Precautionary Measures To Stop Internet Worms Before They Stop Your System!

Computer viruses and worms are a menace to many servers. Viruses infect PC and uses different means to spread. Computer Worms are also known as internet viruses as they use the internet as a medium to replicate and spread. A worm replicates fast but many times do not require infecting another file or embedding its code in them. A worm that replicates it self by spreading through emails is known as an email worm. The worm infects a PC and spreads using the address book on the infected user's PC. This makes the reach of the worm global and devastating.

Modern malicious software or malware is complex and is becoming increasingly hybrid. There are Trojan virus worms, Trojan worms and so on. Searching for a list of all computer viruses worms and Trojans will help you distinguish between worms and a virus and even identify a new internet worm. Over the years a computer worm virus or internet worms have turned out to be the most destructive malware so far. What is a worm virus? You can define worm virus as malicious software that replicates on its own. They spread on networks and cause the same damage a virus does. The major distinction between computer virus and worms are that worms attack networks where as a virus can attack only a stand alone PC and depends on humans as a means to spread. A worm replicates and spreads on its own using loopholes in the network.

Means of Infection

Those who are connected to a network are most likely to get worms. Many worms find loop holes in the intranets and hence affect major networks. On a stand alone computer like the ones at home the same process is used:

• Email is a major means of the worm spreading. If your email client is infected all the members in your address book are potentially vulnerable.
• Chats and instant messaging software is also vulnerable.
• Another means of infection is a backdoor entry. It uses a weakness in the TCP/IP protocol that is used for transmission on the network. Since all of us connect to the internet we are vulnerable. The major problem is the network configuration on individual machines. The facility within P2P networks is a P2P shared folder this is exploited by worms.
• Operating systems are not entirely fool proof and contain many bugs. These bugs are exploited by worms. Windows is the largest desktop operating system and is the target of most of the worms and viruses.
• Some worms like the Spida can attempt remote log in and cause a denial of service attack.

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