What is WORM?
| Write Once Read Many -OR- Self-Replicating Virus |
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WORM Drives Write Once Read Many depicts a write-once-read-many memory device that allows an author to store prepared files once into memory so that other users may read but not alter those files. Alternately WORM also depicts a computer program which replicates itself. The Internet worm was perhaps the most famous; it successfully duplicated itself on many of the systems across the Internet. More commonly, however, the term refers to WORM Drives such as CD-ROM recorders that will allow authors to record computer files one time on a compact disc but will not allow revisions or other materials to be added to the disc at a later time. Of course, it is often possible to download WORM files into hard drive discs and make revisions that can then be recorded on a new compact disc. Worm Virus The term WORM now has a somewhat bad connotation since so many destructive viruses transmitted over the email and the Internet are WORM viruses. A self-replicating program that reproduces itself over a network. The most famous worm is the one created by Robert Morris at Cornell that shut down many unix computers on the Internet in 1988. Currently making the rounds is a Windows worm named happy99.exe (or Trojan-Happy99 or I-Worm.Happy) that masquerades as a fireworks show, replaces your wsock32.dll file, and sends copies of itself along with e-mail or news messages you post. |
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