Scientists develop code to combat 'Code Red' worms

Tuesday, 02 February 2010, 23:51 IST   |    19 Comments
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Scientists develop code to combat 'Code Red' worms
Bangalore: Researchers at Penn State College in the U.S. have developed a new code to contain 'stealthiest' of self-propagating worms that cause damage to millions of computers around the globe. The new algorithm that targets these worms, contain them before an outbreak can occur, said Computers and Security journal. The computer worms, also known as infectious computer programmes, are malicious programmes which after being released can spread throughout networks without human control, stealing or erasing hard drive data, interfering with pre-installed programmes and slowing, even crashing, home and work computers, reports PTI. "In 2001 the 'Code Red' worms caused $2 billion worth of damage worldwide. Our algorithm can prevent a worm's propagation early in its propagation stage," said Lead Researcher Yoon-Ho Choi. Choi claims that new algorithm defends against the spread of local scanning worms that search for hosts in 'local' spaces within networks or sub-networks. This strategy allows them access to hosts that are clustered, which means once they infect one host, the rest can be infected quickly. There are many types of scanning worms, but Choi calls these worms the stealthiest because they are the most efficient and can evade even the best worm defences.

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