The list of malicious programs suspected of being the handiwork of governments is getting longer.
Moving files from home to work could expose firms to risk from viruses and other malicious programs.
Bad guys also have the ability to infect clouds with spyware, botnets and other malicious programs, Reavis said.
An increase in the number of incidents involving malicious programs found in official app stores, primarily Android Market.
FORBES: Worm Attacks Coming For Google's Android - Kaspersky Lab
In the past two years, until this October, F-Secure found only a small handful of malicious programs targeting Macs.
As a result, malicious programs despoil these virtual environments so system administrators can block or quarantine them without endangering the corporate network.
While these malicious programs are well known to security experts, hackers tweak them frequently enough to render them undetectable to antivirus software.
Web advertising could be an easy avenue for installing those malicious programs.
Security experts believe that Bagle is modelled on the notorious Sobig series of viruses as it bears many similarities with those malicious programs.
Unlike Shields Up, Security Check also scans for approximately 60 Trojan horses, which are malicious programs masquerading as other applications that you might unwittingly download.
There are tools to scan your system for known malicious programs or to check whether it has been hacked into, and they should be used too.
Viruses -- the first generation of the computer culprits -- are used for the computer equivalent of vandalism, as the malicious programs replicate, spread and damage computers.
Although the numbers of computer viruses are growing every day, many makers of malicious programs have started putting their energy into creating so-called spyware and adware programs.
Interest in Android OS will continue to rise among mobile virus writers, whose efforts will be focused primarily on creating malicious programs that target this specific platform.
FORBES: Worm Attacks Coming For Google's Android - Kaspersky Lab
While attacks on critical infrastructure are relatively rare, recent months have seen viruses and other malicious programs hit control systems at oil treatment plants and other facilities.
Over several days last week, Google removed thousands of pages from its search results that security software maker Sunbelt Software discovered were secretly infecting users with hidden malicious programs.
The Virus Bulletin tests try to catch out anti-virus software with a variety of malicious programs including bots and worms known to be spreading online, file infectors, polymorphic and macro viruses.
When the latest version of Mozilla's Firefox was released in June, bugs that allowed a site to install malicious programs on a visitor's computer were reported to security vendor Tipping Point within hours.
Over several days last week, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) removed thousands of pages from its search results that security software maker Sunbelt Software discovered were secretly infecting users with hidden malicious programs.
Georgia's attackers employed "botnets, " or malicious automated programs that take root undetected in far-flung computers and barrage their targets with useless data.
So far this year, 34% of all malicious Android programs were Trojan spyware programs, with backdoor programs accounting for 31% and SMS Trojans another 27%, according to Kaspersky Lab.
FORBES: Worm Attacks Coming For Google's Android - Kaspersky Lab
One reason why there aren't many malicious Mac programs is that there are fewer Mac users out there, but the fact that some have been written shows that they are possible in principle.
And even though Microsoft has a feature in its Internet Explorer browser designed to steer users away from unknown and potentially untrustworthy software, about 5 percent of users ignore the warnings and download malicious Trojan horse programs anyway. via Microsoft: One in 14 downloads is malicious.
And while personal information is one casualty from malicious software, personal harm could occur with new programs being developed.
Once inside, many programs alter the registry keys that are checked during each start-up sequence, allowing the malicious software to be re-installed after a system has been remediated.
FORBES: Is anyone safe? Spate of incidents raises security concerns
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