Home / malware Other:W32/Generic
First posted on 26 October 2009.
Source: SecurityHomeAliases :
There are no other names known for Other:W32/Generic.
Explanation :
A malicious program which does not easily fit into any other malware category.
Additional DetailsOther:W32/Generic is the Generic General Information page.
A Generic Detection is a new type of sophisticated detection that is being increasingly used by antivirus programs to identify programs with malicious characteristics.
Unlike more traditional detections (also known as signatures or single-file detections) a Generic Detection does not identify a unique or individual malicious program. Instead, a Generic Detection looks for broadly applicable code or behavior characteristics that indicate a file as potentially malicious, so that a single Generic Detection can efficiently identify dozens, or even hundreds of malware.
Generic Detections can be used to identify particular types of malware, based on general physical or behavioral characteristics:
  • Virus:W32/Generic   • Trojan:W32/Generic   • Worm:W32/Generic
In this case, the Generic Detection does not generally specify which family the malware belongs to.
Alternatively, a Generic Detection can be targeted to identify particular malware families, based on familial similarities:
  • Backdoor:W32/Pushbot.gen!A   • Trojan-Downloader:W32/Mebroot.gen!B   • Trojan:W32/Daonol.gen!CLast update 26 October 2009
