Virus Snarls Thousands of Computers and Slows Internet

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When will this stop…

wasnt aware of this virus....thanks for the warning.

When will computer owners begin to be proactive about these viruses? Microsoft and/or things like Norton Anti-Virus provide fixes and updattes to protect PCs.
So, if you don't protect your PC with avaiabl fixes, who's to blame?

And, these viruses will not stop; they will only become worse.

Knock on wood I cant ever thnk of a time I have been infected. Due to people openning thing that they dont know what they, are or who they are .

I get plenty of infected emails. I email with former co-workers. My former employee, a large metropolitan library, does not keep their virus protection current. Employees open the infected emails, etc. etc.
I get very tired of deleting these crap emails igh>.
And, it is so easy to avoid this problem

I mentioned the "Sasser" worm and the way it and other programs were developed to exploit the Microsoft security hole in a couple of threads. In the ATSNN thread there are external links to prevention measures and removal instructions:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...
Yessir, a new worm, W32.Sasser, was launched sometime early Saturday morning. As expected, it takes advantage of the LSASS buffer overflow for which exploit code was released earlier this week. We have not seen any examples of this worm hitting out networks yet, but have erred on the side of caution and blocked TCP ports 5554 and 9996 inbound and outbound on all the routers. I put an update on the ATSNN thread.

This worm is a real pain because many companies are slow to apply the software patches that can prevent it and the worm requires no user help, like opening an attachment, simply spreading machine-to-machine over the internet.

There's an even easier way to avoid the constant battle of maintaining
a "clean" poota. The G4 Mac range runs UNIX architecture and are
far more secure. And by the time you add up the cost of 3rd party
firewall and anti-virus the cost of a PC vs Mac is negligible.
Please excuse me while I put on my welders mask, in preparation
for a flaming by hardcore M/S users.
Sanctum aka MacSanctum.

[Edited on 4-5-2004 by sanctum]

It hit basicly every Pfizer and Pharmacia computer in North America over the weekend. My computer kept rebooting every 15 minutes which means that I actually had to do some work.

LOL Jonna, it hit 800 branches of a major Oz bank too. Completely
offline for about 24 hrs.
S.

Why can't these corporations keep their computer #e together????
Even banks...I don't get it.
I know they have large networks to protect, but an ounce of protection would be worth a ton of corrections.

[Edited on 4-5-2004 by DontTreadOnMe]

i updated my comp like a mouth before this exploit was released so why cant the others it took me 30 secs. anyways these worms are prolly a diversion for attacks on other structures, money wiring so forth, these are more like fireworks to keep peoples eyes off the ground IMO.

I was going to make a post about this about 5 hours ago but, i ran a search and found that a member had allready updated some of the news threads to contain information about it... I think the member was called 'Spectre'...so i thought well he/she has allready mentioned it, and that it probably doesnt deserve another thread..

Oh well...

Oh # there you are...lol

My school currently has the virus. My computer class computers are fine, but every other computer in the school is all messed up.

Well, I got Microsoft because it is what I know, and I apply the patches as they are issued. So, that is not an excuse for corporations.
Your Mac may be better. It is odd Windows has soooo many flaws!

Howdy Trance. Your diversion theory is well thought out. I have
thought for yrs that the anti-virus corp's are in cahoots with
microsoft. You release dodgy software and then 'sponsor' anti-virus
co's to guard against threats and create a self generating loop of
extra cash flow... each co piggybacks the other through sales of
3rd party security software.
S.

One didn't / doesn't have to open anything to get this virus...

My company got it yesterday. came in at 8am and at noon, the fix was not available to us yet... so the boss said " take the afternoon off".... didn't have to tell me twice, I was out the door and enjoyed an afternoon of golf.

Some previously asked in this thread, when will this stop ?
It won't stop, there will always be someone who wants to learn new technology to "hurt" others by using it against them.

I work for an ISP and yeserday the Sasser Worm slowed our dialup network to a crawl it took a good part of the morning before things stabilized

yup most the pc in my school were infected 2day, but my pc alrite, i guess u jus need 2 update regularly..... i herd its gonna linger for years... hmm...