WinInfo Daily UPDATE—brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network
http://www.winnetmag.net
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY
Centennial Discovery(R)
http://www.centennial.co.uk
SPONSOR: CENTENNIAL DISCOVERY(R)
Whether you are planning an OS migration, checking license compliance or wanting to track your IT assets, Centennial Discovery automates the audit process for you. First, it finds all devices connected to your network—including the physical location—giving you a complete network inventory. Next, it provides you with a detailed hardware and software inventory of each PC and alerts you when changes occur, so your inventory will always be current. Numerous reports will quickly tell you how much the OS migration will cost, if you are compliant with software licenses and much more. Try a free evaluation at:
http://www.centennial.co.uk
January 27, 2003—In this issue:
1. NEWS AND VIEWS
- Internet Endures Blistering Attack
- Microsoft Renames Palladium, Gives Up Trademark Hunt
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Back By Popular Demand—Don't Miss Our PacWest Security Road Show!
- Microsoft ASP.NET Connections
3. CONTACT US
- See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
1. NEWS AND VIEWS
(contributed by Paul Thurrott, [email protected])
A fast-spreading computer worm attacked the main pillars of the information superhighway Saturday, bringing almost 20 percent of the Internet to its knees. Security experts are already calling the attack the worst the Internet has suffered since a similar worm called CodeRed wreaked havoc nearly 2 years ago. This time, the worm—dubbed SQL Slammer and Sapphire—targeted servers running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 7.0. In July 2002, Microsoft supplied a fix that would have prevented this problem, and just last week the company released SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3), which included the fix. As is usually the case with such outages, human error—in the form of inadequately updated servers—is at fault.
"Microsoft is currently investigating a virus that appears to affect versions of SQL Server 2000 that aren't up-to-date with service packs," the company noted on its Web site this weekend. "The attack has resulted in widespread Internet availability issues. At this time, we highly recommend that all of our customers running SQL Server 2000 update their servers immediately to SP3."
As of Saturday evening, the worm had compromised almost 200,000 servers. Experts I spoke with at DataPipe, a New York-based hosting company, said that the relatively benign worm replicates itself and presents a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. "It's not malicious code, so it doesn't delete or pass customer data along to other servers," said Brian Laird, senior application developer at DataPipe. "Unfortunately, Microsoft has issued several cumulative security patches for SQL Server since the original patch was issued in July. Had administrators installed any of these patches, this worm would have been prevented from spreading."
Many network administrators, including those at DataPipe, were able to block SQL Server network traffic, help prevent the worm's spread, and ease network congestion. Others weren't so lucky. The worm devastated DellHost, Interland, and other hosting companies, as well as many of UUNet's core routers. Worldwide, the worm caused damage in many locations; KT, South Korea's largest Web access provider, went offline Saturday.
Investigators at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI's) National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) are looking into the problem but haven't yet determined where the attack originated. By Saturday evening, however, Internet traffic reached usual levels as network administrators shored up their SQL Server boxes.
For Microsoft's response and to download SQL Server 2000 SP3, visit the Microsoft Web site.
On Friday, Microsoft revealed that the company has given up trying to trademark the name Palladium. Microsoft says that the secure computing initiative technologies once called Palladium will now be called the "next-generation secure computing base," which the company feels is a more accurate and mature name.
An unnamed company had apparently applied for a trademark on the term Palladium, and Microsoft didn't want to be seen as strong-arming that company. "We did not want to be in a position of rolling over them," said Mario Juarez, group product manager of Windows Trusted Platform Technologies.
Palladium has been one of Microsoft's most misunderstood technologies, and, as a result, the name had become somewhat tarnished. Critics decried Palladium as a tool Microsoft would use to add Digital Rights Management (DRM) features to Windows or limit the ways in which people could interact with their PCs, although neither allegation was true. Instead, Microsoft designed Palladium to protect users' privacy and the integrity of data stored on their PCs. Microsoft hopes that customer education during the next few years will help people understand why the next-generation secure computing base is necessary. "It used to be radical to give computing power to small businesses and regular people," Juarez told me last fall. "Then, \[anyone\] could get a computer. Wouldn't it be nice if security and certainty were like that? It would help people sleep better at night."
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)
If you missed last year's popular security road show event, now is your chance to catch it again in Portland, Oregon, and Redmond. Learn from experts Mark Minasi and Paul Thurrott about how to shore up your system's security and what desktop security features are planned for Microsoft .NET and beyond. Registration is free, so sign up now!
http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/security2003
Microsoft ASP.NET Connections + Visual Studio .NET Connections + SQL Server Magazine Connections equals the largest gathering of Microsoft product architects and independent technology gurus. Four days of hard-core drill-down sessions. The Microsoft product team delivers 35 of the more than 100 in-depth sessions. This conference will save you months of trial and error. Go to
http://www.devconnections.com
3. CONTACT US
Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:
- ABOUT THE NEWS AND VIEWS — [email protected]
- ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER IN GENERAL — [email protected]
(please mention the newsletter name in the subject line)
- TECHNICAL QUESTIONS — http://www.winnetmag.net/forums
- PRODUCT NEWS — [email protected]
- QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR WININFO DAILY UPDATE SUBSCRIPTION?
Customer Support — [email protected]
- WANT TO SPONSOR WININFO DAILY UPDATE?
[email protected]
This daily email newsletter is brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine, the leading publication for Windows professionals who want to learn more and perform better. Subscribe today.
http://www.winnetmag.com/sub.cfm?code=wswi201x1z
Receive the latest information about the Windows and .NET topics of your choice. Subscribe to our other FREE email newsletters.
http://www.winnetmag.net/email
