Information attack is a form of digital terrorism that focuses on the destruction and alteration of content within a system. This type of attack may corrupt or lead to temporary information loss despite the physical and virtual systems remaining preserved (HSM 438 Chapter 2, n.d). Various forms of information attack are likely to have grave economic damages and loss. Cyberplagues entailing viruses and worms is one of the major types of information attack that poses the greatest threat to the United States and its citizens.
Viruses and worms are malicious computer programs that can duplicate themselves, leading to risk in the information systems. Viruses and worms are a more significant threat to the US and its citizens since they can remove crucial files from a hard drive (HSM 438 Chapter 2, n.d.). Typically, a virus attaches itself to program codes or booting systems and runs when a user takes action on the program. The virus then performs a set of functions that range from taking control of the host computer to wiping files from the computer ( Iliev et al., 2019) . One example of such a case is the spread of the “ILOVEYOU” virus, where Web development and multimedia files were affected. The virus affected millions of US citizens who opened an email labeled “Love Letter.” These led to massive losses amounting to a billion dollars. Worms also have the same effects as viruses, but the difference is that they replicate themselves faster and transfer their code to other targets ( Rajesh, 2019) . In essence, worms are capable of affecting tens of thousands of computer users within a few hours. An example of a worm attack is the “Code Red” worm that targeted the White House in 2001.
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In summary, viruses and worms are a more significant threat to the United States and its citizens. The attack can cost the country billions of dollars, which is deteriorating to the economy. Thus, efforts to mitigate the attack should be considered.
References
HSM 438 Chapter 2 Digital Terrorism. Doc.
Iliev, A., Kyurkchiev, N., Rahnev, A., & Terzieva, T. (2019). Some models in the theory of computer viruses propagation . LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Rajesh, B., Reddy, Y. J., & Reddy, B. D. K. (2015). A survey paper on malicous computer worms. International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Technology , 3 (2), 161-167.
