Jnc: Spreading method

2024-11-24T12:23:16Z

Spreading method

Jnc: Moderately complete

2024-11-21T19:01:09Z

Moderately complete

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A '''worm''' is a form of [[malware]] - the earliest form conceived in the abstract, actually. In theory, a worm is not ''necessarily'' harmful (and, in fact, the first actual worm was intended to be entirely beneficial - see below).

It differs from [[virus]]es in that a virus is an addition to an existing (usually harmless, and productive) piece of [[object code|binary]] [[software]], whereas a worm is a complete, independent, stand-alone binary [[program]]. Worms typically replicate themselves through a [[data network]].

They were first hypothesized in John Brunner's 1975 novel, "The Shockwave Rider". Worm-like software existed fairly early once data networks existed, but the first serious work with actual worms was done at [[Xerox PARC]], in the late 1970's, on their in-house [[PARC Universal Packet|PUP]] [[internetwork|internet]]. One interesting incident was when an error (in copying or transmission) caused one to spread out of control, crashing machines that it spread to; most of the [[Xerox Alto|Altos]] in the building were left crashed as a result.

Those worms were mostly productive; the first widespread non-productive (although not actually destructive) worm was the so-called [[Morris worm]], released on the [[Internet]] in November, 1988. It spread through [[Sun-3]] systems, and [[VAX]] computers running [[BSD]] [[UNIX]]; it was mostly an un-intended [[DoS attack]], caused by its un-controlled replication.

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==External links==

* John F. Shoch, Jon A. Hupp, [https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~prabal/resources/osprelim/SH82.pdf The "Worm" Programs: Early Experience with a Distributed Computation], Communications of the ACM, Volume 25, Number 3, March 1982
* Eugene H. Spafford, [https://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/tech-reps/933.pdf The Internet Worm Incident] Purdue Technical Report CSD-TR-933, September, 1991
* Eugene H. Spafford, [https://spaf.cerias.purdue.edu/tech-reps/823.pdf The Internet Worm Program: An Analysis], Purdue Technical Report CSD-TR-823, November 1988
* [https://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/classes/s22/l_worms.pdf Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses] - a good but high-level overview

[[Category: Malware]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-A '''worm''' is a form of [[malware]] - the earliest form conceived in the abstract, actually. In theory, a worm is not ''necessarily'' harmful (and, in fact, the first actual worm was intended to be entirely beneficial - see below).
+A '''worm''' is a form of [[malware]] - the earliest form conceived in the abstract, actually. In theory, a worm is not ''necessarily'' harmful (and, in fact, one of the first actual worms was intended to be beneficial - see below).
-It differs from [[virus]]es in that a virus is an addition to an existing (usually harmless, and productive) piece of [[object code|binary]] [[software]], whereas a worm is a complete, independent, stand-alone binary [[program]]. Worms typically replicate themselves through a [[data network]].
+It differs from [[virus]]es in that a virus is an addition to an existing (usually harmless, and productive) piece of [[object code|binary]] [[software]], whereas a worm is a complete, independent, stand-alone binary [[program]]. Worms typically replicate themselves through a [[data network]], using security flaws in the target machines to gain access to them.
-They were first hypothesized in John Brunner's 1975 novel, "The Shockwave Rider". Worm-like software existed fairly early once data networks existed, but the first serious work with actual worms was done at [[Xerox PARC]], in the late 1970's, on their in-house [[PARC Universal Packet|PUP]] [[internetwork|internet]]. One interesting incident was when an error (in copying or transmission) caused one to spread out of control, crashing machines that it spread to; most of the [[Xerox Alto|Altos]] in the building were left crashed as a result.
+They were first hypothesized in John Brunner's 1975 novel, "The Shockwave Rider". Worm-like software existed fairly early once data networks existed (one early one was intended to wipe out a virus), but the first serious work with actual worms was done at [[Xerox PARC]], in the late 1970's, on their in-house [[PARC Universal Packet|PUP]] [[internetwork|internet]]. One interesting incident was when an error (in copying or transmission) caused one to spread out of control, crashing machines that it spread to; most of the [[Xerox Alto|Altos]] in the building were left crashed as a result.
 Those worms were mostly productive; the first widespread non-productive (although not actually destructive) worm was the so-called [[Morris worm]], released on the [[Internet]] in November, 1988. It spread through [[Sun-3]] systems, and [[VAX]] computers running [[BSD]] [[UNIX]]; it was mostly an un-intended [[DoS attack]], caused by its un-controlled replication.

Worm - Revision history

Jnc: Spreading method

Jnc: Moderately complete