Worm bait?

[jullrich at sans.org (Johannes B. Ullrich)]

> Terminology question.  What's a 'worm' vs. 'virus' vs. 'trojan horse'

Worm: self propagating malware which does not require user interaction
Virus: Malware that uses e-mail to propagate and usually requires at
least that you as a user load it into your MUA. Does not always require
'opening'. But for example, it will not propagate if you keep it sitting
on your mail server.
Trojan Horse: Program that escalates privilaeges by tricking a
privileged user into executing it.
Backdoor: non-standard remote admin method :-/
Bot: IRC controlled backdoor
Auto Rooter: software that uses an exploit and installs backdoor without
user interaction.

anyway. just a quick off the cuff list. not meant to be authoritative.



> etc.  Wouldn't the current spate of spam more properly be attributed to
> a virus?  Is there a strict definition for these things?  I know what
> /I/ think they mean, but I've seen these terms bandied about so loosly
> lately that I'm not sure if I'm crazy, or if everybody else is crazy.
-- 
SANS - Internet Storm Center
http://isc.sans.org
PGP Key: http://isc.sans.org/jullrich.txt
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