Computer worms

standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers

ILOVEYOU, sometimes referred to as the Love Bug or Loveletter, was a computer worm that infected over ten million Windows personal computers beginning on 4 May 2000. It started spreading as an email message with the subject line "ILOVEYOU" and the attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs". Windows computers often hide the VBS file extension (a type of interpreted file) by default, because it is an extension for a file type that Windows knows, leading unwitting users to think it was a normal text file. Opening the attachment activated the VBScript script. First, the worm inflicted damage on the

one of the first computer worms distributed over the Internet

Mydoom was a computer worm that targeted computers running Microsoft Windows. It was first sighted on January 26, 2004. It became the fastest-spreading e-mail worm ever, exceeding previous records set by the Sobig worm and ILOVEYOU, a record which as of 2026 has yet to be surpassed.

computer worm

Koobface is a network worm that attacks Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. This worm originally targeted users of networking websites such as Facebook, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, and email websites such as GMail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL Mail. It also targets other networking websites, such as MySpace, Twitter, and it can infect other devices on the same local network. Technical support scammers also fraudulently claim to their intended victims that they have a Koobface infection on their computer by using fake popups and using built-in Windows programs.

method which malicious code utilizes to infect a computer or propagates itself

The Vundo Trojan (commonly known as Vundo, Virtumonde or Virtumondo, and sometimes referred to as MS Juan) is either a Trojan horse or a computer worm that is known to cause popups and advertising for rogue antispyware programs, and sporadically other misbehavior including performance degradation and denial of service with some websites including Google and Facebook. It also is used to deliver other malware to its host computers. Later versions include rootkits and ransomware.

Santy is a computer worm created in Perl to exploit a vulnerability in phpBB software which used Google to spread across the Internet.

The Sobig Worm was a computer worm that infected millions of Internet-connected, Microsoft Windows computers in August 2003.

computer worm that attacked DEC VMS computers in 1989 over the DECnet

computer worm

family of computer worms