Malware used to be easy to detect and avoid. Virus writers would attach a malicious programme to an e-mail and distribute it as widely as possible. If any of the recipients opened the attachment, the virus could delete system and data files, search for confidential information and propagate itself on the local network. In those simple days, viruses were like vampires -- as long as you didn't invite them in, they couldn't do you any harm. If you refrained from opening e-mail attachments from strangers, then you were safe.

By Ciaran Buckley at ENN.

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