Editing Warhol worm

{{Short description|Computer worm}}
A '''Warhol worm''' is a [[computer worm]] that spreads as fast as physically possible, infecting all vulnerable machines on the entire [[Internet]] in 15 minutes or less. The term is based on the claim that "[[15 minutes of fame|in the future, everyone will have 15 minutes of fame]]", which has been misattributed to [[Andy Warhol]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-01-13 |title=What is a Warhol Worm? |url=https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/warhol-worm |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=Kaspersky |language=en}}</ref>  A 2002 paper presented at the 11th [[USENIX]] Security Symposium proposed designs for better worms, such as a "flash worm" that identifies a hit-list of vulnerable targets before attacking.<ref>{{Cite conference |last=Staniford |first=Stuart |last2=Paxton |first2=Vern |last3=Weaver |first3=Nicholas |date=2002 |title=How to 0wn the Internet in Your Spare Time |url=http://www.icir.org/vern/papers/cdc-usenix-sec02/ |conference=Proceedings of the 11th USENIX Security Symposium (Security '02)}}</ref>

In 2003, [[SQL Slammer]] became the first observed example of a Warhol worm. The mechanism of SQL Slammer's spread used a [[pseudo-random number generator]] seeded from a system variable to determine which [[IP address]]es to attack next for a rapid, unpredictable spread.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Broersma |first=Matthew |date=Feb 4, 2003 |title=Slammer--the first 'Warhol' worm? |url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/slammer-the-first-warhol-worm/ |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=[[CNET]] |language=en}}</ref>

According to an analysis of the SQL Slammer outbreak by the [[San Diego Supercomputer Center|Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA)]], its growth followed an [[exponential growth|exponential curve]] with a doubling time of 8.5 seconds in the early phases of the attack, which was only slowed by the collapse of many networks because of the [[Denial-of-service attack|denial of service attack]] caused by SQL Slammer's traffic. 90% of all vulnerable machines were infected within 10 minutes, showing that the original estimate for infection speed was roughly correct.<ref>{{Cite web |date=Feb 4, 2003 |title=Slammer: 'Warhol worm' was famous for 15 minutes |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/slammer-warhol-worm-was-famous-for-15-minutes/ |access-date=2023-01-10 |website=[[ZDNet]] |language=en}}</ref>

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[[Category:Computer worms]]