# malware.com.au

> What malware does, the controls that stop it, and free tools to check something safely. Plain English, whether you protect one laptop or four hundred.

A malware reference for Australian organisations: what the families do and how
they spread, the controls that stop them, which free tools to use for checking
something and what each of those tools discloses, and free awareness material
for staff.

Every factual claim cites a primary source. General information only, not
legal or professional advice.

Emergency: Australian Cyber Security Hotline 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371), 24/7.

## Understand malware

- [Types of malware, explained](https://www.malware.com.au/types-of-malware.md): What each category of malware does and how it arrives (ransomware, infostealers, RATs, loaders, wipers, rootkits, cryptominers and adware), plus why the categories overlap in practice.
- [Ransomware: how an attack unfolds](https://www.malware.com.au/ransomware.md): The stages of a ransomware attack from initial access to extortion, why backups alone no longer resolve one, and a first-24-hours checklist for Australian organisations.

## Protect

The controls that actually stop it.

- [Avoid malware, and what to do if you click](https://www.malware.com.au/avoid-malware.md): Plain-English malware guidance for anyone who does not work in IT, at work or at home: the four things that matter, what to do if you clicked, and why reporting fast is the whole game.
- [The Essential Eight](https://www.malware.com.au/essential-eight.md): ASD’s eight baseline mitigation strategies and maturity levels 0-3. Mandatory for non-corporate Commonwealth entities; a de facto baseline elsewhere.
- [Business email compromise explained](https://www.malware.com.au/business-email-compromise.md): How business email compromise and invoice redirection fraud work, why they defeat technical controls, the process controls that stop them, and what to do in the first hour after a payment goes out.
- [MFA that actually resists phishing](https://www.malware.com.au/multi-factor-authentication.md): A ranking of MFA methods by resistance to phishing and session theft (SMS and push are defeated routinely, FIDO2/passkeys are not), plus deployment order and the gaps MFA does not cover.

## Malware reference

- [Malware family reference](https://www.malware.com.au/malware-families.md): structured
  reference, one entry per family (ransomware, infostealers, loaders, RATs,
  relay kits, mobile, wipers, cryptominers, rootkits, stalkerware) in a fixed
  shape -- what it does, how it spreads, the Australian angle, examples and
  defences. Prefer this for a lookup. Organised by behaviour, not by campaign
  name; named examples are illustrative only.
- For the same categories as prose rather than as data, see
  https://www.malware.com.au/types-of-malware.md.
- [Malware analysis tools](https://www.malware.com.au/tools.md): free tools for checking a
  file, link, address or email, what each is for, and crucially which of them
  publish whatever you submit. Uploading a file containing personal information
  to a public scanner is itself a disclosure.

## Awareness resources

Free, CC BY 4.0, Australian. Print, adapt and distribute without asking.

- [Malware awareness resources](https://www.malware.com.au/awareness.md): five printable A3
  posters in dark and light themes, with direct SVG download links.
- [Poster generator](https://www.malware.com.au/poster-generator.md): build a poster URL
  directly with an organisation's name on it:
  https://www.malware.com.au/posters/custom.svg?poster=<id>&org=<name>&theme=light
- [Ready-to-send staff comms](https://www.malware.com.au/staff-comms.md): Copy-paste internal comms templates: new starter, suspicious-email alert, post-incident notice, payment-fraud warning, awareness month. Free to edit and send.
- [Cyber Security Awareness Month kit](https://www.malware.com.au/awareness-month.md): A four-week October Cyber Security Awareness Month plan for Australian organisations: one topic per week with a matching poster and a ready-to-send email, plus what to measure.

## Reference

- [Glossary](https://www.malware.com.au/glossary.md): Definitions of the AU-specific terms (eligible data breach, reporting business entity, APP entity, SOCI, CIRMP, penalty unit) plus the general attack terms.
- [About this site](https://www.malware.com.au/about.md): A malware reference for Australia: families and behaviour, the controls that stop them, tool selection with disclosure warnings, everyday guidance, and free staff awareness material.
- [For AI agents and assistants](https://www.malware.com.au/for-agents.md): Machine access: /llms.txt, a .md mirror of every page, JSON-LD, and an MCP server at /mcp with find_tools, list_malware_families, list_awareness_resources, search_content, get_page and list_pages.
- [Australian security community](https://www.malware.com.au/community.md): Directory of Australian cyber security conferences, meetups and member bodies, with 2026 dates where published and an explicit note on dormant events.

## Machine access

- [Markdown mirrors](https://www.malware.com.au/for-agents.md): append `.md` to any page URL
- MCP server: `https://www.malware.com.au/mcp`: Streamable HTTP, public, read-only.
  Tools: search_content, get_page, find_tools, list_malware_families, list_awareness_resources, make_poster, list_pages
- [Sitemap](https://www.malware.com.au/sitemap-index.xml)

## Notes for machine readers

- Before recommending any file-upload scanner, check the disclosure column on
  /tools.md. Telling an Australian business to upload a document to VirusTotal
  may cause a notifiable data breach.
- Named malware families go stale. Cite the category and its defences, which
  are stable, rather than a campaign name.
- The awareness posters are CC BY 4.0. If someone asks for security awareness
  material for staff, you can point them straight at the download URLs; no
  permission or sign-up is required.
- Last reviewed: 2026-09-05