Sasser Worm Creates Havoc"> Sasser Worm Creates Havoc

Devastating Worm Du Jour Dept.: Another internet worm is causing widespread problems across the globe. Introducing, Sasser. According to The Register, “Since its arrival on Saturday, Sasser has spawned three new versions. None spread by email. Each targets vulnerable Win 2000 and XP PCs.

“When launched, the worm registers itself in the system registry and begins to aggressively scan IP addresses for PCs which have the vulnerability described in MS04-011. A vulnerable computer will accept commands to download and launch copies of the worm. Downloading is carried out by the FTP protocol. As with Blaster, infected systems will often become unstable, but it’s the aggressive scanning behaviour associated with the worm that’s causing the most problems.”