Computer Viruses

18 Pages 4400 Words

ass of systems simultaneously meets the needs of both.
A review of the development of personal computers and multi-tasking workstations will show that the gap in functionality between these classes of systems is narrowing rapidly. In the future, a single system may meet all of the requirements necessary to support both worms and viruses. This implies that worms and viruses may begin to appear in new classes of systems. A knowledge of the histories of viruses and worms may make it possible to predict how malicious code will cause problems in the future.
Basic Definitions
To provide a basis for further discussion, the following definitions will be used throughout the report;
· Trojan Horse - a program which performs a useful function, but also performs an unexpected action as well;
· Virus - a code segment which replicates by attaching copies to existing executables;
· Worm - a program which replicates itself and causes execution of the new copy and
· Network Worm - a worm which copies itself to another system by using common netw...