Understand the Types of Email Viruses to Be on the Lookout For
Learn about the most prevalent and dangerous types of email viruses so you can better defend against them.
You’ve likely heard of email viruses and the aggravation they are notorious for causing, but are you aware that email viruses can compromise sensitive data, harm hardware and waste critical resources? User-downloaded viruses are extremely prevalent, accounting for 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 attacks per day!
Companies’ current reliability on email services has been revolutionary for cybercriminals as email has become the most common method for them to distribute their viruses, computer codes that instruct a computer to do harmful actions. This has led to the development of many types of dangerous email viruses in the wild, many of which are linked to phishing attacks and rely on user naivety to infect devices and spread to others. Others are hidden in stealthy social engineering attacks and employ advanced techniques like masquerading as a seemingly harmless file by changing their signature, making these viruses highly difficult to detect and avoid for even the most tech savvy individuals.
Let Guardian Digital educate you on the types of email viruses you should be on the lookout for so you and your company can prevent disruptive, costly infections.
Watch: Types of Email Viruses to Be on the Lookout For
Types of Email Viruses to Be on the Lookout For
Boot Sector Viruses
These viruses spread on the master boot record, making them very difficult to remove and frequently resulting in a full system reformat.
Direct Action Viruses
When a user clicks on a file infected with a direct action virus, the attached virus is activated and continues to spread.
Resident Viruses
This type of virus infects files, installs itself on a PC and can persist even after the primary source of the virus is removed.
Multipartite Viruses
These viruses can infect the boot sector as well as files on a computer and can spread extremely rapidly and be very difficult to remove.
Keyloggers
This type of spyware enables a malicious actor to track and log the keys that the user strikes on their keyboard to capture sensitive information without the user's knowledge.
Polymorphic Viruses
This type of virus changes its signature when it reproduces, masquerading as a different and seemingly harmless file.
How Can I Secure Business Email Against Email Viruses?
Our email security solution finds and intercepts email viruses, mitigates risk and provides your organization with peace of mind.
Guardian Digital EnGarde Cloud Email Security’s technology proactively learns and distributes defenses for specific threats targeting you.
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CyberSecurity Month
- Avoid Phishing Emails
- Be Cautious of Spam Email
- Be Wary of Malicious URLs
- Protect Against Spoofing & Sender Fraud
- Protect the Privacy of Your Email with TLS
- Don’t Rely on Native Microsoft 365 Email Protection Alone
- Implement TLS to Keep Your Email Secure
- Endpoint Security Is Not Enough
- Conduct Regular Email Security Audits
- Configure Email Account Settings with Security in Mind
- Learn How To Spot Threats to Business Email
- Backup Your Data and Isolate Your Backups Offline
- Protect Business Email from Phishing Attacks
- Avoid Sending Sensitive Information Over Email
- Learn About Malicious Links
- Prevent Zero-Day Attacks
- Business Email Is for Business Only
- Learn How To Identify Social Engineering Attacks
- Know Your Email Risk
- Safeguard Your Inbox from Malicious Mail
- Understand How Phishing Attacks Are Carried Out
- Know the Steps in a Spear Phishing Attack
- Familiarize Yourself with the Anatomy of a Whaling Attack
- Understand How Malware Attacks Work
- Learn the Steps in a Ransomware Attack
- Understand the Phases of a Business Email Compromise (BEC) Attack
- Know What Zero-Day Attack Is & How It Works
- Familiarize Yourself with the Phases of an Account Takeover (ATO) & Lateral Phishing Attack
- Learn the Steps in a Social Engineering Attack
- Understand the Types of Email Viruses to Be on the Lookout For