A worm is a sophisticated type of malware, designed to self-replicate and move through a network once activated. In doing so a worm can quietly infect multiple areas of a network, without any further activation or user interaction.
How do worms spread?
Worms can initially infect a system through any method of information/file sharing, including:
- Email attachments
- Text messages
- Instant messaging
- File-sharing programs
- Pen drives/external hard drives
Once inside a system a worm will replicate and move to other uninfected areas of the network to cause further damage.
What is the risk to my organisation?
At a minimum, worms will cause problems in a network simply by consuming bandwidth as they replicate. However they can also deliver malicious payloads to do additional damage:
- Open backdoors
- Steal data
- Delete or encrypt files
How can I protect my organisation from worms?
- It is important that all staff are aware of, and trained on, social engineering attacks and how to avoid them in order to prevent an attacker gaining initial entry.
- Ensure that anti-malware software is installed and well configured.
- Make sure all software is updated regularly to keep on top of vital security patches.
- Engage with experts to plug any holes in your defenses, and also gain assurance. Mitigo is a cybersecurity company so we could help with this.
