Microsoft Pulls Blaster's Teeth

Frozzy · August 15, 2003, 22:58

http://www.wired.com/news/infostruct...0060%2C00.html

Quote:

SEATTLE -- Microsoft may write flawed software, but it can take solace in the fact that the author of the Blaster worm also makes mistakes.

And that error may be Microsoft's biggest weapon in fending off part two of the Internet attack that started Friday and is expected to continue into Saturday. The worm, which so far has infected more than 350,000 computers around the world, now aims to bring down Microsoft's website for software patches by flooding it with traffic.

[...]

But there's a flaw. The worm instructed computers to call up http://windowsupdate.com -- which is an incorrect address for reaching the actual Microsoft website that houses the software patch. Although Microsoft long has redirected those who visited that incorrect address to the real site -- http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com -- the company disabled the automatic redirection Thursday in preparation for the onslaught of infected computers.

Microsoft also has added capacity to handle an increase in traffic, said Steve Lipner, director of security engineering strategy at Microsoft.

"We've taken a number of steps which should be pretty effective" at stemming the attack, he said.

Microsoft's real website should still be accessible to users, said Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall. However, those who don't know the correct address may be confused and believe that the so-called denial-of-service attack worked. The company is taking other measures to keep its site up and running, Sundwall said, although he declined to give specifics.

"Microsoft has pulled Blaster's teeth," said Lloyd Taylor, vice president of Web performance monitoring firm Keynote Systems, noting that nothing much had happened as midnight passed in Asia. "We do not expect to see any impact on the Internet infrastructure" from the worm's denial-of-service attack, he said.

Hooray for Microsoft! This is good news for those who still haven't downloaded the patch.

St Leo · August 15, 2003, 23:23

Ha ha. Microsoft ran with its tail between its legs instead of weathering the storm.:P

Poogas · August 15, 2003, 23:26

Just curious about your analagy st leo... Not trying to start a fight, but i'm seriously wondering... How did it run with its tail between its legs?

Caligastia · August 15, 2003, 23:36

The blackouts probably helped reduce the spread of the worm too.

Always look on the bright side.

alva · August 15, 2003, 23:41

So where can we get a patch for the worm?

St Leo · August 15, 2003, 23:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Poogas
Just curious about your analagy st leo... Not trying to start a fight, but i'm seriously wondering... How did it run with its tail between its legs?

It's hand was forced. It did not conduct itself in the business as usual manner. It was forced to change its long term plans.

DinoDoc · August 15, 2003, 23:57

Quote:

Originally posted by St Leo
It's hand was forced. It did not conduct itself in the business as usual manner. It was forced to change its long term plans.

So according to you they should just bend over and take it rather than take steps to mitigate the damage the worm would cause them.

Sava · August 16, 2003, 01:25

My computer doesn't work.

Asher · August 16, 2003, 02:23

St Leo...

Man, the *nix trolls are getting more and more pathetic these days. Desperation sets in...

Fve Crathva · August 16, 2003, 07:52

It's not really surprising, given the level of ignorance displayed by the guy's message to Bill Gates.

SP

Urban Ranger · August 16, 2003, 07:55

How hard is it to fix the address and send out a new variant?

Urban Ranger · August 16, 2003, 07:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Asher
St Leo...

Man, the *nix trolls are getting more and more pathetic these days. Desperation sets in...

"Trustworthy Computing," eh?

Asher · August 16, 2003, 13:34

UR, the code is old BSD code that's affected, not MS'.

Every time a security vulnerability comes out for a MS product, you giggle a highpitched squeal and say in a nasal voice something along the lines of "What happened to trustworthy computing?"

Surely you're not this dumb. An initiative to make software more secure and provide more privacy does not instantly make all security vulnerabilities go away, especially when the code affected is ancient BSD code that we all know is supposed to be secure anyway.