] The Witty worm: A new chapter in malware ] ] Opinion by Bruce Schneier, Counterpane Internet Security ] Inc. ] ] JUNE 02, 2004 (COMPUTERWORLD) - If press coverage is any ] guide, then the Witty worm wasn't all that successful. ] ] But Witty was a big deal. It represented some ] scary malware firsts and is likely a harbinger of worms ] to come. IT professionals need to understand Witty and ] what it did. ] ] Witty was the first worm to target a particular set of ] security products -- in this case Internet Security ] System's BlackICE and RealSecure. It infected and ] destroyed only computers that had particular versions of ] this software running. ] ] Witty was wildly successful. Twelve thousand machines was ] the entire vulnerable and exposed population, and Witty ] infected them all -- worldwide -- in 45 minutes. The Witty worm: A new chapter in malware - Computerworld |