The tale of the weather worm

How humans behave when faced with a disaster, natural or man-made, can be exploited automatically by news-aware malicious software. We introduce weather worms, worms that can automatically identify abnormal events and their location, and target computers at that physical location. Such worms could be used to take advantage of poorlydefended computers in a disaster zone, and could amplify the effects of a physical attack. Defenses against weather worms require examination of policy and presentation of information on the Internet. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.4.6 [Operating Systems]: Security and Protection--invasive software; K.4.1 [Computers and Society]: Public Policy Issues--human safety; K.6.5 [Management of Computing and Information Systems]: Security and Protection--invasive software General Terms Security, Human Factors Keywords network security, worms, emergencies, disasters, geolocation, information policy

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: SAC
• Authors: Joe Szabo, John Aycock, Randal Acton, Jörg Denzinger
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Disasters, SAC 2008, Such Worms, Weather Worms