Instead, the body of the message might contain a link that’s shortened so that the recipient can’t tell what it’s about without clicking on it. When the victims click on the attachment, copies of the same infected file will automatically be sent to addresses from their contacts list.Īn email message doesn’t have to contain a downloadable attachment to distribute a computer worm. avi.exe) so that the recipient would think that they are media files and not malicious computer programs. They usually have double extensions (for example. Email WormsĮmail worms are most often distributed via compromised email attachments. From there, internet worms are distributed to other connected computers through the internet and local area network connections. When they manage to infect the site, internet worms can replicate themselves onto any computer being used to access the website in question. Like they do with computer networks, computer worms also target popular websites with insufficient security. There is no universal classification of computer worms, but they can be organized into types based on how they are distributed between computers. However, new worms are being developed almost daily and can sometimes go unnoticed by the user until it’s too late. Many of them have been isolated and are now routinely detected and removed by most of the best antivirus software. Computer Worm TypesĪlthough there are no official statistics available, it is safe to say that there are well over a million computer worms in the world, each designed for a specific purpose. Furthermore, while viruses are usually bundled with legitimate files or programs, computer worms are standalone and don’t require a host file. For one, computer viruses by definition target individual computers, whereas worms target networks of computers to create botnets. Payloads are usually created to change or delete files on a target network, extract personal data from them, or encrypt them and seek a ransom from the victim.ĭespite the fact that many people use the two terms interchangeably, computer worms are not the same as computer viruses.
#Worm virus wikipedia code#
If a worm is indeed malicious and not just used to breach the system security, the code designed to carry out the attack is referred to as the payload. Even if they don’t, they are still very dangerous as they take up a lot of bandwidth and other valuable resources. Most worms are designed to infiltrate systems by exploiting their security failures, while very few also try to change the system settings.
#Worm virus wikipedia software#
A computer worm is a malicious piece of software that replicates itself from one computer to another with the goal of overtaking the entire network of computers.