There are many types of threats that can compromise the safety of our equipment. In this article we are going to talk about what the Madware. Let's see how it can affect us and, most importantly, what to do to be protected and not have security problems. It is a problem that can put very diverse devices at risk and make your privacy compromised.

What does the Madware consist of

We can say that malware is not just a matter of viruses that infect a computer. In recent years it has evolved a lot and they have emerged new attacks and improving others that already existed. We have especially seen a major boom in attacks on mobile devices. That has a lot to do with Madware.

Madware is a term derived from words “ mobile ” and “ adware ”. Adware is a type of malicious software that can flood our computer with advertising. Sometimes it's just that, annoying advertising, but other times it can be a much more serious problem, since it could steal our passwords or personal data.

So what exactly is Madware? It's about adware specifically designed for mobile devices. Here we can talk about mobiles, tablets and other similar devices. Cyber criminals take advantage of the fact that we use the mobile for almost everything and have perfected these attacks. Your goal is to fill the phone or tablet with misleading advertising, invasive ads, or messages that indicate something is wrong with the system. This will logically affect performance as it can slow down the device.

Madware is capable of replace legitimate programs. In this way we will be using software that pretends to be a common application, of the system itself, but in reality it has been modified by the attackers. It will show us advertising, but it can also flood that application with links that lead us to false pages and scam us.

How they can infect you

It is important to know at all times how can they attack our devices. In this case we are going to explain how Madware can infect a system. This will help us take steps to be protected and not fall into the hackers' trap and leave our information exposed.

Unofficial applications

Most commonly, Madware infects a mobile device through programs that are not official. Basically they are the applications that we install from sources that are not the official ones, such as the page of that program or stores such as Google Play and the like, which have a filter.

But it could even come through programs that are official. Sometimes applications can be sneaked into legitimate stores, either because of a vulnerability or someone passing a fake program as true and hanging it up.

Mail files
By e-mail you can also enter Madware on a device. Usually it is a file that we receive from unknown sources. It can be a simple text document, an image, a ZIP file ... This strategy is quite common for cybercriminals and they use it to send many types of malware.

It is common for them to use some bait for us to click. For example, send us an email to tell us about an alleged problem with any of our accounts, an offer or any changes we must make. What they are looking for is to get the victim's attention so that they end up clicking and downloading a malicious file.

Fake pages

But the Madware could also simply come when browsing. We may come to a dangerous website, which is full of false links and contain viruses. If we click on one of those links, we can end up in a section where there will be malicious files that are going to be the ones that will flood our mobile device with adware.

Hackers can create web pages virtually identical to the original ones. Sometimes they just change the domain with some letter or number and everything else is the same, a copy. This makes it difficult to detect when we are facing a threat and when it is legitimate.

Social networks

Social networks are a widely used means of communication. For example we can use some like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. But this is also used by hackers to launch attacks, steal passwords and try to strain malware on our computers without us noticing.

Madware can also come by this method. They could use bots to send fake messages across one of these social media platforms. This could lead to problems and see that our device fills up with adware, misleading advertising and starts to malfunction.

What to do to avoid this threat

After seeing what Madware consists of and how they can infect us, we must speak of the most important thing: what to do to avoid this problem of security. We are going to give a series of essential recommendations to avoid not only this type of malicious software, but also others that may affect us.

Avoid mistakes, the most important thing

The main thing is not to make mistakes and always keep the common sense. Both the Madware and many other security attacks are going to need us to make a mistake. For example, we download a file that is sent to us by mail and it is actually a fraud, that we install a false update, etc.

Therefore, always avoid making these types of mistakes and always take a good look at what you do on the Internet and how you use the applications. This will help you avoid many network security problems.

Use only official programs

Of course, something very important is to install software only from official sources. This will help reduce the risk of computer attacks and problems with your privacy. Use the official website of the application, but also reliable stores such as Microsoft Store or Google Play.

Especially you should avoid third party sites, the pages you get to without really knowing who may be behind. This is where cybercriminals can host fake applications in order for us to install them and start stealing information and making the system malfunction.

Have security applications

You can't miss a good antivirus to detect security threats. There are many programs available, both free and paid. However, you should always choose very well which one to install. Using anyone you find is not enough, as it may not really protect you and even become an added problem.

Some options like Avast or Bitdefender work very well. Find out well before installing them and use only those with guarantees, which have a good reputation. Otherwise it wouldn't do much good and you wouldn't be protected from the Madware correctly.

Keep everything updated

Another point to keep in mind is that it is convenient to have all well updated. In many cases attackers will take advantage of vulnerabilities that may exist in a system. These security flaws can be the way of entry and it is important at all times to avoid problems and we solve that thanks to the patches.

Now, updates must always be done safely. Be careful with the alleged security patches that you can find when browsing, since on many occasions it is a scam and it will only make your data compromised.

In short, as you have seen, Madware is a major security problem. It is essential that you take steps to prevent it and protect your mobile devices. Avoiding mistakes, using security programs or having everything updated is the basis for not taking unnecessary risks when browsing the network.