Zotob worm infects CNN, ABC and others

It was reported that ABC news writers had to resorted to typewriters to prepare copy for the "World News Tonight" broadcast on Tuesday, as the network and other media companies, including The New York Times, Time Warner's Cable News Network and SBC Communications reported disruptions.

The Zotob computer worm has been spreading since Sunday (14 August 2005) and affects machines running Windows 2003, 2000 and XP.  The Zotob worm viruses exploited recently discovered flaws in Windows 2000 operating system, causing thousands of personal computers to restart repeatedly.   That sets up a race between technology managers who must update their systems and virus writers aiming to exploit holes before they are "patched" to fix a vulnerability.  And  companies and other corporations hit by this wave of Zotob computer viruses, said business was back to normal by Wednesday (17 August 2005).

Zotob is an unusual worm that exploits a particular vulnerability in an older piece of software - Windows 2000.  The Zotob vulnerability sits in a particular register that when it is set at '0', which is the default setting for Windows 2000, makes the system vulnerable.  When it is set at '1' as it is in Windows XP and Server 2003, the system is more secure.

Interestingly, it shows that big corporation is still lagging in their adoption of new Windows Operating Systems - namely the Windows XP.  In a recent statement by Microsoft that they have croaked support (end of mainstream support) on June 30 on their Windows 2000 so that they can focus on the next generation operating system codenamed Longhorn.  Windows 2000 is still the operating system of choice for businesses, according to industry watchers.

Updated On: 05.08.21