That Darn Worm

[Kiyotie]

Friday, August 15, 2003 Posted: 11:35 AM EDT (1535 GMT)



LONDON, England (CNN) -- Microsoft has defended its handling of the "Blaster" crisis and says it expects to defeat an attack on its Web site.



Hundreds of thousands of users worldwide have been hit by the worm which shuts down Internet browsers. Now it is programmed to attack Microsoft's Web site.



Having lodged into computers, the worm, called "MSBlaster" or "LoveSAN," deposits a program called a trojan onto the computer's hard disc.



On Saturday, that program is due to send data to windowsupdate.microsoft.com, the site Microsoft uses for updates of its Windows operating system that runs most of the world's computers.



The hackers who unleashed the worm hope to knock Microsoft's site offline.



Stuart Okin, chief security strategist for Microsoft UK, said he expected the attack to fail, but added: "We have contingency plans in place to make sure we can keep up and running if there's an issue."



The worm took advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's security to cause disruption in homes and offices this week.



"We knew this was an issue about a month ago," Okin told CNN. "We discovered the vulnerability. We knew it was only a matter of time before someone came out with a worm or virus."



Okin said a patch that can be downloaded to stop the worm was developed in time and many customers used it. Some had their anti-virus software updated automatically.



But many thousands of other customers did not know of the danger or how to stop it until it was too late.



"You do your best to get the communication out there and wave the flag," said Okin.



He said 40 million users had downloaded the patch over the last two weeks and urged others to do the same via the updates site -- the same one the hackers want to bring down.



The FBI is investigating the source of the worm, but the culprit is not known.



According to security firm TrendMicro, the worm's text includes the message: "I just want to say LOVE YOU SAN!! Billy Gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software!!"





Courtesy of http://www.cnn.com

[Emily]

I downloaded the patch last week.



I'm good.

[four]

I have a good firewall blocking the ports that it would come in on, so I am alright anyways.

[stoplooking]

We had that. We had to blank the computer and reinstall windows and all that crap. But its gone now. We got some hella good virus stuff.

[Teardrop]

If people actually installed the patch when it came out over a month ago, nobody would have had this problem.

[four]

Originally posted by Teardrop@Aug 20 2003, 11:28 AM

If people actually installed the patch when it came out over a month ago, nobody would have had this problem.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You make me laugh. Alot. How many people actually do that? I know I do not. I still have not installed it.

[Teardrop]

The people who did wouldn't have been affected by the worm. Ergo, these people are sensible. What's so funny? The majority of PC users are retards who wouldn't even know how to patch their machine, let alone consider doing it.

[The Brillo Pad of Agony]

Originally posted by four@Aug 21 2003, 12:01 AM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You make me laugh. Alot. How many people actually do that? I know I do not. I still have not installed it.

I do it. This computer cost me a lot of money, I'd like it functioning for as long as possible, ideally.

[four]

I threw this one together for a couple bucks, but she is my baby. I could reformat the whole hard drive and have it back to what I want in about 2 hours though, could rebuild the whole thing in a few hours if need be... No biggie if it gets messed up a little.

[Teardrop]

So could any competent PC user. What's the point in risking having to reformat over downloading a small patch and installing it?

[four]

Temporary laziness? Gambling?

[Teardrop]

gr8 m8