Huge Windows attack?

[kleeman]

Looks like tons of lucky people running Windows 2000 have been shutdown by a worm.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/16/computer.worm/index.html
Time for them to switch to a more secure alternative perhaps? Not that I'm gloating or anything perish the thought!! :) :) :) :) :)

[DJ_Max]

heh, the major reason for people using 2000 rather then XP, because many people, including me thought that 2000 was the best OS WIndows has put out.

[krusbjorn]

Well, lucky i didnt boot into Win2k today, then! ;)

[Kyral]

When I saw this on the news I just had to turn to my parents and go "If they had been running Linux...." \\:D/

[xequence]

When I saw this on the news I just had to turn to my parents and go "If they had been running Linux...." \\:D/

Hah, me too =P Except I said "That doesent happen on Linux" =P

[drizek]

Looks like tons of lucky people running Windows 2000 have been shutdown by a worm.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/16/computer.worm/index.html
Time for them to switch to a more secure alternative perhaps? Not that I'm gloating or anything perish the thought!! :) :) :) :) :)
ya, they need to upgrade to windows xp.

[N'Jal]

It said in the article that some XP system's were affected too. I totally purged window's in july no more MS for me. The last OS i bought was SkyOS and I'm damn sure that's not gona have any viruses for a while, in fact it might not have anything for a while, there is NO user documentation at all.

[Takis]

heh, the major reason for people using 2000 rather then XP, because many people, including me thought that 2000 was the best OS WIndows has put out.
I dunno...you ever used 2000 server? It's nice, very nice, but really, giving "Everybody" "Full Control" at the root of the C:\ was a really dumb idea.

[DJ_Max]

I dunno...you ever used 2000 server? It's nice, very nice, but really, giving "Everybody" "Full Control" at the root of the C:\ was a really dumb idea.
I didn't say it was good. ;-)

[pmj]

ya, they need to downgrade to windows xp.
I fixed the typo.

[Dragonfly_X]

ya, they need to upgrade to windows xp.

NO, they have to switch to Linux!!! :)

[drizek]

NO, they have to switch to Linux!!! :)
i know.

sarcasm...

[newbie2]

Looks like tons of lucky people running Windows 2000 have been shutdown by a worm.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/16/computer.worm/index.html
Time for them to switch to a more secure alternative perhaps? Not that I'm gloating or anything perish the thought!! :) :) :) :) :)

"Though Microsoft issued the patch last Tuesday, hackers worked faster than the tech teams at some companies, Dunham said. Companies may find that infected networks will take "days, if not weeks, to repair," he said.
"If you aren't patched, you're going to get hit pretty hard," he said.
The worm, if successfully installed on a computer, could be used by hackers to gain remote access to a compromised computer, he said.
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said the worm knocked out computers for two hours in the network's newsrooms on the East and West coasts.
"This was the first time I've seen writers at 'World News Tonight' banging away on electric typewriters," Schneider said."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601700.html
:razz: :razz: :razz:

[newbie2]

"Experts said that antivirus software alone is not enough to counteract such attacks.

"Nearly all businesses have antivirus and yet we keep seeing these outbreaks," said Paul King, a principal security consultant at Cisco Systems. "Businesses must enhance their existing security to protect themselves from new threats as antivirus signatures cannot be updated quickly enough to cope with the almost constant stream of new attacks."

He said companies need to have additional layers of defense that do not rely on signatures, such as host intrusion prevention software. He added that networks can be designed to block the infections and quarantine infected machines.

Others agreed that traditional antivirus products were useless against these network worms as they only worked at the application layer which is bypassed by worms such as Zotob.

"Organizations should look for products that detect and eliminate viruses at the network layer," said Peter Craig, product marketing manager at Trend Micro.

He said computers should be patched immediately and that users should install a personal firewall to guard against such attacks.

But those already affected will have problems in getting their machines back to full working order. "Antivirus software will have failed them because a machine that constantly restarts cannot be patched," said Craig.

http://www.scmagazine.com/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=newsDetails&newsUID=0b47d8d1-27c6-490d-b338-c351091b9482&newsType=Latest%20News

[Brunellus]

I noted this with cool detachment yesterday.

