Great Worms I Have Known

CS 493/693 Lecture, Dr. Lawlor, 2006/04/12

1987
    The "Great Internet Worm".  Spread via a buffer overflow in Finger, a known hole in sendmail, rsh, and password cracking.  The first modern worm, and arguably the best. 

1994
    The Good Times Virus.  Actually infects *human beings*, not computers--the warning about the (nonexistent) "Good Times Virus" was itself the virus.  This is essentially just a chain letter, but it spread because it made people feel like spreading the virus made the net more secure.  There was a big backlash against this virus, and many major news outlets and knowledgeable people announced "No virus can spread via email", which was absolutely true at the time.

2000
  
Romeo and Juliet, the first(?) of many email viruses.  Most email viruses require human interaction to spread, but the degree of user stupidity required varies greatly--the most blatant are just an .exe that users must explicitly run; the most insidious just have to be previewed (or received) to spread.  Microsoft Outlook is massively disproportionately represented among email viruses; this is partly responsible for Microsoft's terrible reputation for security.

The initial (unlimited phase) of net worm propagation can be analyzed via the same simple exponential growth pattern as biological viruses and bacteria and the chain reaction of nuclear fission.