Social engineering techniques are used to trick victims into downloading the ransomware. Over the last few years this type of malware has become very common and sophisticated. These are malware programs that encrypt your data and hold it for ransom. Having an up-to-date anti-virus application will help protect your computer from worms. Unlike computer viruses a worm can spread to other systems and networks without end-user action.
The main difference between a virus and a worm is that the worm has the ability to self-replicate. To help prevent viruses attacking your computer it is essential that you have a recognised anti-virus program running on your computer and that it is updated regularly. Viruses are hard to clean up because they are executed from legitimate programs. A computer virus modifies files on a computer in such a way that when a legitimate file is executed, the virus is also executed. This is one of the oldest and most common forms of malware.