What are viruses and worms?

12th February 2025

One worm caused estimated losses of $4 billion* – are you protected?

When you think of worms and viruses you may think of infection and sickness. In this case though, it isn’t a person catching a ‘bug,’ but a computer.

Viruses can corrupt data, steal information or disrupt system operations. Attaching themselves to legitimate files or programs, they only activate when someone manually opens or clicks. As they are embedded in other files, viruses easily avoid defensive measures.

Worms find vulnerabilities in security systems and spread independently, without manual activation. They consume bandwidth, overload systems and deliver payloads that may include other types of malware.

One example of the destructive power of these worms was the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack. The worm spread to 200,000 computers in over 150 countries, causing chaos to important companies and services.*

How do you avoid getting a virus or worm? If we were talking about keeping people healthy, I might recommend a good diet, exercise, and isolating from people who are infected: I’d recommend your computer the same.

Think of you emails as the food your computer takes in – like us they should avoid junk! Any suspicious emails from sources you don’t recognise shouldn’t be opened as they may contain malware.

Exercise can help keep our bodies feeling strong: for computers, the equivalent is up-to-date software. By running (see what I did there) the latest version of your software or antivirus program, you stand the best chance of avoiding bugs.

Additionally, you’re more likely to catch a cold while in crowded places, like busy trains: in the same way, you should avoid public Wi-Fi as those networks aren’t always secure.

You should also use a firewall to block unauthorised access, two-factor authentication to secure passwords and backup data regularly.

I hope you found this useful – if you have any other questions, please contact us HERE.

*https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/security/ransomware/wannacry-ransomware/