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Computer Worms

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Allie Hopkins
Computer Worms

Computer service is a product of technological advancement. Computer technology has played a significant role in recent discoveries in many fields. There are many threats which hinder the efficiency of computer services. Computer worms and computer viruses are some of the major threats which have brought a great loss in computer industry. Computer worm is a self-replicating computer program similar to computer virus but unlike virus which attaches itself to, and become part of, another executable program, a computer worm is self-contained and propagates on its own without need to be part of another program.

Computer worms are created by scientists similarly to any other program. They can be spread through target machine in undiscovered means.

Computer worms are a global challenge affecting every computer within the global. Computer worm is classified as a malicious threat or malware. The first computer worm was created at legendary Xerox Paulo Alto Research Center. It was created by John Shoch with intention to save hours of work he used to spend when doing his doctorate. He created computer worm as a program to help him transmit and load other programs to other computer rather than doing it manually from one computer to another one at a time. It was to happen automatically through seeking out idle Altos computer and transmitting the test program through wire to the computers whose signals were available. He first succeeded but later the system failed and caused all other computers in that institution to crash. The second occurrence occurred in Germany EARN network through Christmas wishes and is believed to be the most spreading computer worm. Later, Morris worm emerged which caused great loss of approximately $100 million in damage. Worm taxonomy is based on target discovery, carrier, activation, payloads and attackers. Measures have been put forward to control the spread of computer worms. Companies are advised to prevent their computer system from calamity of computer worms and viruses.

Computers are important machines in every office or business. The machine has led to massive increase in production since it lowers the cost of production. Many businesses have invested in IT and IT dependent firms. Infection of computers by computer worms is a great loss in economy. E-businesses will no longer be possible. The cost of production will increase and this will hike the price and lower commodity demands. Loss of information and protocol of production in some firms will make them to close or spend a lot of time and money to retrieve the information. Other firms such as stock exchange, insurance, and IT firms will incur great losses and this can lead to staggering of the economy.

Computer worms can affect the technical department of any institution which uses the computers. It this is the case, there will be technical errors in information technology which will lead to large amount of network traffic. People will not be able to access their own data and information despite the fact that the own them. People’s personal accounts will be open to members of the public. Confidential messages will be revealed to unauthorized members. If the level of impact is high, the systems will become unstable and might not be recovered automatically using any tools but might only be recovered through restoration from back-ups if available. Evidences in law firms will be lost and this can lead to insecurity to even the government. Companies will incur significant losses to compensate for these technical errors. Infection of computer by computer worms will lead to resource exhaustion due to program flaw. Many companies will not be able to perform necessary work until the programs are re-installed. Some health sector which uses mobile computing technology to check patient with vital condition will be greatly affected. It will lead to loss of trust of patient and their families to the institutions.

The study approves the enormous cost of institution as a result of computer worms and viruses. As technology grows and brings about hazardous implications, so do measures to combat the implications. Prevention is the most cost effective way to reduce the risk of computer worms. Businesses and other organizations are advised to install up-to-date programs which will prevent attack of computer worms and computer viruses. It will help by detecting any threats and destroying them before they cause any harm. The institutions should sensitize their staff on the need to avoid opening suspicious websites or visiting cracked websites. It will help to avoid risks and losses such as those that were incurred when Morris worm was spread via Christmas exec messages. Institutions should also prohibit staff from downloading files from untrusted websites.

Organizations should purchase licensed software since free software can be infected. Some contain all sort of malicious malware and programs which can be harmful to servers and computers and can propagate rapidly via networks. Organizations should develop effective information technology security policy to limit and control activities of staff since some of them are sources of worry as when not controlled, can visit any website and download music and games or anything interesting without checking the source. Institutions can also use machine learning technique for worm detection via analyzing the behavior of suspected computers.

To ensure safety, an institution has to impose measures to prevent its computers from computer worms. Attack by worms will result to great losses to the institution as well as the government. There are numerous technical and economic impacts of computer worm attacks. Staff operating computers should hold themselves responsible to ensure that they are not the cause of computer worm infection via visiting prohibited sites. Computer worm interferes with data flow, security, and trustworthiness of institution by the public. Government should also come up with incentives to ensure that its institutions are free from malwares.

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Allie Hopkins
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