Difference Between Virus, Worm and Trojan Horse

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Difference Between Virus, Worm and Trojan Horse
Often people mix terms like worms, trojan,
spyware, they use them whenever there is a
discussion on computer virus. But let me tell you
using them interchangeably is not correct. These
terms cannot be used when we talk about virus
they all are different. Viruses, worms and
trojan horses are malicious programs, they cause
damage to your computer, but the way they harm a
system is what makes them stand apart. To
protect our system from these threats we need to
understand the terms and their difference. In
this article, we will help you understand them
better. Learn More for Efficient Protection
Against Threats Computer virus attaches itself to
a program or file, as these application and files
travels from one system to another infection
spreads. Computer viruses are dangerous but they
vary in severity Some make the system slow and
sluggish while others cause damage to the
hardware, software and files stored on the
system thus making system in-operational. As
viruses are attached to an executable file they
cannot function without human intervention. They
can sit into the system but wont work until the
malicious file or application is opened or run.
Users play an important role in spreading the
infection as they are unaware that they are
sharing an infected files or emails with
others. Also Read Leakbase Is Reportedly Dead!
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Worm are designed like viruses and so considered
as its sub-category. But the way it works make
it different, worms can spread from one machine
to another unaided as they file or information
transport features. Not only this they can
duplicate itself for instance if a single worm
is sent out by a machine it can easily send out
hundreds or thousands of copy itself resulting
in huge devastating effects. To understand things
better lets take for an example a worm can send
a copy of itself to all the e mail address
listed. From there it replicates itself and sends
itself to other in the address book of the
recipient and this process goes on. Due to the
way, it works worms tend to consume too much
system memory (or network bandwidth), causing Web
servers, network servers and individual
computers to be unresponsive. The most recent
worm attack was designed to get into the system
and allowed malicious users to control the
computer remotely. Trojan horse is different
than virus and worm. It is a destructive program
that looks as a legitimate application. Unlike
worms, Trojan horse cant replicate itself but
can be destructive. Trojans opens a backdoor
entry to your computer which gives malicious
users/programs access to your system, allowing
confidential and personal information to be theft.
Virus Worm Trojan Horse
Cannot spread from one computer to another without human intervention Can spread from one system to another by itself Cannot replicate itself
Viruses have different level of threats Worms are destructive and dangerous Trojan Horse is hard to detect and is very destructive
Viruses doesnt use too much of system resources Worms take up a lot of bandwidth and makes the system unresponsive Trojan Horse doesnt need much system resources as it looks as genuine application but works differently
Virus attached to executable file Worms can be attached to anything, specially they are sent out as e mail attachment Trojan Horse hides under a genuine application and spreads infection
Steals information and makes system vulnerable Makes system slow sluggish and can even use it as a bot Trojan Horse opens a backdoor for malicious programs
Also Read Cyberstalking An Underrated
Crime Hope after reading the article you can know
the difference between these threats. They all
cause damage to the machine but the way they work
is not the same. Virus and trojan horse cannot
replicate itself whereas worms can. Viruses
cannot execute itself but others can so now you
very well know these threats only look alike but
they arent.