“A computer worm is a program which copies itself across a network.A computer worm differs from a computer virus in that a computer worm can run itself. A virus needs a host program to run, and the virus code runs as part of the host program. A computer worm can spread without a host program, although some modern computer worms also use files to hide inside.

Well known examples of the computer worm

The original computer worm was (perhaps accidentally) unleashed on the Internet by Robert Tappan Morris in 1988. The Internet Worm used sendmail, fingerd, and rsh/rexec to spread itself across the Internet. (more…)