write-once read-many

(From "Tapeworm" in John Brunner's novel "The Shockwave Rider", via xerox parc) A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare virus. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that only crackers write worms.

Perhaps the best-known example was the great worm.

Compare trojan horse.

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