Chinalabs has published a new report called China Malware and Treatment Measure Research Report and has put forward one of the first malware evaluation systems in China.

Malware or malicious software is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a portmanteau of the words "malicious" and "software". The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.

The report divides malware into eight different categories, including advertisement software, spy software, browser hijacking software, behavioral recording software, insidious shared software, search engine hijacking software, automatic dialing number software and online phishing software.

Based on malware's definition and features, the report explains that the malware evaluation system features three first-class indices–personal information safety, software and hardware stability, and user utility convenience–and 12 second-class indices which are further divided from the first-class indices.

Software is considered malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. It includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, adware, and other malicious and unwanted software. In law, malware is sometimes known as a computer contaminant, for instance in the legal codes of soem places in the United States.

Malware should not be confused with defective software, that is, software which has a legitimate purpose but contains harmful bugs.

Set up in 1999 by Fang Dongxing and Wang Junxiu, Chinalabs is an incubator for businesses that focus on technology.