{"id":7689,"date":"2019-04-18T17:30:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T12:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/?p=7689"},"modified":"2025-06-13T17:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T11:51:20","slug":"worm-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antivirus.comodo.com\/blog\/computer-safety\/worm-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Worm Virus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A worm virus<\/strong> is a type of malware that clones itself throughout a network without any user interference. The modus operandi of Trojan horse<\/a> is like virus in causing damage to the system. It exploits the vulnerability found in outdated security software to successfully steal confidential data, corrupt applications, files and other programs. It also creates a backdoor to gain remote access to the infected system.<\/p>\n

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A worm uses large amount of computer memory. Therefore, the servers, networks and devices that are infected by worms gets overloaded and stop to respond. Unlike other viruses, worms operate all by themselves and don\u2019t require any host computer. The infection is transmitted through data transport features, email attachments, file-sharing networks, etc. Once worms get downloaded, they exploit the security weakness found in any of the outdated software on the device. In certain cases, worms use an attractive phishing element as a bait to trick users and run the malware code.<\/p>\n

How Worm Virus Work and Infect your Computers?<\/h2>\n

Worms are passed on to the targeted system through software vulnerabilities. Hackers send phishing emails or instant messages with malicious attachments. When the user opens the attachment or the link, it instantly downloads the malware (worm) into the system or gets directed to malicious website. By this way the worm finds its way to enter into the system without the user\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Worms can alter and remove files and can also infect the system with any other new malware on your computer. Some types of worms are created to occupy the entire system resources and therefore overloading the shared network. In addition to exhausting the system resources, the computer worm allows hackers to open a backdoor and enables them to take complete control over the system.<\/p>\n

How do you know that your computer is infected with worms?<\/h2>\n

If you suspect that your system is infected<\/p>\n