Students & Researchers

The purpose of MalwareWiki is not only to assist computer users infected with malware or those curious about the subject, but to also assist with research. We make it our mission to list as many verifiable sources as possible on all of the articles, and we recommend those sources as good places to continue your research.

As always when doing research it is advisable not to rely exclusively on information found within this wiki. Be sure to follow up on research done here and visit feel free to verify the verified sources.