Malicous Mobile Code Experiments

The automated spread of worms such as Code-Red,
SQL/Slammer and Nimda have caused costly problems to
computers connected to the Internet. Even users whose
machines were not vulnerable to these threats
suffered a loss of productivity and experienced great
frustration as connectivity and network traffic were
negatively impacted during outbreaks. Although the
number of new worm attacks reported in the media
seems to be declining, it is vital that researchers
study the effects of malicious code on the global
network to understand how to defend against future
threats. The choice of system for studying the spread
of worms and viruses in this work was Hephaestus, a
discrete-event network simulator, developed during
the course of the author''s dissertation. The book
reports the results of several experiments on
self-replicating malicious computer code including
the validation of the simulator through a study of
the spread of Code-Red, efficiently defending against
email-based worms and distributing policy information
in an enterprise network as well as a theoretical
insight concerning spread metrics and how the damage
caused by malicious code should be measured.

Autorentext
has recently finished his PhD in Computer Science at Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida. His professional interests include network simulations, software development, computer security and programming languages. In his free time he likes to enjoy nature with his wife, whom he met at FIT.

Klappentext
The automated spread of worms such as Code-Red, SQL/Slammer and Nimda have caused costly problems to computers connected to the Internet. Even users whose machines were not vulnerable to these threats suffered a loss of productivity and experienced great frustration as connectivity and network traffic were negatively impacted during outbreaks. Although the number of new worm attacks reported in the media seems to be declining, it is vital that researchers study the effects of malicious code on the global network to understand how to defend against future threats. The choice of system for studying the spread of worms and viruses in this work was Hephaestus, a discrete-event network simulator, developed during the course of the author's dissertation. The book reports the results of several experiments on self-replicating malicious computer code-including the validation of the simulator through a study of the spread of Code-Red, efficiently defending against email-based worms and distributing policy information in an enterprise network-as well as a theoretical insight concerning spread metrics and how the damage caused by malicious code should be measured.