Sasser worm virus12/31/2022 "People are beginning to realize that there are a lot of vulnerabilities out there and they need to take a more proactive rather than a reactive approach." "The people doing these attacks are getting much better at it," says Steven Solomon, chief executive officer of Citadel Security Software. More disturbing, say security experts, is that the rapid spread of Sasser proves virus writers are getting better at developing such malicious software - and at a much faster pace. ![]() Sasser is reported to have infected computers of England's Coast Guard, German banks, and even here at ABCNEWS. "So they're less likely to have antivirus software or keep up to date on patches."īut that's not to say that major corporate networks got off scot-free. "General public aren't aware of these threats," says Hale. Some security experts estimate that as much as 80 percent of the infected computers in the United States belonged to home users with those fast, always-on Internet connections. "But the real target for this worm is the home user with a broadband connection." Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) which is now part of the U.S. "Major companies and government agencies for the most part have corporate antivirus systems and firewalls, so they tend to be protected from this type of attack," says Lawrence Hale, deputy director of the U.S. "Just a slow down of Internet traffic or your PC as it tries to infect other PCs," he says.Īnother point of differentiation: Sasser hit home users and universities the hardest. For one, Sasser caused no permanent damage on infected computers, says Gullotto. ![]() "It's a pure Internet worm similar to others that we saw like Blaster and Slammer worms and even a couple of years ago like Code Red."īut Gullotto notes that there are noticeable differences from those other worms. "This is one of the very few that doesn't require mass to move," says anti-virus expert Vincent Gullotto, vice president of Network Associates' McAfee Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team. The rapid online infection occurred in part because unlike typical computer viruses, worms such Sasser spread automatically - no user interaction or infected e-mail required. Since its discovery on April 30, Sasser is believed to have infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. And even though Microsoft released a patch, or fix, for the defect on April 13, Sasser spread quickly. The worm took advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Windows software first discovered in October. That's because a fast spreading worm called "Sasser" has been winding its way around the global computer network. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.Tooling around the Internet may have been a little slow for you this week. Nancy Anderson, Microsoft’s vice president and deputy general counsel, said the company was not disappointed that Jaschan won’t go to prison. Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., had faced a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.įollowing the conviction Friday, Microsoft said two people who had helped identify Jaschan would share a $250,000 reward, the first bounty to be paid under its $5 million reward program. Virus writers have received sentences reduced before because of their age, though an American teenager who created a version of the 2003 “Blaster” worm was sentenced to 18 months in prison. “In many ways, Sven Jaschan was lucky that the police caught him when they did.” “Sven Jaschan avoided a jail sentence by the skin of his teeth because he was arrested within days of his 18th birthday,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for anti-virus vendor Sophos PLC. But, because he was a minor when arrested, prosecutors had only sought a two-year suspended sentence. Jaschan could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison.
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