Viruses Worms and Trojan Horses
Avirus is a hidden, self-replicating section of computer software, usually malicious logic, that propagates by infecting (inserting a copy of itself into and becoming part of) another program. A
virus cannot run by itself; it requires that its host program be run to make the virus active. Viruses are commonly spread through e-mail attachments, such as graphic images, word processing documents, and data spreadsheets. The virus is embedded in these attachments and infects the system when the user launches or executes the attachment. Examples of viruses include Melissa, BugBear, and Klez.
Aworm is a computer program that can run independently or that can propagate a complete working version of itself onto other hosts on a network. It can consume computer resources destructively. Many consider a worm to be subset of a virus. Antivirus vendors, for example, include worms in their virus databases. Examples of worms include Nimda, CodeRed, Slapper, and Slammer.
ATrojan horse is a computer program that appears to have a useful function, but that also has a hidden and potentially malicious function that evades security mechanisms, sometimes by exploiting legitimate authorizations of a system entity that invokes the program.
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