While early malware exploited single systems or multiuser systems
While early malware exploited single systems or multiuser systems, it took the Internet to really give malware life. The Internet forms a massive distributed environment. Malicious software can steal control of computers on the Internet, direct DDoS attacks at given hosts or servers, or pose as someone they are not in order to intercept data. The latter action is known as a masquerade attack or spoofing.