The Week in Review: Lair of the SQL worm

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
The aftershocks of the SQL Slammer worm are still being felt. Among the more interesting stories to come out of the continuing examination of the two-week-old worm disaster was the case of David Litchfield, whose "proof of concept" code demonstrating a bug in Microsoft's SQL software seems to have actually been used in the worm's creation. Litchfield did some soul-searching after this came to light, but has decided publishing such code to the general public is still worth doing.
I can't help it if my code's read, says researcher
Another facet of Slammer: it seems to fulfil many of the predictions about the inevitability of "Warhol" worms -- that is, ones that can infect the entire Internet in 15 minutes. Next stop, morphed versions with working random number generators.
Slammer: The first 'Warhol' worm? And in other Slammer news, Microsoft has released new security tools specifically aimed at dealing with ongoing Slammer infections, and a Korean group is preparing to sue over the widespread damage that the worm caused in that country.
Microsoft releases anti-Slammer tools
Korean group plans Slammer lawsuit Other bugs haven't stopped appearing while the world ruminates on Slammer. Five days and more than three million downloads after Opera released version 7.0 of its eponymous browser, it has fixed some nasty flaws that give Web sites total access to a user's PC. We also have the first review.
Phantoms of the Opera fixed The Beeb accidentally ploughed fans of The Archers radio drama with the a mass-mailing virus. On the other hand, for businesses the cyber-security picture doesn't look so bad at the moment. Unless you pay attention to software vulnerabilities, that is.
The Archers fans ploughed by email virus
Blended attacks on the increase
Report: Net attacks on businesses down Would you like to play a game? Nokia has released handsets aimed at gamers before, but the N-Gage handset is packed with features and has a slew of popular games ready to go. It looks cool, but early impressions suggest it is incredibly fiddly to actually play. And of course there's this other company called Nintendo to contend with.
Nokia aims to N-Gage gamers The European Commission had some interesting things to say about how copyright should be enforced in the EU this week. A draft proposal of an EU directive was finally published, and the entertainment industry didn't much like what it saw. The directive harmonises many IP-enforcement issues across the EU, but of course, Britain already has one of the most stringent regimes in Europe, so it won't be much affected. In other countries it will be a different matter, although the changes won't go as far as the labels and software companies would like.
EU copyright proposal comes under fire Speaking of intellectual property, a company has come up with what seems to be a legitimate claim on Internet technology -- one that could affect the entire streaming media industry.
Patent claim threatens streaming industry Will you still be reading this next week? The latest Oftel figures show the ratio of UK homes and SMEs with Internet access has levelled off over the last year, a big change from the booming growth of the past few years. Broadband is still growing, though.
UK's Internet access reaches plateau And finally, bad smells might not be one of the better-known hassles that small businesses have to put up with, but when it comes to complaints about tech support, body odour and bad dress sense both made it into the top 10.
SMEs reveal their tech support gripes
Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Jack Schofield

@openhgs Windows users have had multiple desktops since Linus started writing Linux. They just haven't shipped as standard because not enough...

12 hours ago by Jack Schofield on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Jack Schofield

@Phil at Cloud4 What, Microsoft gets £1,200 per PC and £1,622 per server? Gosh, I'm amazed....

12 hours ago by Jack Schofield on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
craigsc

You guys have no idea what is going on at Autonomy. Autonomy could have been a much more profitable organization. The sales operations at Autonomy...

13 hours ago by craigsc on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Moley

How does this impact on dual or multi booting? Seems to me to more or less prohibit this, from Windows 8 anyway. Will Grub 2 recognise Windows 8,...

14 hours ago by Moley on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I don't understand why there cannot be a slight pause during the boot process so the user can press a key. Many operating systems do this, even if...

15 hours ago by apexwm on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
Gavin Goodman

You can now buy the Xi3 modular computer in the UK at http://www.ocdistribution.com . This can be bought with the Tand3m software, pricing and...

15 hours ago by Gavin Goodman on CES 2012: Xi3 microSERV3R
Phil at Cloud4

I agree: Mike Lynch can clearly build a business and manage strategy. I suspect the exit of Mike is more likely the end of a planned handover...

19 hours ago by Phil at Cloud4 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Phil at Cloud4

This is unbeleivable government wastage with only one winner... Microsoft 1 - Tax payer Nil!

19 hours ago by Phil at Cloud4 on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
Mispam

So what do you do when you can't boot into windows? Why can't I just hold Shift while I power up instead of having to boot into windows and click a...

19 hours ago by Mispam on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I've also seen that Mac OS X for Intel machines is supposed to run in VirtualBox, which would also be a nice solution. I've never tried it though.

21 hours ago by apexwm on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
dave heasman

What I wonder is why when companies are caught bang to rights in not providing contracted services, people bend over to smear the customers? Surely...

22 hours ago by dave heasman on Virgin throttles broadband for high-speed customers
pjc158

Strange statement from HP regarding Mike Lynch and not capable of scaling a company. Autonomy was a $7bn purchase which started as a small company...

22 hours ago by pjc158 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
lojolondon

Or - possibly, they will destroy business by ensuring people do not invest where there is no return. Another socialist idea, well beyond it's...

1 day ago by lojolondon on Open Data Institute will act as biz incubator
J.A. Watson

Good stuff Jake, very interesting. Thanks. jw

1 day ago by J.A. Watson on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
openhgs

"the cost of a second LCD screen is about the same as one day of an office worker's time, so this should soon be recouped in extra productivity."...

1 day ago by openhgs on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Thomas Gellhaus

I also installed the KDE version; I also will probably try out razorqt since I really haven't had a chance to before. I'm looking forward to the...

2 days ago by Thomas Gellhaus via Facebook on Mageia 2 Released
francisabigail

Acquiring when reinvention/cannibalization is too challenging for a large organization can be an excellent strategy- still, so many mergers stumble...

2 days ago by francisabigail on Ariba buy parks SAP on Oracle's cloud turf
apexwm

All of the feedback regarding using a touch monitor for a desktop PC is right on. Several months ago, we installed a "demo" multitouch all-in-one...

2 days ago by apexwm on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
191706

anyone wanting to triple boot *their* own Mac

2 days ago by 191706 on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
SoapyTablet

Cont.. Biggest Bugbear: Win7's stop-animate-go approach to work, you develop a staggered (not in the above alchohol sense of the word) approach to...

2 days ago by SoapyTablet on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake