Flooders What is it, how does it work and what are the ways to protect ourselves?

Have you ever heard of the subgroup of malware known as malicious tools? Well, we have one of them in the flooderswhich can affect the behavior of your computer in different ways.

We know how important it is to maintain adequate protection for all information you store on your computerso we consider it an obligation to let you know the different ways hackers can negatively affect it.

For this reason, we consider it important that you read the entire content of this post, where we broadly address everything related to flooders, as well as some security advice to protect you from these kinds of threats.

What is a Flooder and what are these malware for?

Flooders are malicious tools that hackers use to literally flood a computer or server by sending a lot of information in a short time, the purpose of which is saturate the network to which they are connected.

Although flooders are usually seen in principle as a form of irresponsible and abusive use of the Internet, at present they appear designated among the Cybercrime. This is because the shipment can be made in the form of malware with the intention of carry out Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.

But that’s not all, since some versions of flooders are designed to carry out criminal actions such as collecting your data and other personal information, capturing screenshots, and others. Even, and this is good to keep in mind, they can be used by hackers to introduce computer viruses and trojans in your system.

Characteristics of a Flooder How to identify these malware?

Flooders can have their own characteristics depending on the behavior for which they have been designed, that is, according to your load. This allows us to identify and divide them as follows:

• DoS-Flooders: Designed to carry out denial of service attacks on the target computer. The main victims are computers whose resource capacity does not allow them to process the large number of requests sent by criminals.
• Email-Flooders: It is when the malware is designed to flood the email with messages that do not seem to make sense to the recipient, with the sole intention of saturating the computer in this way.
• SMS-Flooders: This time we are witnessing the shipment of a large quantity of spam through text messages, with the intention of flooding said channel.
• IM Flooders: Designed to spam the channels of the ever-growing instant messaging applications with meaningless messages.
• IRC Flooders: Designed to affect the operation of communication channels based on the Internet Relay Chat protocol.

How do I know if I have a Flooder on my computer? clearer symptoms

As you have seen, flooders malware can reach your computer in different presentationsso it will always be recommended that you start to worry if you see that your computer exhibits any of the following symptoms:

• screen changes: Usually when you are a victim of flooders, the screen turns completely blue, with the consequent interruption of operations by the user.
• Low performance: If you notice that your computer starts to work slower than usual, it is likely that a flooder has lodged in the system.
• sudden interruptions: In addition to sudden shutdowns, it also causes you to face browser or network crashes, all because of a denial of service.
• Disabling programs: Another big drawback, since flooders have the ability to delete some key components of your system, as well as legitimate files, among which are protection software.
• Excessive pop-ups: Sending victims a large number of notifications is usually done with the intention of redirecting them to dangerous sites.

How did a Flooder get on my computer? Main forms of contagion

Flooders can get into computers in different ways and in equally different ways. Here’s how they usually do it:

Carrier websites

In this case we are talking about pages where viruses such as flooders can hide. These are mainly gambling sites and others where spam abounds in the form of promotional content, as is often the case with pornographic sites.

pirate software

Although legitimate software should not be ruled out entirely, most flooders are known to arrive on computers in the company of any of the many rogue programs. illegal games that people usually buy.

P2P systems

This is because all systems using a shared network are always in the sights from hackers, so the user will always be at risk of falling victim to any of the types of flooder viruses.

Learn how to remove a Flooder from your Windows and MacOS computer step by step

We already know that flooders are tools with great potential to do damage to your team, that they are also able to stay hidden inside your system for several months without even realizing it.

While both Windows and Mac OS operating systems usually get the job done automatically, it never hurts to try it yourself with one of the antiviruses on the market. This, always bearing in mind that it is important to make a backup copy of all the files you have on your computer.

Below you will see the steps to follow:

on Windows

• Step 1: Install an antivirus (this example is based on Kaspersky)
• Step 2: Install a program anti-malware.
• Step 3: Once the installation of the previous tools is finished, restart the computer and access the Safe Mode
• Step 4: Perform a full system scan using antivirus
• step 5: Now run a similar scan using anti-malware tool to ensure malicious files have been removed
• step 6: Restart the computer normally to check its performance

on MacOS

In this case, you can have the solution within reach of a few clicks, since we all know that this operating system usually suffers fewer attacks than Windows:

• Step 1: Enter in “Activity Monitor” to check each of the applications present
• Step 2: Research on the Internet any application that seems suspicious
• Step 3: In case any of them turn out to be a virus, proceed to eliminate it
• Step 4: To achieve this, right-click on the icon of the suspicious application, and then press Command + Q to make the application be removed from the system

Tips to protect ourselves and keep our computers free of Flooders

• Perhaps the previous section has left you with the feeling that it is very easy to clean your computer of viruses. However, always you’d better keep away from threats like flooders and other malware.
• To achieve this, there is nothing better than following some simple advice dictated both by specialists in the field of computer security, and by common sense itself. This starts with keep your equipment up to date.
• Every time you want to increase the performance of your computer, laptop or any other computer device you use, it is best to do it through legitimately sourced programs.
• Never open emails that seem suspicious to you, and on the contrary proceed to eliminate them immediately. Note that this is one of the main entrance doors of the flooders to your system.