Malware: Evil Software Malicious software, or Malware for short, is designed to access computer systems secretly without the owner’s knowledge or consent. Malware is a general term used by professionals in the computer industry to describe a variety of hostile, invasive, or aggravating software programs. Software is considered to be malware based on the suspected intentions of the designer rather than any particular features the software may or may not have. Malware, also known as computer containment, has grown to include computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, and other malicious and unwanted software programs. Symantec published in 2008 that “the release rate of malicious codes and other unwanted programs may be exceeding that of legitimate software applications”. According to F-Secure, “As much malware was produced during 2007 as in the previous 20 years altogether.” Malware has become the most common pathway on the Internet for criminals to access users: especially through e-mail and the World Wide Web. The frequency of malware use for organized Internet crime, along with the inability of anti-malware protection products to protect against the incessant stream of newly produced malware, has encouraged a new mind-frame for business owners who operate on the Internet. Business owners acknowledge that a large percent of Internet customers will always be infected for one reason or another, and they need to continue doing business with customers whose systems are infected. The result of this information has yielded an importance on back-office systems that are intended to spot deceptive activities that are normally seen with advanced malware operating on customer computers. Malware is not the same thing as legitimate software that is considered defective or contains harmful bugs. Sometimes, malware will show up as