Viruses and worms are major loopholes that destroy the company’s security to a great extent. They are the biggest destroyer of the system. In this tutorial, we’ll discuss the major differences between virus and worm.
Read the full article to know more about virus vs worm
What is a computer virus?
It is a kind of malicious software program that spread right through the computer files without the knowledge of a user. A Virus is a malware attached to another program (such as a document), which can reproduce itself and spread after an original execution on a target system. In this human interaction is also required. Many viruses are harmful and can destroy data, hold up system resources, and monitor keystrokes.”
How does a computer virus work?
Even if we are careful, we can pick up computer viruses through normal Web activities like:
- Visiting an infected website
- Installing software applications without thoroughly reading the license agreements
- Opening spam email or an email attachment
- Sharing of photos, files, or music with other users
- Downloading of media players, toolbars, free games, and other system utilities
Some computer viruses are programmed to damage your computer by harming programs, reformatting the hard drive, or deleting files. It floods a network with traffic, making it impossible to perform any internet activity. Some harmful computer viruses can extensively disrupt your system’s performance, sapping computer memory, and causing frequent computer crashes.
Also read- Difference between Virus and Trojan Horse|Virus vs Trojan
What is Worm?
A worm is a kind of malicious software program. Its main function is to infect other computers while remaining active on infected systems. It is a self-replicating malware that duplicates itself to spread to uninfected computers. Worms often use parts of an (OS) Operating System that are invisible and automatic to the user.
How computer worm spread?
A computer worm infection spreads without user interaction. The necessary thing is that computer worm to become active in an infected system. Worms were spread through infected storage media like diskettes, floppy, etc which, when attached on a computer system, would infect other storage devices connected to the victim system. Moreover, USB drives are still a general vector for computer worms.
Also Read- Difference Between Steganography and Cryptography| Steganography vs Cryptography
How computer worms work?
Computer worms rely on their actions of, and vulnerabilities in, networking protocols to circulate. For example, the Wanna Cry Ransomware worm exploited a vulnerability in the first version of the Server Message Block (SMBv1) resource sharing protocol implemented in the Windows operating system. When a freshly infected computer is active, the Wanna Cry malware initiates a network search for new potential victims: systems that respond to SMBv1 requests made by the worm. And the worm can continue to circulate within an organization in this way. When our device (BYOD) is infected, the worm can spread to other networks, giving hackers even more access.
Take a look at the following table to know virus vs worm.
| Features | Virus | Worm |
| Speed | Virus spreading speed is low compared to worms. | Worms spreading speed is fast, and it speedily infects multiple computers or networks. |
| Human Action | The virus needs human help to execute and spread. | Worms automatically execute and spread. |
| Supportive Things | To clean the infection of the virus or stop its infection, the user needs an antivirus. | To remove the worm’s infection or prevent the infection, the user needs antivirus and a firewall. |
| Consequences | Viruses damage, destroy, or amend the files in the infected computer | Worms don’t change the file but enlarge the resource usage to crash the system or network. |
| Meaning | The virus attaches itself to the host and spread where the host reaches. | Worms don’t want a host and exploit the susceptibility of a network to spread. |
| Protection Using | It protects the system using Anti-Virus Software | It protects the system using Anti-Virus Software and Firewall |
| Removing Malware | For Removing malware Antivirus & Formatting is used | For Removing malware Virus removal tool & Formatting is used |
| Effects | Corrupt & Erase a File of a program | Consumes System Resources and slow down it & can halt the system completely |
Also check: Ways to prevent cyber attack
Conclusion
In this tutorial we have discussed viruses and worm. We provided a complete description of the differences between viruses and worm. If you are having any doubt ask me freely in the comment box.
Also Read- What is Cyber Security and Why is it Important?
