A rootkit is one of the sneakier types of malware because it tries to hide while giving an attacker deep access to your computer. If regular malware is like a burglar breaking a window, a rootkit is like someone secretly copying your house key, hiding in the walls, and letting other criminals come in later. […]

A type of malware that opens a permanent “back door” into a computer system. Once installed, a rootkit will allow additional viruses to infect a computer as various hackers find the vulnerable computer exposed and compromise it.