By Julian Goldsmith, 15 August 2001 12:40
NEWS The Code Red II variant worm has infected the Hong Kong government's computer system, causing the shut down of its internal IP network. Government engineers are fighting to have the system up by the end of the day. A spokeswoman from the information technology services department told Reuters: "The first signs of infection appeared shortly after 18:00 local time on Monday and access to the intranet was suspended soon afterwards." The Code Red II version makes use of a vulnerability in Microsoft's IIS web server running Windows 2000 and NT and slows down systems as it propagates itself, just like its predecessor. However, version II also leaves a back door in the systems it invades, exposing them to further hack attacks. Even though Microsoft has a patch freely available for the IIS vulnerability, Code Red has managed to infect systems across the world. Earlier this month at least 200 servers were downed in Japan and around 180 servers were infected by the variant in China. Only days later servers in South Korea were hit a Code Red vIII. However, the numbers involved in all these cases were minimal compared to the effects of the original.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below