Categorizing malware

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Categorizing malware

Categorizing malware

I am trying to categorize viruses by their different types and the platforms they affect. For example, I have categorized some viruses by either worm or Trojan horse, but I do not know what the difference is between the two in terms of what platform types they can affect. Could you supply any information on what the distinction is?

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To fully understand the world of "malicious threat," you must first understand the following definitions. I recommend going to the Symantec glossary at http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/refa.html to look up the following terms.

Blended Threat
Hoax
Joke
Trojan Horse
Virus
Macro virus
Polymorphic Virus
Retrovirus
Worm
Variants

For more information on this topic, visit these other SearchSecurity.com resources:

Ask the Expert: What is malware?

Ask the Expert: The difference between a virus and a worm

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This was first published in February 2003

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