Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses - SS3 ICT Lesson Note
Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses are all types of malicious software, commonly referred to as malware, that can infect and harm computer systems. While they share the goal of causing harm or compromising the security of a system, they differ in how they operate and spread.
- Virus:
- A virus is a type of malware that attaches itself to a legitimate program or file.
- It requires user interaction or the execution of an infected program to spread.
- Once activated, a virus can replicate itself and attach to other programs or files, potentially causing widespread damage.
- Viruses can perform various malicious activities, such as deleting files, corrupting data, or spreading to other computers.
- Unlike viruses, worms are standalone malware programs that do not need to attach themselves to existing files or programs.
- Worms are designed to exploit vulnerabilities in computer networks or software to spread automatically.
- They can propagate rapidly, infecting numerous computers and devices across the internet or local networks.
- Worms can have a wide range of payloads, including data theft, creating backdoors for remote access, or launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
- A Trojan horse is a type of malware that disguises itself as a legitimate or harmless program to deceive users into running it.
- Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not replicate or spread on their own.
- Once a Trojan is executed, it may perform malicious actions in the background, such as stealing sensitive data, providing unauthorized access to a system, or downloading and installing other malware.
- Trojans often rely on social engineering tactics to trick users into installing them