Viruses email worms

The increasing power of email viruses means that sophisticated hackers who once looked down on viruses now see them as powerful tools to obtain information stored on target computers, particularly because using email makes it easier to obscure the origin of the attack, he said. Selling security Antivirus software sellers profit from virus scares. Sales of antivirus software jumped 67 percent in the week the Melissa virus hit, according to market research firm PC Data.

Network Associates' Wasson acknowledges the sales boost, but insists his company is out there to help people, pointing as evidence to the company's free, virus clinic detection services available over the Internet.

Network Associates' competitor TrendMicro offers a similar service. As more companies begin to become more wary of the risks posed by the Internet, Network Associates is offering more security consulting services. For example, the company hires itself out to find vulnerabilities in computer systems, Wasson said. In addition, the company is offering new software next month called CyberCop Sting that not only sets off alarms when there's a burglar, but also lets companies set up decoy systems to lure intruders and record information about them, Wasson said.

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Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. Email-Worms use a number of different sources to find email addresses to which infected emails will be sent:. Many Email-Worms use more than one of the sources listed above.

There are also other sources of email addresses, such as address books associated with web-based email services. Solutions for:. Unlike the in-depth articles in the Knowledge Base, every definition in the Glossary is succinct, while remaining highly informative. This section is currently under construction.

Find the latest advice in our Community. See the user guide for your product on the Help Center. Chat with or call an expert for help. An Email-Worm also known as a mass-mailer or less commonly, an Internet worm is a type of worm that distributes copies of itself in an infectious executable files attached to fake email messages. Some mass mailers randomly compose the subjects and bodies of the messages from words and phrases carried in the worm's own code; other worms use content found in randomly selected files in the infected computer to compose the message.

The name of the file attachment can be either random, or 'borrowed' from other files. Many worms send themselves as attachments with double extension, for example. Often, a recipient will only notice the first extension listed and will try to open such attachments thinking, that they are multimedia files. Email-worms normally use social engineering tactics to entice the user into opening and executing the email attachment.

As such, users can avoid infection by an email-worm by simply refusing to open any email file attachments without first verifying its safety with the email sender. In some cases however, an infected attachment may contain an exploit that allows the email worm to install and start automatically on the computer, without any user action. This is only possible if the email client contains certain vulnerabilities. Most worms nowadays include malicious routines e.

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