How to identify malware on a computer
The FBI and the FBI’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team are now offering a tool to help computer security professionals detect and remove malware from a computer.
The FBI and FBI’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a tool Friday to help law enforcement professionals identify malware.
The tool uses malware samples to detect malicious code and provide indicators of its presence, including whether the malware has been installed on the computer.
“The goal is to give law enforcement an idea of the type of malware being used on a particular system,” said John D. McIlwain, a professor of computer science at Florida International University.
“It’s important to note that this is malware, not a virus.”
The FBI says the tool can be used by computer security experts, IT administrators, and anyone who has access to the target computer to detect and identify malicious code.
“We’re not trying to create a botnet,” said Darlene S. McDonough, a senior software engineer at NIST.
“We’re looking at the malware itself, not just the malware that was downloaded from a malicious website.”NIST is a research organization focused on understanding the causes and consequences of computer vulnerabilities.
The agency is not directly involved in the development of the tool, but the tool will be released soon.
The tools aim to be useful for law enforcement and security professionals who want to learn more about how malware is spread and to better understand how they can identify the threats they encounter.
“Our goal is not to create malware for the purpose of criminal activity, but to help to identify and respond to cyber threats,” said McIlmough.