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Computers are vulnerable to threats from Malware.

Computer Virus
Worm
Trojan
Spyware
Denial of Service attack and Distributed Denial of Service attack.
Stenography attack

Computer Virus
A computer virus is used for a program which has infected some executable software and which causes that software, when run, to spread the virus to other executable software.
Can have a payload that can destroy data or the operating system. May also deny access to data or the operating system (Denial of Service attack)
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Worm
A Worm, on the other hand, is a program which actively transmits itself over a network to infect other computers. It too may carry a payload.
Conflicker Worm stopped Bexleyheath School Network for 3 weeks.
A Worm attack caused Barts and the London NHS Trust to be closed to all new patients for 2 weeks and operations and A&E closed following a Worm attack. Cost £7m to the Trust.
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Trojan
A Trojan horse is any program that invites the user to run it, concealing a harmful or malicious payload.
The payload may take effect immediately and can lead to many undesirable effects, such as deleting the user's files or further installing malicious or undesirable software
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Spyware
Spyware programs are commercially produced to gather information about computer users.
Pop-up ads, or altering web-browser behaviour.
Pop-up for on-line casino or dating.
Financial benefit of the spyware creator.
Some spyware programs redirect search engine results to paid advertisements.
Spyware can infect computers (Bots or Zombies) to do work for the creator.
The infected computers are used as proxies to send out spam messages.
The advantage to spammers of using infected computers is they provide anonymity, protecting the spammer from prosecution.
Spammers have also used infected PCs to target anti-spam organizations with distributed denial-of-service attacks.
The malware creator to profit by stealing sensitive information from a victim.
Some malware programs install a key logger, which intercepts the user's keystrokes when entering a password, credit card number, or other information that may exploited.
Information is transmitted to the malware creator automatically, enabling credit card fraud and other theft.
Similarly, malware may copy the CD key or password for online games, allowing the creator to steal accounts or virtual items.
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Denial of Service attack and Distributed Denial of Service attack
A denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) or distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users
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Stenography Attack
Steganography is the art and science of hiding information by embedding messages within other, seem-ingly harmless messages
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