A Detailed Description of what Worms and Trojan Horses Are

Worms and Trojan horses are different categories of malware programs that have been launched into a particular network system, such asthe Internet or a cell phone’s connection, with the main aim of corrupting it (Quinn, 2013). Worms use replication process that eventually results in an override and thus creating a problem or a series of problems in the attacked system. Worms replicate through several means, which include disk drives and electronic messages. Once the reproduced worms reach a certain level, the system can no longer function properly. In extreme cases, worms may result to a crash of the infected system, device, or program (Pfleeger, & Shari, 2011). Worms are very similar to viruses in that both replicate and also they have similar effects on their victim systems. The two however have a distinct difference is that viruses can only spread between devises through user assistance while worms can spread without any aid from the user.

Contrary to worms that replicate, Trojan horses are a type of malware that does not reproduce. Trojan horses do not also affix themselves to other programs (Pfleeger, & Shari, 2011). Majority of Trojan horses that attack systems are usually introduced to the target system from external sources and then accepted by the victim system as a program before the malware practice is initiated(Quinn, 2013). Trojan horses achieve their aim of corrupting the system through user aggravation. This is done throughpractices like changing the arrangement of items or by introducing unnecessary images on the computer’s desktop. Additionally, Trojan horses may cause more serious issues such as erasing stored data. All Trojan horses offers a backdoor through which the computer can be utilized by other forms of malware such as viruses and worms as a form of entrance into the target computers. Creating such a backdoor is therefore the most destructive property of a Trojan horse (Pfleeger, & Shari, 2011).

Scroll to Top