1. The Future of Internet Worms
Jose Nazario, with Jeremy Anderson, Rick Wash and Chris Connelly
July 20, 2001
Crimelabs research
http://www.crimelabs.net/
{jose,jeremy,rwash,devzero}@crimelabs.net
Abstract
Network worms, simple slang terminology for automated intrusion agents, represent a persis-
tent threat to a growing Internet in an increasingly networked world. However, their evolution
has been somewhat limited, and they still rely on the same basic paradigms, which contain
fundamental flaws. We analyze the basic components of a worm and apply this analysis to three
worms found in the wild on the Internet. We then proceed to analyze the limiting factors of
existing worm paradigms and outline new ideas which we expect to become prevalent. These
new worms wil