Worm

Updated: 07/31/2022 by Computer Hope

A worm may refer to any of the following:

Computer worm

1. First developed by John Shoch and Jon Hupp at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) in 1978, a worm is a destructive self-replicating program containing code capable of gaining access to computers or networks. Once in the computer or network, the worm causes harm by deleting, modifying, distributing, or otherwise manipulating data.

Note

A worm may sometimes be called a worm virus.

Who created the first computer worm?

Robert T. Morris later developed the Morris Worm in 1988, which became the first Internet worm.

What's the difference between a worm and a virus?

A worm self-replicates and executes without any initial interaction from a user, whereas a virus requires a user to perform an action (e.g., opening an infected file or installing a program).

Can a worm be destructive?

Yes. Like a virus, a worm can be designed to be destructive and may even be designed to look for a specific target.

2. Short for write once read many, WORM is a CD (compact disc) technology introduced by Philips and Sony in 1988. Using this technology, a CD is written to only once, but then may read multiple times. See CD-R (compact disc recordable) for additional information about this technology.

3. Worms is a franchise of games developed by the Team 17 company.

CD terms, Computer acronyms, Computer security, Computer slang, Malware, Security terms, Stealth virus, Storage, Stuxnet, Trojan Horse, Virus