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Cyber 911 Tiplines Computer viruses, worms and Trojans
What they are and what they can do
Worms are computer programs that can copy themselves from machine to machine, extremely quickly, through computer networks.
Computer worms differ from computer viruses because they run independently and do not need a host file, boot sector or file transfer between machines to propogate.
There are different types of computer worms that spread through various services - including e-mail and instant messaging clients.
E-mail worms
These are spread via infected e-mail messages in the form of an attachment or link to an infected Web site - some e-mail worms will also spoof e-mail addresses.
IM worms
These are spread via instant messaging clients, to entire contact lists, in the form of links to infected Web sites.
Internet worms
These are spread when the Internet worm scans, tries to connect and, if successful gains access to any vulnerable machines - either by scanning the Internet and/or using the local operating system.
IRC worms
These are spread via IRC channels in the form of infected files or links to infected Web sites.
File-sharing Networks Worms
These are spread from shared folders via the P2P network.