Virus, Worms, and Trojan Horses

[rory 0]

from: Symantec Security Response

 

"A virus is a program or code that replicates itself onto other files with which it comes in contact; that is, a virus can infect another program, boot sector, partition sector, or a document that supports macros, by inserting itself or attaching itself to that medium. Most viruses only replicate, though many can do damage to a computer system or a user's data as well."

 

"A worm is a program that makes and facilitates the distribution of copies of itself; for example, from one disk drive to another, or by copying itself using email or another transport mechanism. The worm may do damage and compromise the security of the computer. It may arrive via exploitation of a system vulnerability or by clicking on an infected e-mail."

 

"A Trojan Horse portrays itself as something other than what it is at the point of execution. While it may advertise its activity after launching, this information is not apparent to the user beforehand. A Trojan Horse neither replicates nor copies itself, but causes damage or compromises the security of the computer. A Trojan Horse must be sent by someone or carried by another program and may arrive in the form of a joke program or software of some sort. The malicious functionality of a Trojan Horse may be anything undesirable for a computer user, including data destruction or compromising a system by providing a means for another computer to gain access, thus bypassing normal access controls."

 

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Edited September 2, 2006 by Guest

[samiconn 0]

All of them are a hit problem now, everyday I must destroy them and protect my database. But sometime I also become a hacker to understand about them. Do you think that one is good thing?

[CollinR 0]

All of them are a hit problem now, everyday I must destroy them and protect my database. But sometime I also become a hacker to understand about them. Do you think that one is good thing?

 

Nothing wrong with becoming hacker like, just don't become a script kiddie.

[Jasper 0]

That is why we have the Anti-Virus companys. There is no need to learn how to write worms, trojans and the like. Spend your time doing something more productive, like programming.

 

Unless your looking for a job as a computer security specialist.

[kandcorp 0]

The same people that are making the Anti-Virus software are making the virus' too.

[Jasper 0]

That is what I meant. Unless you want a job with a company like Symantec or the like, there is no point. Unless you want to just wreak havoc or study how to screw things up instead of how to make things better.

 

They should create, not hack. If they really want show how smart they are create something helpfull.

[CollinR 0]

They should create, not hack. If they really want show how smart they are create something helpfull.

 

Thats the difference between a hacker and a script kiddie.

 

 

We learn from the past, problems don't get solved if they aren't pointed out. You'll have an issue with a hacker if you go looking for one or you are in tech support, your first interaction would be some kind of notice of the problem. If there is no responce or an offensive one there is a chance the problem will be demonstrated. A script kiddie on the other hand will use tools to find often random targets and exploit them without warning. They will almost exclusely be using tool they didn't create themselves. Not really much different from people who key random cars in a parking lot. Don't get me wrong there are a few disgruntled people who have alot of technical knowledge but if they act like that they are still script kiddies.