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Authorities warn of large-scale Net attack
Thousands of sites affected by mysterious infection
By Ted Bridis
Technology Writer
The Associated Press
June 24, 2004 CHICAGO - Government and industry experts warned late Thursday of a mysterious, large-scale Internet attack against thousands of popular Web sites. The viruslike infection tries to implant malicious code onto the computers of all Web site visitors.
Industry experts and the Homeland Security Department were studying the infection to determine how it spreads across Web sites and find adequate defenses against it.
Users should be aware that any Web site, even those that may be trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code, the government warned in one Internet alert.
Web server software targeted
The mysterious infection appeared to target at least one recent version of software by Microsoft Corp. to operate Web sites, called Internet Information Server 5. The software is popular among businesses and organizations.
"Compromised sites are appending JavaScript to the bottom of Web pages," the government alert reported. "When executed, this JavaScript attempts to access a file hosted on another server. This file may contain malicious code that can affect the end user's system."
The implanted code apparently allows others to use infected computers to surreptitiously route Internet spam e-mails.
A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment immediately. (Microsoft is a partner in the MSNBC joint venture.)
No Internet slowdown seen
Experts said the attacks effects were unusually broad but werent substantially interfering with the flow of Internet traffic.
While this is significant, it has no impact on the operation of the Internet, said Marcus Sachs, who helps run the industrys Internet Storm Center in Bethesda, Md.
Experts urgently recommended consumers and corporate employees to update the antivirus software on their computers, since the latest versions can immunize visitors to infected Web sites.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team said computer users also could protect themselves by disabling JavaScript in their Web browser software. However, that "may also degrade the appearance and functionality of some Web sites that rely upon JavaScript," the team noted.
EDIT: source-msnbc
MSNBC's Alan Boyle contributed to this report.
Authorities warn of large-scale Net attack
Thousands of sites affected by mysterious infection
By Ted Bridis
Technology Writer
The Associated Press
June 24, 2004 CHICAGO - Government and industry experts warned late Thursday of a mysterious, large-scale Internet attack against thousands of popular Web sites. The viruslike infection tries to implant malicious code onto the computers of all Web site visitors.
Industry experts and the Homeland Security Department were studying the infection to determine how it spreads across Web sites and find adequate defenses against it.
Users should be aware that any Web site, even those that may be trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code, the government warned in one Internet alert.
Web server software targeted
The mysterious infection appeared to target at least one recent version of software by Microsoft Corp. to operate Web sites, called Internet Information Server 5. The software is popular among businesses and organizations.
"Compromised sites are appending JavaScript to the bottom of Web pages," the government alert reported. "When executed, this JavaScript attempts to access a file hosted on another server. This file may contain malicious code that can affect the end user's system."
The implanted code apparently allows others to use infected computers to surreptitiously route Internet spam e-mails.
A spokesman for Microsoft declined to comment immediately. (Microsoft is a partner in the MSNBC joint venture.)
No Internet slowdown seen
Experts said the attacks effects were unusually broad but werent substantially interfering with the flow of Internet traffic.
While this is significant, it has no impact on the operation of the Internet, said Marcus Sachs, who helps run the industrys Internet Storm Center in Bethesda, Md.
Experts urgently recommended consumers and corporate employees to update the antivirus software on their computers, since the latest versions can immunize visitors to infected Web sites.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team said computer users also could protect themselves by disabling JavaScript in their Web browser software. However, that "may also degrade the appearance and functionality of some Web sites that rely upon JavaScript," the team noted.
EDIT: source-msnbc
MSNBC's Alan Boyle contributed to this report.
