More people started using the computers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Computers were getting more complex just as fast. People saw that they could use malware to get useful information now, like passwords and credit card information. So, more programmers started writing malware. The number of malware programs on the Internet has grown very quickly ever since then the late 1990s and is still growing today. Experts think that 31.5% of the world's computers have some type of malware installed.
The main reason people write malware is to hurt others and make money, usually by stealing or deleting important information. The Cryptolocker computer virus, for example, makes it so a person cannot use their own computer until they pay the malware writers for a software key to unlock it. Another virus, CIH, tries to make it so the victim can never use their files or turn on their computer again. Malicious keystroke logging software remembers everything a user types in and gives it to the malware author to read.
World governments have written malware to hurt their enemies. Experts think that the United States government made a virus named Stuxnet to stop an important place in Iran from working. The Chinese government probably used a virus to stop people from protesting its decisions.
There are a lot of ways malware can get onto someone's computer. One common way is through email attachments. These attachments are usually sent from other computers that already have malware on them. When someone downloads and opens the attachment, the virus installs and uses their computer to send itself to even more people.
Another way malware installs itself is when a victim gets malware just by going to a website with the malware hidden on it. This is called drive-by downloading. A user does not have to click anything for their computer to get infected from a drive-by download. This kind of malware attack is usually found on websites that are not used a lot or whose security methods are very old. However, even current websites that people use all the time can host drive-by downloads when someone hacks the site.
People who write malware also get their programs onto computers by attaching them to real programs that people want. This is most common with pirated programs. This is because the downloader was doing something illegal and cannot complain to the authorities without getting in trouble themselves. However, some non-piracy websites also put malware (or other unwanted programs that are almost as bad as malware) in a download with real, legal software in a process known as bundling. Computer security experts complain about websites that bundle real software with malware. Their complaints do not always stop the websites from bundling.
There are many different kinds of malware. Each acts a different way.
There are a few reasons why computers get programs a user didn't mean to install. One common reason is because of regular programs that have software bugs. Malware can use bugs, such as a buffer overflow, to make a program do something it was not designed to do. Malware can also get onto a computer if it tricks a user into putting it there themselves. This can happen when a user plugs in a USB flash drive that has a virus on it already. Malware also commonly uses social engineering to get users to run it, like pretending to be an important email attachment for work. Some malware even pretends to be an anti-malware program to get people to run it.
Since malware is such a big problem, many companies make programs to try to stop it. These anti-malware programs have a lot of different ways to find malware. One is static analysis, which looks at the source code of a program before it is run. Then, if the program is similar to malware the static analysis program has seen before, the anti-malware program will stop the code from running. Another way of finding malware is dynamic analysis. Dynamic analysis runs only part of a program it is checking. If this part of the program tries to do anything that could be bad or harmful, the anti-malware program will not let the program run.
Malware can also be stopped without a program. This can be done by not letting a computer connect to the Internet or other computers, called creating an air gap. However, these computers can still get malware if someone puts it there another way. One example is when someone plugs in a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive that was already plugged into a computer with a virus.
Matrixism
Matrixism or The path of the One is a new religion based on the movie "The Matrix". It was started by a group of people in the year 2004. By the year 2005, Matrixism had over 300 members and it was seen in books and newspapers. There are now 16,000 members of Matrixism.
Matrixism is a syncretic religion (a religion that joins together all religions). The words "the matrix" are seen in a Baha'i book from the year 1912 named "The Promulgation (starting) of Universal (complete international) Peace". Matrixism uses this fact to make a connection to the history of world religion but the three "Matrix" motion pictures are Matrixism's Bible (prime book).
Matrixism has four beliefs called "The Four Tenets (rules) of Matrixism". The four rules are; 1) Belief in the prophecy of the One. 2) Use of psychedelics (mind expansion medicine) as sacrament. 3) Seeing the relative nature of the world. 4) Acting by the rules of one of the world's religions. For Matrixism April 19th is a holiday (special day) named Bicycle Day. November 22nd is another holiday for Matrixism named the Day of Remembrance and Reflection. Aldous Huxley, John F. Kennedy and C.S. Lewis all died on this day in 1963.
The sign for Matrixism is 赤, the Japanese kanji for the word "red". This sign was used in the computer game "Enter the Matrix". The color is a reference to the "red pill", from the motion picture "The Matrix", which is representative of being able to see that which is true. The word (sign) 赤 is also a Chinese word (character). In fact, the Japanese kanji is from a Chinese character.
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a professional basketball team. They play their home games in the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. They are a part of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and play in the Atlantic Division.
The Celtics were one of the first NBA teams. Since their start in 1913, they have been the most successful teams, winning 17 NBA championships, including eight championships in a row at one point. The Celtics' seventeen championships is more than any other team. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden.
From 2008 to 2013, they were lead by the big three: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. But in July 2013, Garnett and Pierce were traded to the Brooklyn Nets, and Rondo was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers is between two most of the best franchises in NBA history. It has been called the NBA's best rivalry. The two teams have met a record twelve times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first Finals meeting in 1959. They would go on to win the league in the 1920s and the 1980s, playing each other six times in the 1960s and three times in the 1980s.
The rivalry had been less known since the retirements of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the early 1990s, but in 2008 it happened again when the Celtics and Lakers met in the Finals for the first time since 1987, with the Celtics winning the series in six games. They played once again in the 2010 NBA Finals which the Lakers won in seven games. The two teams have won the two highest numbers of championships, the Celtics 17, the Lakers 16; together, the 33 championships account for almost half of the 67 championships in NBA history.
Across the Universe
"Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock group The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon/McCartney.
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