Unstructured threats often involve unfocused assaults on one or more network systems, often by individuals with limited or developing skills. The systems being attacked and infected are probably unknown to the perpetrator. These attacks are often the result of people with limited integrity and too much time on their hands. Malicious intent might or might not exist, but there is always indifference to the resulting damage caused to others.

The Internet has many sites where the curious can select program codes, such as a virus, worm, or Trojan horse, often with instructions that can be modified or redistributed as is. In all cases, these items are small programs written by a human being. They aren’t alive and they can’t evolve spontaneously from nothing. Some common terms to be aware of include the following:

Virus	A program capable of replicating with little or no user intervention, and the replicated programs also replicate.
Worm	A form of virus that spreads by creating duplicates of itself on other drives, systems, or networks. A worm working with an e-mail system can mail copies of itself to every address in the e-mail system address book. Code Red and Nimda are examples of high-profile worms that have caused significant damage in recent years.
Trojan horse	An apparently useful or amusing program, possibly a game or screensaver, but in the background it could be performing other tasks, such as deleting or changing data, or capturing passwords or keystrokes. A true Trojan horse isn’t technically a virus because it doesn’t replicate itself.

The person launching an unstructured attack is often referred to as a script kiddy because that person often lacks the skills to develop the threat themselves, but can pass it on anonymously (they think) and gain some perverse sense of satisfaction from the result. E-mail delivery methods have replaced “shared” game disks as the vehicle of choice for distributing this type of attack.

Note

The term “script kiddy” is a common derogatory term and should be used with caution, if at all. Script kiddy is included here so you know what it means. Remember, the difference between an unstructured attack and a series of all-out denial-of-service attacks might be that the latter attacker is offended or angry.

Unstructured attacks involving code that reproduces itself and mails a copy to everyone in the person’s e-mail address book can easily circle the globe in a few hours, causing problems for networks and individuals all over the world. While the original intent might have been more thoughtless than malicious, the result can be a loss of user access while systems are being protected, a loss of reputation if the news that a company’s site has been attacked, or a loss of user freedoms as more-restrictive policies and practices are implemented to defend against additional attacks.

In some organizations, if the network is down, entire groups of people can’t do their jobs, so they’re either sent home or they sit and wait without pay because their income is tied to sales. So even if the hacker “thought” no one would be hurt, the result is often that they just beat some single parent or new hire out of a day’s pay.

Each of these results can be quantified in currency and often result in large numbers if and when the perpetrator is prosecuted.