Heard of the tearm and know what it is, how would I prevent it, or learn how to do it, so I can figure out how to prevent it? The best way to prevent something is to learn how to do it yourself.
Really? Do you write your own viruses and spyware too, or do you just slap some protection software on there. The argument that one must learn how to do something to prevent it is just regurgitated dogma.

- Let's go fight a war so we can learn how to prevent it.
- Let's screw the prom queen so we can learn how to prevent teen sex.
- Shoot heroin in my arm so I can learn how to stop drug abuse.

Most software already prevents it for you, and those that don't are patched so they do, until someone figures out how to circumvent it, then the software needs to be updated again, and round and round we go. If you want to learn how to prevent it, then understand where the flaws lie in the applications, and how they are exploited. Understand the motivation of skiddies and malicious coders.

If you want to study how they work in order to recognize the behaviors, then that is another story all together. Those skills are useful in Incident Response or Computer Forensics. If you want to study how it can be done in order to be able to conduct effective pen testing or vulnerability assessment, than that too is another matter. Understanding how something works is not the same as learning how to do it.

Better yet, learn about an OS, any OS, TCP/IP, read any of the RFC's. If you understand those things, then there is no real need to know how to facilitate an attack. If you understand, then you will be able to prevent those things.

Now you'll have to excuse me. I'm on a mission to prevent alcoholism, so I am going to get s**t-faced.