Netsky (computer worm)
Encyclopedia
Netsky is a prolific family of computer worm
s. The first variant appeared on Monday, February 16, 2004. The "B" variant was the first family member to find its way into mass distribution. It appeared on Wednesday, February 18, 2004. 18-year-old Sven Jaschan
of Germany
confessed to having written these, and other worms, such as Sasser
.
Although individual functions vary widely from virus to virus, the Netsky family perhaps is most famous for comments contained within the code of its variants insulting the authors of the Bagle
and Mydoom worm families and, in some cases, routines that removed versions of these viruses. The "war" as it was referred to in the media caused a steady increase in the number of variant viruses produced in these families. As of June 2004, Bagle had approximately 28, Netsky approximately 29, and MyDoom approximately 10.
Other symptoms of Netsky included beeping sounds on specified dates, usually in the morning hours.
The worm was sent out as an e-mail
, enticing recipients to open an attachment. Once opened, the attached program would scan the computer for e-mail addresses and e-mail itself to all addresses found.
Until October 2006, the P variant of this virus remained the most prevalent virus being sent in e-mail throughout the world, despite being over two and a half years old. It was surpassed by a variant from the Stration
malware family in November 2006.
Computer worm
A computer worm is a self-replicating malware computer program, which uses a computer network to send copies of itself to other nodes and it may do so without any user intervention. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach...
s. The first variant appeared on Monday, February 16, 2004. The "B" variant was the first family member to find its way into mass distribution. It appeared on Wednesday, February 18, 2004. 18-year-old Sven Jaschan
Sven Jaschan
Sven Jaschan is the self-confessed author of the NetSky worms, and Sasser computer worms.- History :Jaschan lived in the village of Waffensen, Germany and attended a computer science school in nearby Rotenburg....
of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
confessed to having written these, and other worms, such as Sasser
Sasser (computer worm)
Sasser is a computer worm that affects computers running vulnerable versions of the Microsoft operating systems Windows XP and Windows 2000. Sasser spreads by exploiting the system through a vulnerable network port...
.
Although individual functions vary widely from virus to virus, the Netsky family perhaps is most famous for comments contained within the code of its variants insulting the authors of the Bagle
Bagle (computer worm)
Bagle is a mass-mailing computer worm affecting all versions of Microsoft Windows. The first strain, Bagle.A, did not propagate widely. A second variant, Bagle.B, is considerably more virulent....
and Mydoom worm families and, in some cases, routines that removed versions of these viruses. The "war" as it was referred to in the media caused a steady increase in the number of variant viruses produced in these families. As of June 2004, Bagle had approximately 28, Netsky approximately 29, and MyDoom approximately 10.
Other symptoms of Netsky included beeping sounds on specified dates, usually in the morning hours.
The worm was sent out as an e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, enticing recipients to open an attachment. Once opened, the attached program would scan the computer for e-mail addresses and e-mail itself to all addresses found.
Until October 2006, the P variant of this virus remained the most prevalent virus being sent in e-mail throughout the world, despite being over two and a half years old. It was surpassed by a variant from the Stration
Stration
Stration from the computer virus, can be described as something that starts small and grows pretty fast. It comes from a family of computer worms that can affect computers running Microsoft Windows, disabling security features and propagating itself to other computers via e-mail attachments...
malware family in November 2006.
See also
- Timeline of notable computer viruses and wormsTimeline of notable computer viruses and wormsThis is a timeline of noteworthy computer viruses, worms and Trojan horses.- 1966 :* The work of John von Neumann on the "Theory of self-reproducing automata" is published...
- Computer virusComputer virusA computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
- Computer worms
- Sasser (computer worm)Sasser (computer worm)Sasser is a computer worm that affects computers running vulnerable versions of the Microsoft operating systems Windows XP and Windows 2000. Sasser spreads by exploiting the system through a vulnerable network port...