Can you get malware by simply clicking a link ?

Malware, short for malicious software, is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs. It can take the form of executable code, scripts, active content, and other software. Malware is defined by its malicious intent, acting against the requirements of the computer user — and so does not include software that causes unintentional harm due to some deficiency.

So you get malware by simply clicking a link ? The short answer is it’s possible, but it’s not very likely.

Most malware is installed by the user, and goes righteous ancient any in service system protection, as they clicked “OK” what time asked if they trusted it, or hunted to pass or mount it. Basically, they were tricked by a phishing communication or illusory bring together textbook on a website into installing a syllabus they did not really want, or a big shot has inserted malware into a legitimate app, e.g. a free videotape editor that spies on you, and managed to print it to an app store.

The specific attack scenario you are referring to requires an exploit that will allow the attackers to run malcious code outside of the sandboxed browser app to suceffuly infect the endpoint. This attack type is usually called drive by download.

But do just click i will get malware?

you would need to open/run an actual file so some program could execute. However, you could get a malicious JavaScript that tries to pop up many notices to entice you download and run a program, or do other annoying things.

It is possible to get a hold malware by moral clicking, if in attendance is a defenselessness in your browser or plugins. exhibit seems to persuade about one a week on average. In that case, a malware instigator preserve aim that meticulous susceptibility by hacking a legitimate website and inserting an infected maze object, or by carriage you correspondence with a link up in it that redirects to their exploit code. This thoughtful of exploit set of instructions is greatly further fragile than the malware you ran by hand - it barely mechanism on guaranteed versions of system and application, as a result if you stock your mainframe up-to-date, there’s a same petite display during which you are at risk.

Read the popup messages. If you get an email attachment, it’s usually OK to open a PDF file. It’s not OK to “run this program”, or unzip a zipfile and then run a program. It’s unfortunate that the Windows action to watch a movie is exactly the same as to run an untrusted program - click it.


Also you can read: How do you protect your computer from a virus without anti-virus software