Our sysadmins here at work apparently were paying attention, and thus our Win2k network hasn't gone down. I didn't even spare half a thought worrying about my home network (two ubuntu boxes, two winXP boxes...three, if you count the winxp partition on one of the ubuntu pc's).

Time for Novell/Suse to make their move at the corporate hq's of the various afflicted corporations.

[Solomon]

Well... It's just another example of why I switched to Linux.

[KingBahamut]

Zotob and the Plug and Play Vulner.........Sorrowful as it might sound......there is not hope for Win2k to be happy this day methinks.

[phen]

i don't know... the cnn article sounds like this is a war or something. they have war rooms, emergency response center and all that stuff. it sounds so stupid.... does'NT the nytimes/US government have no sysadmins who are able to install updates??? or install a different operating system? i'm just sitting here, confused but smiling

i remember from the microsoft campaign "facts on linux": >>windows is the most secure operating system<< according to that ny times and the others have done anything they could...


to the world: wake up !

[Brunellus]

i don't know... the cnn article sounds like this is a war or something. they have war rooms, emergency response center and all that stuff. it sounds so stupid.... does'NT the nytimes/US government have no sysadmins who are able to install updates??? or install a different operating system? i'm just sitting here, confused but smiling

i remember from the microsoft campaign "facts on linux": >>windows is the most secure operating system<< according to that ny times and the others have done anything they could...


to the world: wake up !
windows XP is more secure, yes. but these guys were all running Windows 2000, which is old and soon to be abandonware. MS will wash its hands of this debacle, saying "those users should have stumped up the big bucks for the upgrade. you get the security you pay for!"

Meanwhile, Linux server admins and users everywhere shrug.

[MikeyXX]

So when Linux starts gaining the popularity of Windows, do we not think that worms will be created for Linux? It's only safe now because it's not in the limelight.

[drizek]

So when Linux starts gaining the popularity of Windows, do we not think that worms will be created for Linux? It's only safe now because it's not in the limelight.
thats not true

[kleeman]

So when Linux starts gaining the popularity of Windows, do we not think that worms will be created for Linux? It's only safe now because it's not in the limelight.
I think the main issue is to do with admin access. Usually a corporate Linux install will not allow superuser access to anyone but sysadmins. OTOH Winblows setups usually allow a whole slew of people admin rights. Bottom line Linux has a better security model. Selinux will make this even better.

[h4rdc0d3]

So when Linux starts gaining the popularity of Windows, do we not think that worms will be created for Linux? It's only safe now because it's not in the limelight.

The issue isn't limelight or popularity.

Windows' insecurities result naturally from the closed-source environment in which it's developed. The problem is exacerbated by Microsoft's slow and poor handling of known vulnerabilities.

Linux (and BSD) are more secure than Windows because of the foundational differences in the ideology, development and support found in the opensource community.

Yes, it's possible to create a worm (or another type of exploit) for Linux or some software commonly found on Linux. However, it could never be as successful as worms targeted at Windows thanks to Linux's (and the other opensource projects') diverse natures and reputations for full disclosure and patches in a number of hours vice months.

[TheDude]

It's only safe now because it's not in the limelight.

False. Windows by default does many things that are unsecure (run as root all the time to make many programs work anyone?). Apache is more secure than MS's competitor, despite apache being more popular.

[KingBahamut]

ActiveX = Microsoft's biggest **** up.

[nrayever]

heh, the major reason for people using 2000 rather then XP, because many people, including me thought that 2000 was the best OS WIndows has put out.

i agree with you, but some years ago i believed that win 3.11 for workgroups ruled!!! sometimes i missed it!! i really like that winbugs version.

but today i love my amd64 with kubuntu!!! :-P :-P

[newbie2]

Friday, 19 August 2005
Virus Shuts Down Customs Computer System
MIAMI -- Travelers arriving in the United States from abroad were stuck in long lines at airports nationwide when a virus shut down a U.S. Customs computer system for several hours, officials said.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the virus impacted computer systems at a number of airports Thursday night, including those in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Laredo, Texas.
http://www.rednova.com/news/technology/213284/virus_shuts_down_customs_computer_system/index.html
:roll:

[Stormy Eyes]

Well, lucky i didnt boot into Win2k today, then! ;)

Lucky for me that I keep up with the patches.