Use of Malware in Espionage

Recently, malware or computer viruses have been used in espionage aimed at governments and companies. These threats usually arrive as email attachments of specially crafted document files such as Microsoft Word files, Power Point files, Ichitaro files, and PDF files. Those files are crafted to exploit vulnerabilities exists in those applications to install malware on victim machines. One of the major types of malware installed on those attacks is backdoor trojan aiming to operate infected machines and steal information stored in machines. This paper introduces general characteristics of malware and attacks used in espionage.