Code Red or Defcon One?

Just before midday on Wednesday the first of August, which just happens to be tomorrow, the infamous Whitehouse.gov spamming worm, Code Red, is due to awake from hibernation and spread again. On July 19 the virus managed the amazing feat of

Just before midday on Wednesday the first of August, which just happens to be tomorrow, the infamous Whitehouse.gov spamming worm, Code Red, is due to awake from hibernation and spread again. On July 19 the virus managed the amazing feat of infecting around 250,000 computers in just 9 hours, and since then has 'mutated' with the help of various ultra |337 script kiddies (as well as people who know what they are doing). The new form of Code Red is tipped to be even more virulent, and one doubts that the Whitehouse will be able to pull the same trick as last time, when network admins changed the sites IP address from 198.137.240.91 to 198.137.240.92.

Various warnings over the past few days have stressed the need for admins to patch machines running Microsoft's Internet Information Server, of which there are about 6 million installations worldwide. A guide to patching is available here.

If you want to get a good look at the ridiculous amount of overhype going on about the fact that code red means the end of the world as we know it, check out any mainstream news site. In the meantime, anyone planning to use the Internet tomorrow better download it and run it locally.