Design and Implementation of a Lab Worm

ISBN 555555555/$10.00  2004 IEEE Abstract – Malicious worms have presented a formidable threat to the security community in recent years. Beginners to internet security research require an understanding of the inner workings of worms. A simple research worm designed to run on a test network facilitates this understanding. This worm is also useful to researchers needing see how a typical worm will affect systems. This paper explains the design and implementation of a simple research worm. A discussion of worm structure is provided. Design decisions made in creating our research worm are then given with an emphasis on how they relate to real internet worms. Relevant information from the construction process provides context to the reader. The worm described herein is run on a safe isolated network at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Students in a network security course study it to see worm behavior firsthand and to gauge the effectiveness of different tools at combating worms. This research worm does not attack a real network service, thus it is harmless if ever run on a network connected to the Internet.